Some basic characteristics of the educational system in England
As you may know, there exist some differences among the regions that belong to the UK in terms of educational policies. Here, we are going to highlight those aspects that are specifically connected with the English system since Bradford is located in there.
As an introduction, it is useful to know that the majority of schools in England follow the National Curriculum, which was introduced for the first time in 1988.
Types of Schools
On the one hand, they establish two main groups and divide them into "State Schools" or "Private Schools". In the first group, the State Schools, parents do not have to pay for education. Here we enumerate some of the most important examples:
- Community schools: controlled by the local councils. They are not influenced by businesses or religious groups.
- Foundation schools, with more freedom than in community schools.
- Academies: run by a governing body, independent from the local council. They can follow a different curriculum. Belle Vue, the site for our school placement, adheres to this subtype of state school.
- Grammar schools: run by the council or a foundation body. There exists a previous selection of students based on their ability and there is often an exam to get in.
However, when parents decide to pay for education we find Private Schools. They are also called public or independent schools. Then, instead of being funded by the government, they charge fees to attend. Moreover, they do not have to follow the national curriculum that is something compulsory in the rest of schools, although they are inspected regularly as state schools are.
There are also free schools that are funded by the government but aren´t run by the local council. They can use academic selection processes like grammar schools and set their own pay and conditions for staff, change the length of schools terms or school day, and don´t have to follow the national curriculum.
Distribution of Key Stages and Years
The system is divided into Key Stages (KS) and Years. There are 4 Key Stages and 11 Years that are distributed in the way we show in the table below:
Describing the educational system in general terms is sometimes useful. Notwithstanding, it is better to apply theory to real practice and experience the reality of a school in England to fully understand how it works.
Our experience at BVG so far
Our experience here has been interesting because we have been shadowing and observing both the teachers and pupils from different ages in a big range of subjects. We will highlight the most essential characteristics we have focused on during this week:
- Subjects offered at school: the majority of us have been shadowing in subjects such as English, Maths, Textiles, MFL (Modern Foreign languages), Physical Education, Technology, Science, Drama, Chemistry, Arabic, Sociology, Religious Studies, etc.
- Communities or Tutor Groups/Assemblies: One important difference that we have encountered here is that they have created what they call "Communities". The total amount of girls in the high school are divided into different communities whose names are based on famous women who were successful in the past like Marie Curie, Sanderson or Bronte. They meet together everyday to share aspects of life that are of worth, act as a medium for communicating matters of significance from one generation to another in terms of academic life, personal life and other interests. We found this amazing!
- Ability/Streaming: the classes are classified according to the level of the students or their ability. Thus, we encounter classes that are called "low ability classes" or others that are "high ability". Teacher Assistants play an important role especially in those classes where there are girls with special needs.
- Regarding classroom organisation, they are distributed in groups in the classes. Triangle tables facilitate this and there are no problems when teams have to be created or dissolved.
- The access to ICT is wonderful. Every classroom provides an interactive whiteboard, they have visualisers for the teachers to make real documents digital, they have Macs to use them in subjects such as Music or Science, a music studio is ready for them to record their own voices or a great variety of musical instruments is available for them to practice. A 3D printer is also coming soon.
- When students are asked if they are happy in their school, they tend to give us positive answers, emphasizing the quality of the education they receive. In fact, ofsted results underline that students respond well to high expectations set by the teachers, have a positive attitude to learning and are keen to do their best (Ofsted, at BVG webpage).
In a nutshell, it is a real pleasure to be part of this brilliant experience. We really expect to continue learning as trainee teachers in this fantastic school and, of course, post the most important details for you all here!
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