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NSC Home Page > EUAS Contents > 20 Types of educational institutions
Appendices
20 Types of educational institutions - students under 18 years old
Introduction
As summarised in the main report, there is a bewildering variety of titles and types of school and educational institutions - and the situation is becoming even more complicated by the day. In very broad terms, school life is divided into:
Primary level 5-11
Secondary level 11-16/18
Tertiary Level 16/18 and aboveIn addition to the above, some institutions straddle the above age-related divisions e.g. community schools/colleges, middle schools; some divide it up even further e.g. sixth form colleges and others are additional e.g. nursery schools and some preparatory schools.
Cutting across this structure, institutions can be divided into state maintained and independent (with a gradation between the two).
The type of body may or may not be significant in terms of its flexibility and willingness to participate in out-of-school activities, its relevance to the subject matter, its general policies and the level of funding available to support visits.
In addition to the above, some institutions straddle the above age-related divisions e.g. community schools/colleges, middle schools; some divide it up even further e.g. sixth form colleges and others are additional e.g. nursery schools and some preparatory schools.
Typical State maintained (or semi maintained) school titles
Titles of schools in this sector include primary, infants, junior, voluntary controlled, voluntary maintained, comprehensive, secondary, middle, foundation, specialist (subject name - e.g. "sports") college, academy, city academy, beacon, leading edge.
Independent school titles
They may be variously titled with a personal (often founder's) name or place name and the word "school", or "trust". "High" schools and "grammar" schools are often, but not always independent establishments.
Specialist schools
Schools with 'specialist status' began to be established after 1994. They are state schools. By focussing upon excellence in certain subject areas, secondary schools were able to claim substantial extra government funding for equipment etc. In return for this support, schools were set tough achievement targets, and if they under- perform, can lose the status.
The initial ones concentrated upon technology and were known as City Technology Colleges or Technology Colleges. The government's intention was that they should attract substantial partnership support from local industry, and thereby lift the standards particularly of inner city schools. The degree of funding anticipated overall was not achieved. In the later 1990s and especially since 2000, the range has been extended to cover specialists in language, sports, music, science, arts, mathematics and computing, business and enterprise, engineering. "Humanities" , covering geography, history and English has recently been added to this list.
By 2000 there were about 700 specialist schools. There are currently 1686 schools of this type (of which 1445 are operational), accounting for over half of all secondary schools and students in England.
The significance of this development to the present project is that some schools are likely to be particularly receptive to approaches from companies, notably those related to engineering, science, technology, business and enterprise and possibly humanities (where focusing upon geography). Those involved in other fields may not consider links quite as appropriate, but will still be faced with the universal requirement to teach science, geography, etc. as part of the National Curriculum. From recent statistics, technology accounted for 500 and Science 121 of the operating specialist schools.
Many specialist schools simply use the word "college" in their titles; this is somewhat confusing in the English context where (unlike USA), "college" is associated with post-school institutions. For more details and information on other types of specially designated schools e.g. academies, leading edge schools, training schools, beacon schools, visit www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools.
NB. Specialist schools should not be confused with "Special Schools" (see below).
Special Schools
Many children with special educational needs have traditionally attended "special schools". These needs may present emotional or behaviourial learning difficulties on account of physical or sensual disabilities or socially challenging behaviour. Recent government policy has been to encourage "inclusivity" by indicating that wherever possible, pupils should be accommodated in "mainstream" schools, albeit with additional specialist support where necessary. This is based largely on the premise that these pupils and those traditionally attending mainstream schools will both benefit from experiencing each other's situations and learning opportunities. However some experts advocate that when students have profound or multiple learning difficulties, there is still a strong case for the care and provision tailored to specific needs, as offered by special schools and that such establishments should be retained. Currently some individual pupils attend both special, and conventional schools, where subject matter and provision permits.In all cases, the Disability Discrimination Act applies.
Faith Schools
Faith schools are those which have as a prime objective, teaching from a particular religious standpoint. They may or may not be state or partially state-funded. Where state funded, they have to teach the National Curriculum. All are inspected by government appointed inspectors to maintain the quality of education. The largest groups relate to the Church of England and Catholic denominations but also include those concentrating upon Evangelical, Methodist, Jewish, Muslim-based teaching. In this connection, some teachers may not agree with (in some instances, vehemently) or feel comfortable with otherwise conventional Darwinian approaches towards geology, including ages of rocks expressed in millions of years, the origins of life and in particular, fossils as indicators of evolutionary trends.Non-State (non-maintained) Schools
Non-state education in England accounts for 7-8% of the school population and is mainly delivered in private sector/independent schools, plus a very small element (c.100,000 pupils) by home-based tuition. Although those involved in this sector are not required to apply the National Curriculum, most and particularly those in the main independent groups such as Woodard, utilise this format as this ensures compliance with independent school inspection criteria, permits easier interchange between state and non-state sectors. It also forms the basis for most published course texts and publicly recognised examinations. Even where NC usage is not universal, there is a tendency for such schools to employ the NC for the more 'technical' subjects, especially science.Although relatively small numerically, favourable staff pupil ratios, sometimes better teaching resources, in many cases a more flexible approach to out of school activities (e.g. Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Outward Bound type activities, subject clubs) and also in some cases, the range of subjects taught (including 'minority' subjects such as geology), means that the independent sector tends to indulge to a greater degree in geological and other fieldwork. As the geographical spread of such schools is not uniform (e.g. accounting for up to a quarter of the school population in some south eastern counties) this may have disproportionate implications for the out of school activities in particular areas of the country.
To some extent, some of the more traditional schools in the maintained sector e.g. some grammar and high schools, follow similar practice.