II. Make up a vocabulary of new words.

III. Discuss the content of the text in the form of a dialogue.

IV. Find all irregular verbs in the text, name 3 forms and translate them.

TEXT 23

I. Read this text and translate it into Ukrainian. Plan for Education

The changes announced in the Govern­ment's five-year plan for education, de­signed to offer parents in England a wider choice of secondary schools for their children, marked the beginning of the end for both comprehensive schools and local education authorities.

Why was there a new emphasis on choice?

Because so many parents in urban areas were desperate to get their children into the successful comprehensive school in their locality but couldn’t get a place. (In rural areas the issue seldom arises as there is usually only one secondary school within driving dis­tance). It wasn't uncommon for there to be ten or more applications for a place in an urban secondary school, with the atten­dant clutter of waiting lists and provision­al offers. At present most local education authorities (LEAs) respond by allocating places on the basis of how close pupils live to a given school and whether they have siblings there already. However, there are some 1,000 comprehensives, redesignated ‘independent specialist’ schools, which are entitled to allocate 10% of their places to children showing particular aptitude for the school's specialization.

How have the politicians responded to this problem?

The Conservatives' solution was to scrap LEA admission procedures altogether and allow head teachers to decide their own intake, so paving the way for selection by academic ability. (They would also offer parents vouchers worth £5,000 a year to spend at low-cost private schools.) La­bour's new plan was an attempt to steal the Tories' thunder by giving popular schools scope to expand and giving them greater autonomy, thus improving standards without having to reintroduce academic selection.

How did it propose in practice to achieve that?

The Government wanted every comprehensive school in England to become an ‘independent special­ist’ school. The idea was not just to give such schools far greater control over their day-to-day spending, but to urge them to build extra capacity as they got ever more successful and popular. The very best schools are able to acquire yet more autonomy by becoming ‘Foundation schools’ (known as ‘super schools’) which can set their own wages (up to £60,000 for the best teachers) and their own cur­ricula. To allay fears that this was a recipe for letting inner city schools sink into neglect, the plan wanted failing schools to be trans­formed into city academies which would be backed by private sponsors and given freedom from LEA control.

II. Write down new words into your vocabulary.

III. Put 10 questions to the text.

IV. Translate the following words and word-combinations into Ukrainian and memorize them:

to announce, local education authority, emphasis, application, attendant, provisional, independent specialist school, aptitude, specialism, admission procedures, head teacher, intake, academic ability, to improve, to reintroduce, day-to-day spending, to urge, wage, to acquire.

TEXT 24

I. Read the text and determine the subtitles of it.

Types of Universities

part i

There are no important official or legal distinctions between various types of universities in the country. But it is possible to discern a few broad categories.

• Oxbridge

This name denotes the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, both founded in the medieval period. They are federations of semi-independent colleges, each college having its own staff, known as 'Fellows'. Most colleges have their own dining hall, library and chapel and contain enough accommodation for at least half of their students. ‘Fellows’ teach the college students, either one-to-one or in very small groups (known as 'tutorials' in Oxford and 'supervisions' in Cambridge). Oxbridge has the lowest student/staff ratio in Britain. Lectures and laboratory work are organized at university level. As for the college libraries, there are two university libraries, both of which are legally entitled to a free copy of every book published in Britain. Before 1970 all Oxbridge colleges were single-sex (mostly for men). Now, the majority admit both sexes.

• The old Scottish universities

By 1600 Scotland boasted four uni­versities. They were Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and St. Andrews. The last of these resembles Oxbridge in many ways, while the other three are more like civic universities in that most of the students live at home or find their own rooms in town. At all of them the pattern of study is closer to the continental tradition than to the English one – there is less special­izations than at Oxbridge.

• The early nineteenth-century English universities

Durham University was founded in 1832. Its collegiate living arrange­ments are similar to Oxbridge, but academic matters are organized at university level. The University of London started in 1836 with just two colleges. Many more have joined since scattered widely around the city, so that each college (most are non-residential) is almost a separate university. The central organization is responsible for little more than exams and the awarding of degrees.