What is the British Education like?

Question

Can somebody tell me, what the British education system is like? Is there an elementary level, advanced level and a tetiary level? Is there a common exam for all students at a certain age?

What are the different levels called? Form, standard?

Answer 1

There is play school/ nursury school which is non compulsory 0-4 years.
Then Primary School for 7 years (usually divided into Infant School 3 years and Junior School 4 years). The main exam here is the 11plus which helps determine which Secondary school you will go to.
The Secondary School lasts 5 years. The final exams are called GCSE exams (General Certificate of Seconary Education) these are graded A-G (with ABC being good passes and D and below a poor pass U is Unclassified and a fail). Most pupils take 6-12 of these, at my school most took 9-11 of them.
This is the end of compulsory education, a GCSE student will be aged around 16 and legally an adult in most respects.
The next level of qualification is AS-level which is a 1 year course, a second year expanding the qulaification to A-level. the A stands for Advanced. Most pupils gain 3 A-levels.
A-levels are studied in colleges and 6th forms (a 6th form is held at a Secondary School and lasts 2 years after the usual 5).

There are also Universities where you can gain higher qualifications like degrees and doctorates.

There are a variety of other assessed qualifications available such as Driving Liscence, Musical Instruments Grades (for example Grade 4 Piano), special IT qualifications like CLAIT certificates, Archery Proficency Standard Liscence, and so on.

You can pay to go to other schools (non-state schools are called Private Schools and Public Schools [as members of the public can pay to attend] ) and these have different standards and durations of education but the same subjects are taught and the same GCSE and A-levels are issued.

Finally there are a range of vocational and pre-vocational courses for those with skills but less academic tallent - these usually teach someone poor at exams a useful trade.

Answer 2

starts from the age of 5, and its whats commonly known as primary school. they're taught very simplistic concepts and ideas with lots of fun and games. they are examined through whats known as the CATS at around the age of 8 and continue primary school until the age of 11.

from 11 onwards, they start whats known as secondary school, and learn individual subjects (maths, science, physical education, english, personal and social education (PSE), religious education, drama, art, music, history, geography, design technology, home economics, textiles, woodwork, languages). all these are manditory and are examined through what are called the SATS at age 13. at age 14, pupils are given the option to chose which of these subjucts they would like to carry on to a GCSE level. out of the subjects they studied before, they can pick 8 to carry on with to GCSE level. english science and maths are manditory. for the next 2 years they study their chosen subjects and create coursework, which counts as a percentage to their final grade. at the age of 16 they take GCSE examinations and are graded A*-E and U (for ungraded, ie. fail). from here they leave manditory education, and the GCSE's they have the most fundimental qualifications in the UK. they dont qualify you to do anything in particular, just show that you are an able, competant and intelligent individual.

from here, they have the opertunity to study for a further education through an A-level system at a college. they are a 2 year long course in more complex and specific subejects (e.g. media studies, economics, photography, english language, english literature, etc). If you pass the first year, you have whats called AS levels, and on the completeion of the second, they turn into A Levels. these are graded on a scale of A-E. these are more specifically required for an entrance into university and dont qualify you to do anything. If they were to gain A-levels and not go to uni, then they would simply be considered to be a more intelligent and competant individual, but not qualified.

from here an individual applies for universties much the same I imagine as you would in the US. And from here on I can assume it is very simular.

Answer 3

its tough...