business terms, as the educational system is managed as part of the drive
to be more economically competitive.
However, one must be aware of the doubts and dismay of many in this
«philosophy». First, there is little consideration of the aims of education
- the values which make the relationship between teacher and learner an
educational encounter, not one of «delivering a service». Second, the new
language of «education» is drawn from an entirely different activity, that
of business and management. The language of control, delivery, inputs and
outputs, performance indicators and audits, defining products, testing
against product specification, etc. Is not obviously appropriate to the
development of thinking, inquiring, imagination, creativity, and so on.
Third, the key role of the teacher is made peripheral to the overall
design; the teacher becomes a «technician» of someone else’s curriculum.
The changing economic and social context in Britain seemed to require
a closer integration of education, training, and employment; at the same
time, a sharper focus on personal development; greater concentration of the
partnership to include employers and parents; and a dominant position given
to central government in stipulating outcomes were all factors which led
the framework of the system is adapting to the new contexts.
a)The public system of education might be illustrated as follows:
|Age |Type of school |National exams and |
| | |assessments |
|4 |Nursery school | |
| |(optional and where | |
| |available) | |
|Beginning of | | |
|compulsory education | | |
|5 |Primary school |Baseline assessment |
|6 |Primary school | |
|7 |Primary school |Assessment Key Stage |
| | |1 |
|8 |Primary school of | |
| |Middle school | |
|9 |Primary school of | |
| |Middle school | |
|10 |Primary school of | |
| |Middle school | |
|11 |Secondary school of |Assessment Key Stage |
| |Middle school |2 |
|12 |Secondary school of | |
| |Middle school | |
|13 |Secondary school of | |
| |Middle school | |
|14 |Secondary School |Assessment Key Stage |
| | |3 |
|15 |Secondary School |Start of GCSE course |
|16 |Secondary School |GCSE exams |
|End of compulsory | | |
|education | | |
|17 |Secondary School |Start of A-level |
| |Sixth Form |course |
| |College of Further | |
| |Education |GNVQ |
| |Work Training Scheme | |
| | |NVQ |
|18 |Secondary School |A-level exams |
| |Sixth Form |GNVQ |
| |College of Further |NVQ |
| |Education | |
| |Work Training Scheme | |
b) Schools and the post-16 curriculum
The maintenance of such a curriculum has been a major function of the
examination system at 16, which was originally designed as a preparation
for the post-16 courses leading to A-level. It is taken in single subjects,
usually not more than three. These three subjects, studied in depth, in
turn constituted a preparation for the single or double subject honors
degrees at university. In this way the shape of the curriculum for the
majority has been determined by the needs of the minority aspiring to a
university place. Alongside «A» Levels, there have been, more recently,
«AS» (Advanced Supplementary) Level examinations. These are worth half an
«A» Level and they enable very bright students to broaden their educational
experience with a «contrasting» subject (for example, the science
specialist might study a foreign language).
The present «A» and «AS» Level system, however, is thought to be in
need of reform. First, it limits choice of subjects at 16 and 17 years, a
time, when a more general education should be encouraged. Second,
approximately 30% of students either drop out or fail - a mass failure rate
amongst a group of young people from the top 30% of academic achievement
who find that after two years they have no qualification. Third, the
concentration on academic success thus conceived has little room for the
vocationally relevant skills and personal qualities stressed by those
employers who are critics of the education system. Fourth, there are over
600 «A» Level syllabuses from eight independent examination boards often
with overlapping titles and content, making comparability of standards
between Boards difficult.
The private sector
B
y 1997 8 per cent of the school population attended independent fee-paying
schools, compared with under 6 per cent in 1979, and only 5 per cent in
1976. By the year 2000 the proportion may rise to almost 9 per cent, nearly
back to the level in 1947 of 10 per cent. The recovery of private education
in Britain is partly due to middle-class fears concerning comprehensive
schools, but also to the mediocre quality possible in the state sector
after decades of inadequate funding.
Although the percentage of those privately educated may be a small
fraction of the total, its importance is disproportionate to its size, for
this 8 per cent accounts for 23 per cent of all those passing A levels, and
over 25 per cent of those gaining entry to university. Nearly 65 per cent
of pupils leave fee-paying schools with one or more A levels, compared with
only 14 per cent from comprehensives. Tellingly, this 8 per cent also
accounts for 68 per cent of those gaining the highest grade in GCSE
Physics. During the 1980s pupils at independent schools showed greater
improvement in their examination results than those at state schools. In
later life, those educated at fee-paying schools dominate the sources of
state power and authority in government, law, the armed forces and finance.
The 'public' (in fact private, fee-paying) schools form the backbone
of the independent sector. Of the several hundred public schools, the most
famous are the 'Clarendon Nine', so named after a commission of inquiry
into education in 1861. Their status lies in a fatally attractive
combination of social superiority and antiquity, as the dates of their
foundation indicate: Winchester (1382), Eton (1440), St Paul's (1509),
Shrewsbury (1552), Westminster (1560), The Merchant Taylors' (1561), Rugby
(1567), Harrow (1571) and Charterhouse (1611).
The golden age of the public schools, however, was the late nineteenth
century, when most were founded. They were vital to the establishment of a
particular set of values in the dominant professional middle classes. These
values were reflected in the novel Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes,
written in tribute to his own happy time at Rugby School. Its emphasis is
on the making of gentlemen to enter one of the professions: law, medicine,
the Church, the Civil Service or the colonial service. The concept of
'service', even if it only involved entering a profitable profession, was
central to the public school ethos. A career in commerce, or 'mere money
making' as it is referred to in Tom Brown's Schooldays, was not to be
considered. As a result of such values, the public school system was
traditional in its view of learning and deeply resistant to science and
technology. Most public schools were located in the 'timeless' countryside,
away from the vulgarity of industrial cities.
After 1945, when state-funded grammar schools were demonstrating equal
or greater academic excellence, the public schools began to modernise
themselves. During the 1970s most of them abolished beating and 'fagging',
the system whereby new boys carried out menial tasks for senior boys, and
many introduced girls into the sixth form, as a civilising influence. They
made particular efforts to improve their academic and scientific quality.
Traditionally boarding public schools were more popular, but since the
1970s there has been a progressive shift of balance in favour of day
schools. Today only 16 per cent of pupils in private education attend
boarding schools, and the number of boarders declines on average by 3 per
cent each year.
Demand for public school education is now so great that many schools
register pupils' names at birth. Eton maintains two lists, one for the
children of 'old boys' and the other for outsiders. There are three
