UK & US Education Systems

UK Education Systems

Below you’ll find our briefing on the major differences between UK and US education systems, including information on the national curriculum, grading and examinations, as well as links to additional resources. Primary and Secondary (K-12) Education More than 90% of students in the UK attend publicly-funded state schools. Approximately 8.5 million children attend one of the 30,000 schools in England and Wales; in Scotland, 830,000 children attend about 5,000 schools, including pre-schools and other special education schools; and Northern Ireland sends 350,000 children to 1,300 state schools. Primary schools usually include both girls and boys as pupils. Secondary schools may be either single-sex or co-educational. Education departments in England, Scotland and Wales fund schools through a Local Education Authority (or Education Authority in Scotland). In Northern Ireland, schools are largely financed from public funds through five Education and Library Boards. National Curriculum in England, Wales and Northern Ireland By law, all children between ages 5 and 16 must receive a full-time education. The UK introduced a National Curriculum in 1992 and state schools are required to adhere to it until students reach age 16. However, independent schools are not obliged to do so. National Curriculum core subjects are: English, mathematics and science; Welsh is a core subject in Welsh-speaking schools. Foundation subjects are design and technology; information and communication technology; history; geography; modern foreign languages; music; art and design; physical education; religious education; and citizenship. Northern Ireland follows a similar framework; however, schools can develop additional curriculum elements to express their particular ethos and meet pupils' individual needs and circumstances. The curriculum also includes the Irish language in Irish-speaking schools. After five years of secondary education, students take examinations in a range of subjects at the level of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The GCSE is a single-subject examination set and marked by independent examination boards. Students usually take up to ten (there is no upper or lower limit) GCSE examinations in different subjects, including mathematics and English language. After taking GCSEs, students may leave secondary schooling; alternatively, they may choose to continue their education at vocational or technical colleges, or they may take a higher level of secondary school examinations known as AS-Levels after an additional year of study. Following two years of study, students may take A-Level (short for Advanced Level) examinations, which are required for university entrance in the UK. Scotland Scotland has its own qualification framework that is separate from that in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. After seven years of primary education and four years of compulsory secondary education, students aged 15 to 16 may take the Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE).  The Scottish Certificate of Education is recognized throughout the UK as the equivalent to GCE A-levels and is usually the entry qualification for university. For more information about Scotland’s education system, visit Learning and Teaching in Scotland or EducationUK Scotland for information about higher education. Grades and Transcripts The American concept of a school transcript is unfamiliar in the UK. Schools in the UK do not generally rank pupils within their year; currently, the principal standards are the GCSE, SCE and AS and A-Level examination results. There is no official method of equating British and American primary and secondary educational qualifications. The educational systems are entirely different and attempts to compare them must be done on a strictly provisional basis. However, in general 5 GCSE's or the Scottish Certificate of Education-Standard Grade passes are considered to weigh closest to the American high school diploma. For more information on English examinations, please visit the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, which is the largest of the three English examination bodies. For information on Northern Ireland’s examination policy, please visit the Council on Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment, or for more about Scotland’s grading procedures, you can review the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s website. Post-secondary and Higher Education Approximately 1.8 million students are currently enrolled in the UK higher education system; about one third of young people go on to higher education at age 18 (with almost 50% of students in Scotland), and an increasing number of "mature" students are studying either full-time or part-time for university degrees. Higher education is a current policy priority for the government, with a target set to attract 50% of 18- to 30-year-olds to higher education by 2010. Undergraduate degrees take three years to complete in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while at Scottish universities they last four years. At the graduate level, a master's degree is normally earned in a single year, a research master's degree takes two years and a doctoral degree is often completed in three years. Professional courses, such as medicine, veterinary medicine, law and teaching, usually are undertaken as five-year undergraduate degrees.