fundamental shortcomings of the state education system.

Further and higher education

«P

reparation for adult life» includes training in the skills required for a

job. These skills can be pitched at different levels - highly job-specific

and not requiring much thought in their application, or «generalisable» and

applicable to different kinds of employment.

Vocational courses are concerned with the teaching of job-related

skills, whether specific or generalisable. They can be based in industry,

and «open learning» techniques make this increasingly likely, although in

the past, they have normally been taught in colleges of further education,

with students given day release from work. Vocational training has not been

an activity for schools. But some critics think that schools should provide

it for non-academic pupils. One major initiative back in 1982, was the

Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) in which schools

received money if they were able to build into the curriculum vocationally-

related content ant activities - more technology, business studies,

industry related work and visits, etc. But all this got lost in 1988 with

the imposition of a National Curriculum was reformed, providing

opportunities for vocational studies to be introduced at 14.

But the real changes in vocational training were to be seen outside

the schools. The curriculum in colleges of further education has been

closely determined by vocational examination bodies which decide what the

student should be able to do in order to receive a qualification as, for

example, a plumber or a hairdresser. These qualifications were pitched at

different levels - from relatively low-skilled operative to higher-skilled

craft and technician. Obtaining these qualifications often required an

apprenticeship, with day release in a college of further education for more

theoretical study.

Vocational training always has had a relatively low status in

Britain. The «practical» and the «vocational» have seldom given access to

university or to the prestigious and professional jobs.

Further education has traditionally been characterised by part-time

vocational courses for those who leave school at the age of 16 but need to

acquire a skill, be that in the manual, technical or clerical field. In

all, about three million students enrol each year in part-time courses at

further education (FE) colleges, some released by their employers and a

greater number unemployed. In addition there have always been a much

smaller proportion in full-time training. In 1985 this figure was a meagre

400,000, but by 1995 this had doubled. Given Labour's emphasis on improving

the skills level of all school-leavers, this expansion will continue.

Vocational training, most of which is conducted at the country's 550

further education colleges is bound to be an important component.

Higher education has also undergone a massive expansion. In 1985 only

573,000, 16 per cent of young people, were enrolled in full-time higher

education. Ten years later the number was 1,150,000, no less than 30 per

cent of their age group.

This massive expansion was achieved by greatly enlarging access to

undergraduate courses, but also by authorising the old polytechnics to

grant their own degree awards, and also to rename themselves as

universities. Thus there are today 90 universities, compared with 47 in

1990, and only seventeen in 1945. They fall into five broad categories: the

medieval English foundations, the medieval Scottish ones, the nineteenth-

century 'redbrick' ones, the twentieth-century 'plate-glass' ones, and

finally the previous polytechnics. They are all private institutions,

receiving direct grants from central government.

Oxford and Cambridge, founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth

centuries respectively, are easily the most famous of Britain's

universities. Today 'Oxbridge', as the two together are known, educate less

than one-twentieth of Britain's total university student population. But

they continue to attract many of the best brains and to mesmerise an even

greater number, partly on account of their prestige, but also on account of

the seductive beauty of many of their buildings and surroundings.

Both universities grew gradually, as federations of independent

colleges, most of which were founded in the fourteenth, fifteenth and

sixteenth centuries. In both universities, however, new colleges are

periodically established, for example Green College, Oxford (1979) and

Robinson College, Cambridge (1977).

In the nineteenth century more universities were established to

respond to the greatly increased demand for educated people as a result of

the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of Britain's overseas empire.

Many of these were sited in the industrial centres, for example Birmingham,

Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Bristol.

With the expansion of higher education in the 1960s 'plate-glass'

universities were established, some named after counties or regions rather

than old cities, for example Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and Strathclyde.

Over 50 polytechnics and similar higher education institutes acquired

university status in 1992. There is also a highly successful Open

University, which provides every person in Britain with the opportunity to

study for a degree, without leaving their home. It is particularly designed

for adults who missed the opportunity for higher education earlier in life.

It conducts learning through correspondence, radio and television, and also

through local study centres.

University examinations are for Bachelor of Arts, or of Science (BA or

BSc) on completion of the undergraduate course, and Master of Arts or of

Science (MA or MSc) on completion of postgraduate work, usually a one- or

two-year course involving some original research. Some students continue to

complete a three-year perio of original research for the degree of Doctor

of Philosophy (PhD). The bachelor degree is normal classed, with about 5

per cent normally gaining First, about 30 per cent gaining an Upper Seconi

or 2.1, perhaps 40 per cent gaining a Lower Second, or 2.2, and the balance

getting either i Third, a Pass or failing. Approximately 15 per cei fail to

complete their degree course.

In addition there are a large number of specialis higher education

institutions in the realm of the performing and visual arts. For example,

there a four leading conservatories: the Royal Academy Music, the Royal

College of Music, Trinity College of Music and the Royal Northern College

of Music.

There are a large number of art colleges, of whi the most famous is

the Royal College of Art, where both Henry Moore and David Hockney once

studied. Other colleges cater for dance, film-making and other specialist

areas in arts.

In spite of the high fees, Britain's universities, Fl colleges and

English language schools host a number of foreign students, in 1996 there

were fewer than 158,000.

Female undergraduates have greatly increased proportionately in recent

years. In the mid-1960 they were only 28 per cent of the intake, became 41

per cent by the early 1980s, and were 51 per cent by 1996. There is still

an unfortunate separation of the sexes in fields of chosen study, arising

from occupational tradition and social expectations. Caring for others is

still a 'proper' career for women; building bridges, it seems, is not.

Unless one believes women's brains are better geared to nursing and other

forms of caring and men's to bridge-building, one must conclude that social

expectations still hinder women and men from realising their potential.

Students from poorer backgrounds are seriously underrepresented in higher

education. Although more in social categories C, D and E are now enrolled,

it is the more prosperous social categories A and B which have benefited

most from university expansion. For Labour there are two issues here:

equality of opportunity, and maximising all of society's intellectual

potential.

Ethnic minorities' representation is growing: 1 3 per cent in 1996

compared with only 10.7 per cent in 1990. It is noteworthy that their

university representation exceeds their proportion within the whole

population, a measure of their commitment to higher education.

In 1988 a new funding body, the University Funding Council, was

established, with power to require universities to produce a certain number

of qualified people in specific fields. It is under the UFC's watchful eye

that the universities have been forced to double their student intake, and

each university department is assessed on its performance and quality. The

fear, of course, is that the greatly increased quantity of students that

universities must now take might lead to a loss of academic quality.

Expansion has led to a growing funding gap. Universities have been

forced to seek sponsorship from the commercial world, wealthy patrons and

also from their alumni. The Conservative Party also decided to reduce

maintenance grants but to offer students loans in order to finance their

studies. However, the funding gap has continued to grow and Labour shocked

many who had voted for it by introducing tuition fees at 1,000 pounds per

annum in 1998. Although poorer students were to be exempted it was feared

that, even with student loans, up to 10 per cent of those planning to go to

university would abandon the idea. One effect of the financial burden is

that more students are living at home while continuing their studies: about

50 per cent at the ex-polytechnics, but only 15 per cent at the older

universities.

Today many university science and technology departments, for example

at Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Imperial College London, and Strathclyde,

are among the best in Europe. The concern is whether they will continue to

be so in the future. Academics' pay has fallen so far behinc other

professions and behind academic salaries elsewhere, that many of the best

brains have gon< abroad. Adequate pay and sufficient research funding to

keep the best in Britain remains a majo challenge.

As with the schools system, so also with higher education: there is a

real problem about the exclusivity of Britain's two oldest universities.

While Oxbridge is no longer the preserve of a social elite it retains its

exclusive, narrow and spell-binding culture. Together with the public

school system, it creates a narrow social and intellectual channel from

which the nation's leaders are almost exclusively drawn. In 1996 few people

were in top jobs in the Civil Service, the armed forces, the law or

finance, who had not been either to a public school or Oxbridge, or to

both.

The problem is not the quality of education offered either in the

independent schools or Oxbridge. The problem is cultural. Can the products

of such exclusive establishments remain closely in touch with the remaining

95 per cent of the population? If the expectation is that Oxbridge,

particularly, will continue to dominate the controlling positions in the

state and economy, is the country ignoring equal talent which does not have

the Oxbridge label? As with the specialisation at the age of 16 for A

levels, the danger is that Britain's governing elite is too narrow, both in

the kind of education and where it was acquired. It is just possible that

the new Labour government, which itself reflects a much wider field of life

experience in Britain, will mark the beginning of significantly fuller

popular participation in the controlling institutions of state.

Present situation

The educational system - its organization, its control, its content -

is changing rapidly to meet the perceived needs of the country - the need

to improve standards and to respond to a rapidly changing and competitive

economy. Those changes might be summarized in the following way.

First, there is much greater central control over what is taught.

Second, what is taught is seen in rather traditional terms - organized in

terms of subjects rather than in response to the learning needs of the

pupils. Third, however, there is an attempt to be responsive to the

economic needs of the country, with an emphasis upon vocational studies and

training. Fourth, there is a rapid expansion of those who stay in education

beyond the compulsory age, making use of the «three-track system» of «A»

Level, GNVQ (General National Vocational Qualifications) and NVQ (National

Vocational Qualifications). Fifth, although the content of education is

centrally controlled, its «delivery» pays homage to the «market» by

encouraging choice between different institutions so that funding follows

popular choice (i.e. the more popular the school with parents, the more

money it gets, thereby providing an incentive to schools and colleges to

improve their performance.

Education under Labour

E

ducation was the central theme of the new Labour government. It promised a

huge range of improvements: high-quality education for all four-year-olds

whose parents wanted it and lower pupil-teacher ratios, in particular that

children up to the age of eight children would never be in classes of over

30 pupils. It also declared that all children at primary school would spend

one hour each day on reading and writing, and another hour each day on

numeracy, the basic skills for all employment. When Labour took office only

57 per cent of children reached national literacy targets by the time they

left primary school, and only 55 per cent reached similar targets in maths.

The government pledged to raise these proportions to 80 per cent and 75 per

cent respectively. It also established a new central authority responsible

for both qualifications and the curriculum, to ensure that these were, in

the government's own words, 'high quality, coherent and flexible'. It

warned that it intended to evolve a single certificate to replace A levels

and vocational qualifications, and possibly to reflect a broad range of

study rather than the narrow specialism of the A-level system. Because 30

per cent of students who started A-level courses failed to acquire one, it

also wanted to create a more flexible system that would allow students

still to attain recognised standards of education and training on the road

to A levels. However, unlike France or Germany, an increasing proportion of

those taking exams at this standard were actually passing.

The government also promised to improve the quality of the teaching staff,

with a mandatory qualification for all newly appointed heads of schools, to

improve teacher training, to establish a General Teaching Council, which

would restore teacher morale and raise standards, and to introduce more

effective means of removing inefficient teachers. It also promised to look

at the growing problem of boys underachieving at school compared with

girls. Finally, Labour asked for its record to be judged at the end of its

first term in office, in 2002.

Questions

1. When do the british start their education?

2. Do you agree that the british education has problems?

3. What were the lacks of British education?

4. Who can study in public schools?

5. Does the word «public» reflect the real principle of that schools?

6. What political acts became a turning point in British education?

7. What is the most well-spread opinion about the vocational courses?

8. What do you think about the quality of higher education in Britain?

9. What are the main principles of the Labour Patry (concerning education)

10. How had the role of parents in the children’s education changed?

11. How did the changing economic and social situation influence the system

of education?

12. What are the most prestigeous schools in Britain?

13. Are there students from other countries in British schools and

universities?

14. Is the nursary school compulsory?

15. How do you think: do the Concervative principles of education differ

from that of Labour?

16. What are the aims of education in Britain today?

17. Did the level of education become higher after the reforms?

18. What is the GCSE?

19. What types of schools does the british system of education includes?

20. Would you like to study in Britain? (Give your argument for or against

it).

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4