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Secondary education (ages 11-18)
Secondary education is, for most young people, the final stage before they begin adult life and face future challenges with confidence
The later years of education are supposed to equip children with the necessary knowledge and skills to cope with further education or life in the workplace. All children are required by law to remain at school until the age of 16, except where, as in the case of around 140,000 children in the UK, parents have exercised their legal right to educate their offspring at home.
The starting age for secondary education is usually 11, except where the local education authority operates a three-tier system. In this case children go to a middle school until the age of 12 or 13, then move on to an upper school.
On reaching the age of 16, pupils are given the option to stay on for a further two years, and the majority now do so.
State secondary schools
Large-scale reform of the education system in September 1999 resulted in four new categories of state secondary school:
- Community schools: these are comprehensive schools under the control of a local education authority. They make up the bulk of secondary schools in this country.
- Foundation schools: while funded by the government, these schools have a greater degree of independence. Each school is controlled by its own governing body, which sets the admissions policy for the school.
- Voluntary-aided schools: similar to foundation schools but often church-based, these schools are self-governing and are part-funded by charitable foundations.
- Voluntary-controlled schools: these schools are owned by charitable foundations, but the staff are employees of the local education authority, which is also responsible for setting the school's admissions policy.
An additional educational model was established in 2000, when the government introduced City academies. Established with sponsorship from businesses or private foundations (which are often religious in nature), their day-to-day running costs are met by the government.
State specialist schools
Nearly 90 per cent of all pupils in the UK attend state secondary schools. The modernisation of these schools has been central to the government's plans for the education system. To this end they have increased diversification by moving away from a 'one size fits all' approach with the introduction of specialist schools.
Specialist schools offer advanced, or 'specialist', teaching in particular subjects. The normal curriculum is maintained but the school is expected to provide 'enriched' learning opportunities within their specialist area and allocate a third of their government-enhanced budget to sharing this knowledge with other, non-specialist, local schools and the community in general. To qualify for the scheme a specialist school must raise at least £50,000 in sponsorship and produce a four-year plan that sets targets for teaching and learning within the area of specialisation.
Initially, there were four types of specialist school promoting excellence in arts, languages, sports, and technology. A further four were added recently and these are business and enterprise, engineering, mathematics and computing, and science. The government's stated aim is to transform half of all state secondary schools into specialist schools by 2006.
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