1. The UK Education System Structure and organisation2.

2. General point The UK is divided into counties
Historically the county councils have been responsible for providing education for children.
The money has come from local rates and money from central Government.
Overtime the Government has wanted to have more control over education.
The reason for this was politics. Education became a vote puller. But what also pulls votes can also lose votes.
Governments have tried to find ways of by-passing local education committees.

3. Reality of the situation - Benn and Chitty 1997
This couple - Caroline and Clive did research in 1997 which viewed the overall structure within UK secondary education. Their work was begun in 1994 and included a survey of Gov. Statistics and some questionnaires.

4. The reality they found was that the UK has a diverse education system within its four countries.
Northern Ireland has no Comps – [until 2008]
Scotland has its own exam system.
Grammar schools still exist for 3.6% of the school population.
Comps are 79%, [99% in Scotland and Wales].
Private education is roughly 10% of the school population.
10% of pupils are being educated within Faith schools.
Within England the LEAS have been able to interpret Government legislation in an individual way to suit the make-up of the locality.  
Source = Benn & Chitty ‘97

5. And also found…
Research by Glatter, Woods and Bagley also in 1997 concluded that the UK has many local education systems rather than one national system. A complicated and diverse system.

6. So in 2007
Comprehensives still exist but are now called specialist schools.
Grammar schools exist – about 159 of them.
Secondary Moderns exist but are usually called comprehensives.
Academies exist using P.F.I. funding and direct Gov. money.
Faith schools exist – but only for Christians and Jews (36).
There are no plans to abolish Grammar schools.
The Academies cause controversy because they reduce local control of education. [Follow the links page on the education site of the web site].
The Department for Education and Skills has been renamed the Dept for children, schools and families.
Grammar schools are set to end in N.I. in 2008.
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