Учебно-методический комплекс дисциплины сд(М). Ф. 3 «страноведение и лингвострановедение» основная образовательная программа подготовки бакалавра по направлению
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References: Левашова В. А. Современная Британия. М.: Высшая школа, 2007. McDowall D. Britain in Close-Up. Longman Ltd., 2005. 5. A General View of the British Economy.
Cultural and institutional terms. 1.Economic Problems. Industry. Agriculture. The Financial Sector. Britain was the first country to industrialise. In 1850 it had as many merchant ships as the rest of the world put together, and it led the world in most manufacturing industries and international trade. But this lead did not prove durable. Early in the 20th century it was overtaken by its rivals, the USA and Germany. After two world wars and the rapid loss of its colonial empire, Britain was unable even to maintain its position in Europe. After 1945 Britain tried to find a reasonable balance between government intervention in the economy and a largely free-market economy such as that of the United States, while both Labour and the Conservatives were generally reluctant to break from the consensus based on Keynesian economics. People seemed reluctant to make the painful adjustments that might be necessary to reverse the country’s economic decline. In fact, prosperity increased during the late 1950s and in the 1960s, diverting attention from Britain’s decline compared to its main competitors. But by the mid-1970s both Labour and Conservative economists were thinking of moving away from Keynesian economics (in principle, based upon stimulating demand by injecting large amounts of money into the economy). Eventually, it was the Conservatives who decided to break with the old economic formula in 1979, when they introduced a series of free-market reforms which improved the country’s economic performance, albeit at the cost of much social dislocation. Every country’s first resource is land, and densely-populated Britain has little of it. Only about 2 per cent of the population work on farms. After 1945 governments encouraged them, both by advice and financial inducements, to use their land effectively, and when the UK joined the European Community most farms were well equipped and highly mechanised. Now their efficiency is even embarrassing: environmentalists complain that insecticides and fertilisers used in agriculture have polluted air and water, and too much food is being produced. To relieve the problem, each year much good farmland is sold for building, and farmers are encouraged to put some land to other uses, e.g. facilities for recreation. However, agriculture is only a small part of the whole economy. For about 200 years, manufacturing has been more important, but by the 1970s it was clear that Britain’s old manufacturing industries, like textiles and shipbuilding, and some of its newer industries, like car manufacturing, were less efficient than the same industries in other Western countries. In general, the value of goods produced by a hundred workers had for many years increased much less in Britain than, for example, in West Germany. In some factories, there was simply not enough new equipment; in others, new equipment was not being used efficiently. Strikes were frequent. After 1979, when Mrs Thatcher’s government came to power, some sections of the old industries improved their productivity and became more profitable than before, but some were less successful and some even failed to survive. Besides, new ‘high-tech’ industries developed, and there was a new diversity, with some growth of small-scale enterprise. Two parallel developments have affected Britain more than most other European countries: (1) the increase in the service industries, as distinct from the productive ones; (2) the increase in the proportion of people employed in ‘white collar’ jobs, as distinct from manual jobs: in fact, more than half of all working people (whether employees or self-employed) are now providing services. Although some service work is, of course, manual, less than half of all working people are in jobs traditionally associated with the working class. It was the development of coal production which determined Britain’s economic leadership of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. Coal mining was once a powerful industry, but since the defeat of the miners’ strike in 1985 economic reform and change have reduced the importance of the coal industry. Coal is expected to decline further. It is generally more polluting and less efficient than natural gas. Oil and gas were discovered in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s. They turned Britain from a net importer of energy into a net exporter. British policy makers insist that energy should be derived from a balance of different sources. Easily the most controversial of these is nuclear energy. Britain established the world’s first large-scale nuclear plant in 1956. Nuclear energy became a highly emotive subject, particularly after disasters, such as Chernobyl. Besides, its real commercial cost (by the 1990s) was twice as high as for coal-fired power station. Unless a much safer and more efficient system is designed, nuclear power probably has little future. In the early 1990s Britain also started to take renewable energy sources much more seriously than before. There has been a long tradition in Britain of directing the economy through the financial institutions which together are known as ‘the City’: the Bank of England, the retail and wholesale banks, insurance companies (most notably Lloyds) and the Stock Exchange of the City have for a long time played an important role in Britain’s economy. Traditionally, the Bank of England, which serves as Britain’s central bank, has three main roles: (1) to maintain the stability and value of the currency, the pound sterling; (2) to maintain the stability of the financial system; (3) to ensure the effectiveness of the financial services sector. There are two main kinds of bank: (1) ‘retail banks’ for personal and small business accounts, also known as ‘the high street banks’; (2) ‘wholesale banks’ which handle large deposits at higher interest rates, many of these are known as ‘merchant banks’. Lloyds is essentially a market, not a company, where different syndicates compete with each other and other insurance companies for business. The British practice of guiding the economy through the City’s financial institutions gives rise to major problems. Those who invest in the City may be concerned with making maximum profit in the minimum amount of time, which inevitably conflicts with the national economic interest. Most industrialised countries enjoy a significantly higher level of industrial investment than Britain where banks, insurance companies, pension funds and building societies frequently prefer to invest in other areas. When Labour returned to power, it gave the Bank of England statutory power to set interest rates, independently of government, abandoning a key lever for short-term considerations, in favour of allowing the Bank to set interest rates purely as part of long-term economic strategy. Labour also took steps to ensure that the Bank’s decisions were more open and more accountable to the House of Commons. 2.Economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. In 1979 many of the old industries were owned by the state. Their managing boards were told by the new government to aim at profit, and to prepare for being sold off to the private sector. Many steel plants were eventually closed, but in a few years those which survived no longer needed subsidies. Coal production was now concentrated in the most efficient pits. No industry has probably suffered so great a change for the worse as shipbuilding, in which Britain led the world for 200 years or so. But many other industries became more competitive in the 1980s. In general, from 1979 to 1997 the Conservatives put their new ideas into practice. Income tax was reduced from 33 per cent to 24 per cent. The government also increased Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services. It gave every encouragement to a free-market economy. Measured purely in financial terms, the results were excellent: by 1987 the FT-SE (pronounced ‘footsie’ but standing for Financial Times—Stock Exchange) index of share values was five times higher than it had been in 1983. But the belief that it would force industry to become ‘fit and lean’ led only partly to greater efficiency, as has been said, it also led to the collapse of much of Britain’s manufacturing industry. Thatcher’s belief that ‘monetarism’ alone could produce the revolution she sought proved ill-founded. The resulting surge in unemployment dramatically increased public expenditure. By 1985 it was clear that monetarism was not a panacea for Britain’s economic problems, and it was quietly abandoned. But its damage had been considerable. By 1983, as a result of the new policy and for the first time in more than 200 years, Britain imported more manufactured goods than it exported. By 1990 Britain was in the deepest recession since 1930, and it proved longer and deeper than the recession that hit other members of the European Union. The Conservative ‘heartlands’ were particularly hard hit. The recession affected the property market, leading to a collapse of prices and wide-spread disillusionment with the Conservative party. The Conservatives’ greatest transformation was the privatisation of government-owned enterprises. They reduced the size of the state-owned sector by over two-thirds. The greatest benefits of privatisation were that it forced prices down and forced standards of service up to the benefit of customers and shareholders. After the departure of Thatcher, the Conservatives under John Major quietly returned to a form of Keynesian economics. There were some bright spots, too. ‘High-tech’ industries have developed in three main areas, west of London along the M4 motorway or ‘Golden Corridor’, the lowlands between Edinburgh and Dundee, nicknamed ‘Silicon Glen’, and the area between London and Cambridge. The Cambridge Science Park is the flagship of high-tech Britain. Britain publishes 100,000 new books yearly, and boasts the largest export publishing industry in the world. The majority of profitable retailers in Europe are British, too. 3.The workforce. The trade unions. There are currently approx. 35 million people of working age in Britain. Compared with a couple of decades ago, there has been a massive change in employment patterns. There has been an increase in the proportion of people employed in ‘white collar’ jobs, as distinct from manual jobs. In fact, more than half of all working people (whether employees or self-employed) are now providing services. There has been some growth in the number of those who work for schools and hospitals, social services, the police and prisons, and in public administration, while the biggest growth has been in the finance, banking and insurance sector, along with ‘other services’, including the law, advertising, catering and entertainment. Another recent change has been the growth of self-employment. This development was encouraged by the government through training courses, tax incentives and an ‘enterprise allowance scheme’. In 1970 only about 20 per cent of the workforce was female compared with 46 per cent of the workforce in 1995. Other developments indicate job loss, job insecurity and workplace stress. Those in work tend to work longer hours than before, but with falling productivity, which is bad for health, standards of work, and family life. One of the reasons is that Britain has one of the least regulated labour markets of any industrialised country. There is a growing gap between the earnings of the rich and poor. The most important lobby organisation for owners and managers is the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which seeks to support industrial growth and planning, and to create a climate conducive to efficiency and profitability. The trade unions: from 1945 until 1979 the trade union movement was a central actor in the British economy. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) was established in 1868 as a coordinating body. The TUC’s concern that the workers’ interests be represented in Parliament led to the establishment of the Labour Party in 1900, and the unions dominated Labour until the 1990s. In particular, union power grew after 1945, with the number of members increasing, but with fewer and more powerful unions as a result of amalgamation. During the 1960s and 1970s the unions were so powerful that no government could operate without consulting them: ‘beer and sandwich lunches at Number Ten’ were a familiar feature of political life. The Conservative Party introduced new union laws in the 1980s and 1990s in order to restrict and regulate the power of unions and to shift the balance of power within each union, hoping that ordinary members of unions would moderate the behaviour of their leaders. Union power was further weakened by a serious fall in membership. Since the early 1990s British unions have tried to learn from their less adversarial European counterparts, changing their attitude to the European Community from hostility to enthusiasm. Union relations with Labour have also changed. While still relying on union funding, Labour has gradually reduced union voting power at its annual Conference. 4.Major trends in the economy. Britain is much better off in terms of economic efficiency now than it was in the 1970s and 1980s. But some trends which made it “the sick man of Europe” are still there and give cause for concern. Reasons for poor economic performance were: the stress of two world wars and the loss of empire; unlike other European powers, Britain failed to rebuild its industries in 1945. But the most complex reasons are probably cultural. Despite the major economic changes of the Industrial Revolution, the old gentry class of Britain did not oppose the rising middle class but made skilful adjustments to allow them to share power. In Britain’s private education system, a culture of respect for the professions but contempt for industry continued long after the Second World War. Britain failed to give technical and scientific subjects as much importance as its competitors, as a result Britain has one of the least trained workforces in the industrial world. Britain also fails to invest in research, which is most clearly seen in the area of Research and Development (R and D), most of which is directed towards immediate and practical problems in Britain. British companies spend less on R and D than many of their competitors in Europe and North America. Another worrying factor is the absence of ‘team spirit’: little effort is made to interest the workforce in a company’s well-being, joint consultations between management and workers are still rare, few companies offer incentive schemes for increased productivity. With its youthful energy, Labour set itself the target of curing these ills and is generally believed to be doing well. Cultural and institutional terms. Keynesian economics, trade unions, the TUC, the CBI, lobbying, R and D, incentive scheme. Questions:
References: Левашова В. А. Современная Британия. М.: Высшая школа, 2007. McDowall D. Britain in Close-Up. Longman Ltd., 2005. 6. The Social Profile: Major Trends.
Cultural and institutional terms. 1.Social problems. Britain’s population has been changing in age and compositions since the second world war. Fluctuations in fertility have serious implications for the health services and education, as well as employment. The post-war ‘baby boom’ was followed by a relative decline in births leading to changes in the balance between the age groups. Now Britain’s population is one of the oldest in Europe and getting older. Other important problems include: persistence of class distinctions, growing inequality in terms of income, unemployment, immigration (integration of ethnic minorities), loss of role models by the young (especially boys from working class backgrounds) who may feel confused and uncertain as a result. 2.The Health Service. The NHS was set up in 1948 to provide free medical treatment to anyone who needs it. The system rests on a network of GPs (General Practitioners, or family doctors). Besides, there exist large numbers of hospitals and community health services. Over 80 per cent of the costs of the NHS are funded out of the income tax system, the balance is paid for out of the National Insurance contributions and from the standard prescription charges for some kinds of services. The cost of maintaining the NHS has always been very high. Some recent trends, such as the growth of the proportion of older people in the population and new treatments and drugs which tend to be expensive, have further exacerbated the problems of the health service. 3.Social benefits. The British ‘welfare state’ provides a wide range of benefits to various groups of people with special needs or problems. The state earnings-related pension scheme provides protection for the elderly against destitution. There exist unemployment benefits, child benefits, etc. The local authorities provide institutional accommodation to the elderly while at the same time supporting services designed to encourage them to live at home, e.g. the home delivery of hot meals (‘meals on wheels’), domestic help, laundry services and adaptations in the home like fixing handrails, etc. It is a fundamental principle of the system to encourage the elderly and the disabled to live in the community, as far as possible. 4.The family. The nuclear family is still considered the ideal arrangement, even by the young, but in fact it has been in decline for the last few decades: only 40 per cent of the population live in this way. The most important trends in the area of family life: an increasing proportion of people living together (cohabiting) before marriage or instead of being formally married; a drop in the overall number of marriages; a high divorce rate; a high number of single-parent families; an increase in the number of ‘non-marital’ babies (born outside marriage). Cultural and institutional terms. The welfare state; a social benefit; a child (unemployment) benefit; the NHS; a GP; the National Insurance; ‘meals on wheels’; non-marital babies. Questions:
References: Левашова В. А. Современная Британия. М.: Высшая школа, 2007. McDowall D. Britain in Close-Up. Longman Ltd., 2005. 7. The problem of European integration.
1.The main stages in the process of European integration. The Treaty of Rome (1957) is generally seen as the starting point in the process of European integration. It was initially a kind of European Common Market which gradually transformed itself into a wider and more closely integrated European Community and, in 1992, officially became the European Union. Britain joined the Community in 1973, and there existed a possibility that it might leave it, since there was no consensus among the politicians as to the wisdom of British membership. 2.The attitude of the most important parties and social groups to European integration. The debates ‘on Europe’ in the countries political life. Britain did not share the enthusiasm of the founding members of the community for an economic and political network that would take Europe to integration. It was feared that membership compromised Britain’s sovereignty and left too many powers to Brussels. The TUC and the Labour Party at first viewed the Community with some apprehension. Gradually, however, they re-assessed the pros and cons and overcame their scepticism. In fact, in the 1990s, it was the Conservative party that found it difficult to come to terms with the increasing pace of European integration, and their highly publicised “split over Europe” is sometimes seen as one of the factors in their electoral defeat of 1997. In 1992, when John Major agreed to the Treaty of Maastricht, he opted out of the Social Chapter (safeguarding minimal employment conditions throughout the Union) and the planned single currency. The Labour government immediately signed the Social Chapter, but made Britain’s membership of the single currency contingent on a referendum. 3.Britain and the single European currency. Nothing in the mid-1990s was politically so divisive as the question of whether Britain should enter the European Monetary Union (EMU). The Conservatives were deeply split on the issue, and Labour managed to maintain its unity only by pledging to join EMU ‘when the time was right’. After Britain’s ‘exit’ from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1992, it wanted longer to prepare the economy for monetary integration. Nevertheless, Labour took measures to prepare for it. Probably the first step was to surrender the power to set interest rates to the Bank of England. The advantages of entering EMU included lower interest rates, greater economic stability and possibly higher productivity. The dangers of staying out included the prospect that the financial markets would come to view sterling as weaker than the Euro. Yet there is also a strong case against entry. The loss of control over interest rates (which is an important instrument of fiscal policy) may mean, to some extent, a loss of sovereignty. Besides, Britain is unlike other EU members in the high proportion of mortgage holders (home owners with housing loans) who are very susceptible to interest rates. The limitation on government borrowing also seriously limits government’s options. Cultural and institutional terms. The Treaty of Rome (1957); the Treaty of Maastricht (1992); the Social Chapter; the European Community; the European Union; the single currency. Questions:
References: McDowall D. Britain in Close-Up. Longman Ltd., 2005. 8. The System of Education.
Cultural and institutional terms. 1.Primary and secondary education. The British educational system has much in common with that on the continent: 1) Full-time education is compulsory for children in their middle teens: parents are required by law to ensure that their children receive full-time education between the ages of 5 and 16 (in England, Scotland and Wales); 2) The academic year begins at the end of the summer; 3) Compulsory education is free of charge; 4) There are three stages of schooling: children move from primary school (the first stage) to secondary school (the second stage); the third stage (= the tertiary level) provides further and higher education (in colleges of further education, technical colleges, etc. and universities). The most important distinguishing features of education in Britain are 1) the lack of uniformity and 2) comparatively little central control. Central government does not prescribe a detailed plan of learning, books and materials to be used, nor does it dictate the exact hours of the school day, the exact days of holidays, etc. Many such details are left to the discretion of the individual institution or of the Local Education Authority (LEA). There is no countrywide system of nursery (i.e. pre-primary) schools. In some areas there are nursery schools and classes (e.g., reception classes in primary schools in England), providing informal education and play facilities, but they are not compulsory. The present Labour government is working to expand pre-school education. It wants all children to begin school with a basic foundation in what is known as ‘the three Rs’ (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic). The average child begins his or her compulsory education at the age of 5, starting primary school (‘infant schools’ are for children aged between 5 and 7 and ‘junior schools’ for those between 8 and 11). The majority of state secondary school pupils in England and Wales attend comprehensive schools which take pupils irrespective of ability or aptitude and provide a wide range of education for all (or most) children in a district. In a number of areas in England, some state-educated children still attend grammar or secondary modern schools, to which they are allocated after selection procedures at the age of 11. There also exists another type of schools, called specialist schools. They are state secondary schools specialising in technology, science and mathematics; sport; modern foreign languages; or the arts — of course, in addition to providing the full National Curriculum. The specialist schools programme in England was launched in 1993. There are some grant-maintained or voluntary aided secondary schools, called City Technology Colleges (CTCs) which are non-fee-paying (= free) independent secondary schools created by a partnership of government and private sector sponsors. Such colleges teach the National Curriculum, but mostly with an emphasis on mathematics, science and technology. Under the National Curriculum a greater emphasis at the secondary level is laid on science and technology. Accordingly, ten subjects have to be studied: English, history, geography, mathematics, science, a modern foreign language (at secondary level), technology (including design), music, art, and physical education. Three of these subjects (called the ‘core subjects’) were chosen for special attention: English, science, mathematics, seven other subjects are known as ‘foundation or statutory subjects’. Besides, subjects are grouped into departments: (1) Humanities Department: Geography, Media Studies, English Literature, Drama, History, Economics, PE, Social Science; (2) Science Department: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics; (3) Language Department: French, German, English Language; (4) Craft, Design and Technology Department: Computing, Information and Communications Technology, Home Economics, Photography. The latter (often known as CTD) brings together the practical subjects like cooking, woodwork, metalwork, etc. with the new technologies used in those fields. This subject area exemplifies the ‘process approach’ to learning introduced by the National Curriculum. Schools normally divide their year into three ‘terms’, starting at the beginning of September: Autumn term, Christmas holiday (about 2 weeks), Spring term, Easter holiday (about 2 weeks), Summer term, Summer holiday (about 6 weeks). Passage from one year to the next one is automatic. Classes of pupils are still called ‘forms’ (though it has recently become common to refer to ‘years’) and are numbered from one to six, beginning with ‘first form’. Nearly all schools work a five-day week. The day starts at or just before 9 o’clock and finishes between 3 and 4. The lunch break normally lasts about an hour-and-a-quarter. Nearly two-thirds of pupils have lunch provided by the school; parents pay for this, except for the 15 per cent who have it for free, because they are too poor to pay for it. Other children either go home for lunch or take sandwiches. At the age of 14, pupils are tested in English, maths and science, as well as in statutory subjects. At that same age they begin to choose their exam subjects and work for two years to prepare for their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications. The exams are usually taken at the age of 16 which is a crucial age for school-leavers, because they have to make important decisions as to their future lives and careers. 2.Educational reforms of the 1980s. The latest trends. In the late 1980s, the Conservative government introduced major changes to the system of education. Schools were now allowed to decide whether to remain as LEA-maintained schools or to ‘opt-out’ of their control and to put themselves directly under the control of the government department. These grant-maintained schools were financed directly by central government, which did not mean, however, that there was more central control than with other types of schools. They also introduced a new National Curriculum (see above). The growing importance of PSE (Personal and Social Education): since the 1970s, there has been a considerable emphasis on ‘pastoral’ care, i.e. education in areas related to ‘life skills’, such as health (prevention of drug abuse, sex education, etc.); there are usually one or two lessons a week. Education in Britain is not concentrated exclusively on academic study. Great value is placed on visits and activities, like organising a school club or field trips. The organisation of these activities by teachers is very much taken for granted in the British school system. Some teachers even give up their free time, evenings and weekends, to do this unpaid work. At Christmas, teachers organise concerts, parties and general festivities. Another important development in education administration in England and Wales was the School Standards and Framework Act (July 1998). The Act established that from 1 September 1999 all state school education would be provided by local education authorities, ending the separate category of ‘grant maintained’ institutions. 3.State-financed and independent schools. Today secondary education is largely provided by three types of state schools: secondary modern schools, grammar schools and (now predominant) comprehensive schools. State schools are absolutely free (including all textbooks and exercise books) and generally co-educational. Before 1965, a selective system of secondary education existed in England. Under that system a child of 11 had to take an exam (known as ‘an 11 plus’) which consisted of intelligence tests covering linguistic skills, as well as mathematical and general knowledge and which was to be taken by children in the last year of their primary schooling. The aim of the exam was to select between ‘academic’ and ‘non-academic’ children. Those who did well went on to a grammar school, while those who failed went to a secondary modern school. It was grammar schools that prepared children for national examinations, such as the ‘General Certificate of Education’ (GCE) at ordinary and advanced levels (O- and A-levels). These examinations qualified those who passed them for the better jobs, as well as for entry into higher education and then the professions. Education in secondary modern schools was largely based on practical skills, which would allow the school-leaver entry into a variety of skilled and unskilled jobs. Those who went to ‘secondary moderns’ were widely seen as ‘failures’. Many people complained that it was unfair for a child’s future to be decided at so young an age. Besides, it was noticed that the children who passed this exam were almost all from middle-class families. The Labour Party argued that the 11-plus examination was socially divisive, and when it returned to power in 1965, it abolished the 11-plus and began to introduce a new, non-selective education system based on comprehensive schools that were to provide schooling for children of all ability levels and from all social backgrounds. However, the final choice between selective and non-selective schooling was left to LEAs, some of which opted for comprehensives, while others retained grammar schools and secondary moderns. Many distinctive characteristics of British education are often ascribed to the public school tradition. Eton, Harrow, Rugby and Winchester are among the most famous public schools with hundreds of years of history. It is a fundamental principle of the system that a public school is its own community. In the 19th century, public schools educated the sons of the elite, i.e. the upper and upper-middle classes, and the main aim was to prepare young men to take up positions in the higher ranks of the army and the Church, to fill top jobs in the legal profession and the civil service, as well as in business and politics. Emphasis was made on ‘character-building’ and the encouragement of ‘team spirit’ rather than on academic performance. Public schools were (and still often are) boarding establishments, so they had a profound and lasting influence on their pupils, who later in their lives formed the core of the Establishment, a closed group into which it was difficult to penetrate. The 20th century brought possibilities for social advancement through education within everybody’s reach, and it was only natural that new, state schools tended to copy what they saw as the attractive features of the public schools, although some of them, such as learning for its own sake, rather than for any practical purpose, have clearly done more harm than good. The general style of teaching has traditionally been to develop understanding rather than acquiring factual knowledge and learning to apply it to specific tasks. This traditional public-school approach also helps to explain why the National Curriculum, the purpose of which was to do away with the disparities in the quality of education, was not introduced until 1989 - much later than in most other countries. 4.Further and higher education. “Oxbridge”. After the age of 16 young people who wish to continue with their education have two possibilities — one based on school and college education, and the other on work-based learning. About 70% choose to continue in full-time education. Broadly speaking, education after 16 is divided into further and higher education. Further (and adult) education is mostly vocational and covers courses up to and including General Certificate of Education (GCE) A level and AS qualifications, General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) Advanced level. Higher education covers advanced courses higher than GCE A level or its equivalent. Those who wish to go on to higher education stay on two years more into the Sixth form (the Lower Sixth for 17 year-olds and the Upper Sixth for18 year-olds). If their schools do not have the sixth form pupils may choose to go to a Sixth Form College. They concentrate in two or three subjects, in which they take the General Certificate of Education Advanced level (A-level) examinations. The number of subjects taken at A level varies between 1 and 4, although for entry into higher education three are usually required. Since 1988, there has been a new level of examination: the Advanced Supplementary (AS) exam which is worth half an ‘A-level’ and usually involves one year’s study. Pupils can take a combination of ‘A’ and ‘AS’ levels. E.g., an A-level arts student can still study science subjects at AS level. In 1992, there were introduced the General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) which are mainly undertaken by young people between the ages of 16 and 18 and focus on vocational skills such as information and technology, business and finance. There are three GNVQ levels — Advanced, Intermediate and Foundation; an Advanced GNVQ requires a level of achievement broadly equal to two GCE A levels. GNVQ courses are generally studied at Colleges of Further Education but more and more schools are also offering them. There is now greater enthusiasm for post-school education in Britain than ever before. A major aim of the government has been to increase the number of students who enter into higher education. It is commonly assumed that the more people study at degree level, the more likely the country is to succeed economically. About a third of all young people in England and Wales, and almost half of those in Scotland continue in education beyond the age of 18. The higher education sector provides a variety of courses up to degree and postgraduate level. It also carries out research. Higher education increasingly caters for older students (cf.: over 50 per cent of students in 1999 were aged 25 and over). Higher education is traditionally associated with universities, though University standard education is also given in other institutions, such as colleges and institutes of higher education, which have the power to award their own degrees. All universities in England and Wales, including Oxford and Cambridge (collectively known as ‘Oxbridge’), but with the exception of the small University of Buckingham, are state universities. |
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