Comparison Of Secondary Education System: UK Vs USA

Education system of UK and the aspect of Secondary education system with its influence on the future of the citizens

• Discuss their similarities and differences of the two education systems following a compare/contrast essay structure.

• Analyse three areas such as the funding, organisation, and quality of each system (one paragraph each – start with a clear topic sentence).

• Provide evidence and examples using the UK education booklet and your own research, and comment on the implications for each country. 

Conclusion

• Summarise the main points of your essay in one concluding paragraph.

• Include your own opinion as to which system is more effective.

Education System differs spectacularly with varying countries and its definition varies as well. As per the description of Cambridge Advanced Learner dictionary, education is the process or system of teaching, whether the education is in school or college. Education indeed is very imperative for every society (Ball, 2013). Future of the country depends directly on the education system that makes the country and the countrymen well knowledgeable and well developed with harmony.

Education has certain social responsibilities-:

Education ensures development of the society

Education upholds current political system

Education is the medium of promoting the society norms and values

National identity is created when education becomes the medium

Education is the medium which makes the kids civilized and socialized.

Education also holds the responsibility of producing human capital that stimulates the economic growth of the country that brings wealth for the nation.

But there are certain differences between education systems of two countries. Specifically the secondary education system of the countries varies significantly. Below mentioned are the major aspects that define the difference of secondary education system in UK and USA. What are the major aspects and the impacts are as well described below. You can know about the influences of secondary education system in a country and why this needs great concern.

The secondary education comes under the subdivision of the compulsory stage. This Secondary education is the stage which is accessed by the pupils after the age of 11. These pupils are transferred or promoted from the primary school. Moreover 90% of pupils of the secondary schools go to the comprehensive schools. The comprehensive term refers to “All-inclusive” which was introduced in the 1960s. Most of the secondary system schools are comprehensive and don’t operate any selective entrance system(Findlay et al., 2012).

In some parts of England/UK, the grammar school system also operated and over here the pupils are required to pass the entrance examinations as per their ability. As per the education system of UK, the children are open to choose their subjects as per their field of choice for the consecutive years at the age of 9 years. This option is for the GCSE exams in which subjects like math, science, English, PE and any foreign language subjects are studied.

Secondary education system of UK in detail

The UK secondary education system reforms the system to be fewer exams oriented. The secondary education of UK allows taking the children having abilities of all types and provide them education of wide range in both the sections, practically and academic. Report defines that about 4% of students attend the grammar schools(Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2012). They enter these schools the age of 11 as said with their special abilities. Even 6% of children attending the secondary schools are provided general education until the age of 16.

The pupils in UK leave the secondary school at the age of 16 years and prefer to enter any types of training courses. According to a report, 65% of children leave the secondary school. The main qualification in UK that is taken by the secondary pupils is the GCSE-General Certificate of Secondary Education. The pupils can stay on for getting prepared for A-examination for two years if their results go well (Manzon, 2014).

Even the ratio of Boys and Girls attending the classes together in UK is more than 80% at the secondary levels, only few selective areas have lower ratio. In UK, the school year is basically divided into three terms which begins from early September and ends in July the next year.

Moreover, attending the schools is compulsory in USA. The education system in USA is quite different than the education system in UK. The Secondary Education System is basically based on the ideology of mass education providing equal and relevant opportunity to everyone. Until the age of 18, 90% of students continue in schools (Findlay et al., 2012).The secondary education is provided by the Middle schools or by the high schools that are divided into junior high school and senior high school. In the large towns there is a wide choice of secondary school available.

When any student choose for remaining at the central high school, the student may have opportunity to choose the preferred subjects from the variety available that are referred as traditional subjects (Manzon, 2014). As per the educational rules in USA, the American pupils after completion of the fifth grade they advance towards secondary school. The secondary schools consist of seven years in total which is referred as the sixth through the twelfth grade.

Even the ninth grade through the twelfth grade is commonly referred as the high school. After completing the twelfth grade, a certificate is awarded to the American pupils. This certificate is called as the high school diploma certificate. As per the American Education System, a pupil must hold a high school diploma certificate before getting admitted into any college or any university(Findlay et al., 2012).

Secondary Education System in USA may be more enhancing than UK with the mentioned features

The USA high schools are very comprehensive and are referred as coeducational secondary schools. USA’s Secondary School System doesn’t include any specialized vocational schools. The main school leaving qualification after successfully completing the board of secondary school is the High school diploma.

The bar outlines beneath (Bar graph 1) thoroughly analyze relative extents of circulation of open and private wellsprings of funding for institutes at a tertiary level in the U.S. also, the UK, taking into account 1999-2000 information. The below diagrams show propensities of progressively moving assets from open to private sources with the U.S. driving in the division of private financing and the UK emulating its example.

Source: World education indicators from www.uis.unesco.org

In UK, Further development of business practices by colleges is the expanding inclusion of organizations in Academic time. This pattern has been prevalent among private as well as open establishments too, and even among junior colleges. For example, in the expanding request for CSR from organizations, one piece of companies’ reactions to expanding social weight could be contribution in junior colleges or different organizations confronting troubles, sending volunteer representatives to share in educational programs outline, instructor preparing furthermore, and IT improvement. On account of USA, they expanded the work market possibilities of junior college graduates who might somehow be not able either precede further instruction or discover a vocation.

Quality of Education system of USA varies from UK and broadly in the secondary education system

Conclusion 

The above mentioned description of Secondary education system in both UK and USA reflects that the education systems are almost similar but may not be quite perfect in building up a well consoled future of the children. With a serious emphasize on the secondary education of both UK and USA it can’t be cleared up that whose education system is better. The pupils from both UK and USA are achieving incomparable success in their respective fields and are building a greater economic strength(Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2012). We can just depict that USA having higher economic strength in comparison to UK can be defined to have a better secondary education system than UK.

The governments of both UK as well as USA are trying on to address all of the functions of education with their policy. The teachers those are involved in the entire education system in their respective areas can help the governments in making a decision in regards to the education system through the teacher’s union. It would indeed work incredibly when the teachers combining with the government would work in order to produce a better education system in the future. 

References

Bray, M., Adamson, B. and Mason, M. eds., 2014. Comparative education research: Approaches and methods (Vol. 32). Springer.

Bray, M., 2014. Actors and purposes in comparative education. In Comparative Education Research (pp. 19-46). Springer International Publishing.

Ball, S.J., 2013. The education debate.Policy Press.

Blaug, M. (2014). Economics of education: A selected annotated bibliography. Elsevier.

Chowdry, H., Crawford, C., Dearden, L., Goodman, A. and Vignoles, A., 2013. Widening participation in higher education: analysis using linked administrative data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 176(2), pp.431-457.

Findlay, A.M., King, R., Smith, F.M., Geddes, A. and Skeldon, R., 2012.World class? An investigation of globalization, difference and international student mobility. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 37(1), pp.118-131.

Lee Jr, R.D., Johnson, R.W. and Joyce, P.G., 2012. Public budgeting systems.Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Manzon, M., 2014.Comparing places. In Comparative education research (pp. 97-137). Springer International Publishing.