Development of system of education

British education is rather complicated, inconsistent and highly varied. It is so because it has grown out of many different originating causes trying to satisfy many requirements.

The first cathedral and monastic schools appeared in the 7^th c., but the real starting point in the British system of education is the rise of the Universities of Oxford (1168) and Cambridge (1209). The next step was taken in 1382 when a first Grammar school was founded at Westminster to act as a feeder to College at Oxford. In 1440 king Henry VI founded Eton College at Windsor.

In the 16^th c. and 17^th c. many Grammar schools in various parts of England were founded. But these schools were not the beginning of national education. They only supplied the Universities with good Latinists and the State and Church with learned people.

At the beginning of the 19^th c. a number of enthusiasts established Day Schools, Sunday Schools, Ragged Schools and Orphan Schools.

By the Education Act of 1870 a State system was established to fill in the gaps by the voluntary system. School Boards were set up in the districts to provide schools at the local expense, they were known as board schools. Elementary education was now available for every child. Attendance was made compulsory in 1880.

The Education Act of 1902 is the corner stone of the State system of Education in England and Wales. It abolished the School Boards and set the Local Education Authorities (known as LEAs). It encouraged the LEAs to supply not only elementary education, but secondary, modern and technical also. It rescued the Voluntary Schools from their financial troubles by requiring the LEAs to finance them partly. As a result elementary education became a single system, compulsory and free of charge. Then followed the Act of 1944 about compulsory and free education for children aged 5-15. It provided three stages of education: primary (elementary), secondary and further.

The Act of 1972 announced a ten-year education programme setting the school-leaving age 16 and abolished the fee for education in state secondary schools.

The state policy in education was based upon the theory that every pupil should be educated according to his age, ability and aptitude. The selection was made on the results of the 11+ examination, taking on leaving primary school. The three-quarters of pupils went to “secondary modern” schools which were expected to go to university or some other form of higher education. This system gave the chance of a better education to a very small number of children. By the 60s a new type of comprehensive schools was introduced, which should be a combination of grammar and secondary modern schools under one roof.

Also there was a step away from the traditional formal teaching and factual learning to what was called “progressive” education: greater pupil participation and discussion with greater emphasis on comprehension and less on the acquisition of knowledge.

But there was a demand to return to old-fashioned methods. According to the survey in 1980 half of the population could not do simple mathematics and read a railway timetable correctly. Among 10-years-old pupils in 17 countries, English children were second worst in science.

To improve the situation the Education Act (1986) and the Education Reform Act of 1988 were adopted. The main reforms included the introduction of a National Curriculum, which sets out in details the subjects that children have to study and which are compulsory up to the age of 16. It also introduced periodic formal assessment of progress and the level of achievement at the ages of 7, 11, 14, and 16. This reform introduced government control over all kind of schools and their standards of progress.

Diversity, choice and excellence will be the hallmarks of the education system of the 21th century.