2014-02-13
986LECTURE 6
Topic: BRITISH SYSTEM OF EDUCATION (SCHOOLING)
List of questions:
1. A glimpse at history of education
2. Present day system of education
3. Some essentials on British system of education
4. Pre-school education
5. Primary education
6. Secondary education
7. Problems of state schools
8. Independent schools
9. Public schools
10. After sixteen
Literature:
1. Нестеров Н.М. Страноведение: Великобритания. Ростов на Дону, «Феникс», 2006.
2. Михайлов Н.Н. Лингвострановедение Англии. М., «Академия», 2003.
3. Артемова А.Ф. Великобритания. Книга для чтения по страноведению. М, «АСТ: Восток-Запад», 2006.
4. Томахин Г.Д. По странам изучаемого языка. М., «Просвещение», 1998.
5. M. Pugh A History of Britain. Oxford, 2001.
6. M. Vaughan-Rees In Britain. Lnd., 1999.
As in other countries, the vast majority of people in medieval Britain were illiterate. Written texts were in Latin, apart from churchmen, there was a small group of professional clerks who could read and write; if you needed something written down, you had to pay one of these clerks to do it for you.
After the Norman invasion in 1066, Britain started to join the mainstream of European intellectual life. Rich families employed clerks to teach children at home. The church set up small schools for ordinary people, especially choir schools where boys learned to read and write and to sing in the church choir. By the year 1200, there were the beginnings of the university in Oxford – at least a community of masters and scholars living and working together.
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In 1440, England’s most famous school, Eaton, was founded by King Henry VI. (It is still regarded by many as the top school in the country – it was chosen by Prince Charles and Princess Diana for their sons William and Harry.) In its early days it was a mix of rich and poor students: the rich paid, and the poor worked in the school, cooking and cleaning to pay for their education.
By the middle of the 17th century there were a number of charity schools around the country paid for by committees of rich subscribers. Of course, they were almost exclusively for boys only. Some aristocratic girls were well educated, speaking French and Latin, and reading music. But they were taught by private teachers at home.
There was always a basic problem with education for the poor: when they had got it, what could they do with it? In a very static, rigid society, it was almost impossible to change your position. Status was based on family, on birth – not on brains, energy and talent. Poor people who became educated, it was said, would get ideas above themselves, and feel dissatisfied and frustrated.
However, with the industrial revolution from the middle of the 18th century, British society began to change radically. People in business made huge amount of money, and old aristocrats lost much of their power and influence. The pressure for universal education increased. So for the first time in history, ordinary working people had the chance to get an education – and the motivation of a more meritocratic society in which they could make use of it.
The French revolution brought ideas of social equality and a belief that all human beings could perfect themselves through education. Women started to demand greater freedom, respect and access to education. There was still a tendency to teach girls particularly feminine subjects, such as cooking, sewing, art and music. But later in the 19th century, girls began to receive the same sort of education as boys. In 1974, Girton College, Cambridge, offered the first university places for women.
Through the 19th century more and more children went to school, and in 1880 education was made compulsory up to the age of 13. A few years later about 97 per cent of girls and boys were literate – a situation unimaginable in most of the rest of the world. The school-leaving age continued to go up in steps until it reached 16 in 1972.
