The English Education System - A Historical Perspective

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2004 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Kultur und Landeskunde, Note: 1,3, Universität Paderborn (Fakultät für Kulturwissenschaften - Anglistik/Amerikanistik), Veranstaltung: Topics in Current British Affairs, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Innovation and knowledge have become the motivating forces for growing economies, therefore a country needs to provide an effective education system, which offers equal opportunities for all people and ensures that employees have the right skills to make their businesses be successful. In England lies the responsibility for the education service with the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) headed by the Secretary of State, Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP. In the foreword of this year's departmental report he makes the following statement: The practical challenge for all of us is to ensure that children's services [...] provide the very best for children throughout the system. It is a window of opportunity, which we must take full advantage of.1 This is one example showing that nowadays education plays an important role for and in the English society. During the last year record sums of money have been invested in education2 and Mr. Clarke proudly presented the fulfilment of ambitious targets in the annual report of the DfES. The performance of schools and pupils have been increased throughout the country. Early education is accessible for nearly all 3- year-olds. By implementing new key strategies like "21st Century Skills - Releasing our Potential" and "Every Child Matters" standards shall continue to improve and new opportunities shall be created.3 But are these "one size fits all" measures really tackling the problems of today's education system in England? Or is it rather an (anachronistic) approach to solving complex social problems (such as the education system) by standardised testing and targets? Can these "key strategies" and more money truly help to improve educational structures, which have evolved over the last two centuries? It is a fact that the education system in England is still far from perfect. Although more money is spent by the government, many schools seem to face financial difficulty.4 [...] 1 DfES, Departmental Report (2004): 5 2 Cf. DfES, Departmental Report (2004): 8 3 Cf. DfES, Departmental Report (2004): 5-6 4 Cf. Audit Commission, Education funding (2004): 18, 20