Mother-teenager situation Self-determination 4 страница
The results at the end of the Key Stage 3 help the choice of what subjects to take for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). GCSE grades – from G to A – are awarded at the end of the two-year course.
The School Examinations and Assessment Council has been established to keep under review all aspects of examinations and assessment in England and Wales.
After the age of 16, when education is no longer compulsory, young people have a variety of choices. Some 70 per cent stay in education, either at school or at further education colleges. Others go into work. If 16 year olds plan to go on to study for a degree A and AS levels are the normal route. The work done for an AS (Advanced Supplementary) level is of the same standard as an A (Advanced) level and is as challenging. But an AS level has only half the content of an A level, and takes only half the teaching and study time. So, two AS levels count for the same as A level.
Further Education
Young people who decide to stay on in education at the age of 16 usually move into further education (FE ). The majority of students, however, are adults studying part-time. FE is provided by a diverse range of institutions, including:
- sixth forms in secondary schools and sixth form colleges ( in England and Wales only );
- general further education colleges;
- agricultural and horticultural colleges;
- art and design colleges;
- specialist institutions such as the College of the Sea.
Colleges vary in size and in the breadth of curriculum they offer. Typically, a large FE college offers a highly flexible and comprehensive platform for lifelong learning, catering for both young people and adults and offering academic, vocational and professional qualifications in most subjects from foundation to degree level. Most courses are available full-time, part-time or by distance learning.
The Further Education Charter sets out national targets which all colleges are expected to meet. It tells local employers and members of the local community what service they have a right to expect from a college.
ASSIGNMENTS
1) In what ways does the state education system in Russia differ from that in England?
2) Compare the private sector of education in England with that in Russia.
3) What do you think are the pros and cons of having a separate system of education for those who can afford it?
Task 3. Complete the text using suitable words from the list below.
lesson education geography lunch
school classes curriculum teaching
breaks pupils sports exam
School …(1)… could be cut and children will have to spend more hours at …(2)… if a planned shake-up of school hours goes ahead.
Kenneth Baker, Minister of …(3)…, thinks children are not working hard enough, which could mean a move over to the ‘continental day’ with school starting at 8.30 or even 8.00 a.m. He says total …(4)… times vary too much between schools – some fall short of his recommended minimum by 3 hours or more. There is also scientific proof that …(5)… appear to learn more easily in the morning and …(6)… results improve. As part of his national …(7)… he also wants increased lesson time for sciences, languages, history and …(8)… .
Some schools like Tideway Comprehensive in Newhaven, have experimented with their school day to fit in more hours. …(9)… start at 8.30 a.m. and last until 2.15 p.m. They get one 15-minute mid-morning break and only 35 minutes for …(10)… . All …(11)… are after school.
Mr Baker recommends the minimum hours of …(12)… a week should be: 21 hours for 5-7 year olds, 23.5 hours for 8-13 year olds and 25 hours for 14-16 year olds.
Task 4.Read the text below and do the tasks that follow it.
PRESCHOOLS:
MONTESSORI VS. WALDORF
Jan Faull, a child development and behavior specialist, is in her 20th year as a parent education instructor and public speaker. She is also the author of the recently published book MOMMY! I HAVE TO GO POTTY!: A PARENT'S GUIDE TO TOILET TRAINING.
In this article she gives brief overview of the difference between Montessori, Waldorf and some other «brands» of preschool!
THE MONTESSORI METHOD
Montessori schools were started in 1907 by an Italian woman named Maria Montessori.
Programs that carry her name vary significantly, although the teachers should be trained in the Montessori method. Many Montessori schools are preschools only, others go through the eighth grade.
As an example, here's how Kathy Cox, director of Bellevue Montessori School in Bellevue, Washington, explains her school:
In each classroom there is family-style grouping; children ages three to five are together.
The learning materials available were designed by Maria Montessori for a specific purpose and developmental age. In the classroom, there are four distinct areas:
1. Practical life. Here the children learn to pour and stir, cut and paste, use the art easel and the like. The focus is on learning concentration, and refining large and fine motor skills.
2. Sensory materials. Children work with objects that teach size and color discrimination. For example, one child would put a series of different-sized cylinders in a row from largest to smallest. Children also learn to track from left to right, which is important for reading
3. Language and reading. In this center, children learn letters phonetically. They learn with their eyes and ears, and also by touching letters cut from sandpaper.
4. Math. Children learn to count, add and subtract by manipulating objects such as beads or beans. They also are taught to recognize numbers.
The most important aspect of the Montessori method, says Cox, is that teachers respect the children and the work they do, and don't talk down to them.
WALDORF SCHOOLS
The Waldorf schools were founded by Rudolph Steiner in the first part of the 20th century, and they are established in many countries across the globe. Their goal is to cultivate children as world citizens.
Here's how Edith Kusnic, administrator of the Waldorf School in Seattle, Washington, describes their program:
The same teacher follows the children from prekindergarten through eighth grade. (The Waldorf School in Seattle goes through eighth grade, but of the 600 schools worldwide, many continue through high school.) The curriculum integrates math, reading, science and history during the morning «main lesson,» which is in-depth, multidimensional learning on a single subject. The subject area changes every three weeks.
Cultivating the imagination takes a primary focus; the «main lesson» curriculum unfolds with stories that go from fairy tales to myths and legends to understanding socialization. The focus is on developing the child's «heart, head and hands.» Any subject, such as pioneer life, would focus not just on the facts. It would include information about what people did with their hands, and how they felt.
Most important, the school strives to develop confidence and competence, not only in the academic areas but also in arts, including handwork, music and woodworking.
OTHER OPTIONS
In addition to Waldorf and Montessori schools, there are cooperative preschools in which parents run the business of the school, hire the teachers and participate in the classroom. Another option is a religious preschool attached to a temple or church. Some teachers run preschools out of their own home. The options are endless.
[A].Find the English equivalents for the following.
– дошкольные учреждения;
– специалист по психологии развития ребенка;
– группы по модели семьи;
– дидактический материал;
– период развития ребенка;
– совершенствовать моторные навыки;
– различение цветов;
– говорить с кем-либо свысока;
– вырастить (детей);
– многоаспектное изучение предмета;
– стремиться развивать.
[B].Discuss the following:
– Which school would you send your kid to: Montessori, Waldorf, or traditional?
– How do you think the correlation between work and play should change at different stages of schooling if at all (all work / no play; all play / no work)?
Task 5. Render the following text in English:
Интеллектуальное меньшинство
Одаренных детей немного – по данным статистики, всего 2% от общего числа рождающихся. Они проявляют удивительную одаренность не в какой-нибудь одной из областей знания или творчества. Они из тех, про которых говорят: «За что ни возьмется, все получается…» Этим малышам неинтересны частности – они могут не дорешать задачку, если поняли, как она решается. Им доставляет наслаждение сам процесс мышления. И это – один из основных признаков, по которому можно понять: у вас необычный ребенок.
Американцы десять лет назад протестировали в нашей стране людей разного возраста на предмет творческого мышления. Оказалось, что самый высокий уровень – у детей до семи лет.
Увы, дети с необычными способностями раздражают педагогов. Они требуют особого внимания, вечно задают неудобные вопросы – в общем, мешают работать. Винить учителей тоже нельзя. Когда в классе 30 человек, педагог вынужден ориентироваться на среднестатистический уровень, а «схватывающего на лету» занимать дополнительными заданиями. Обычная школа одаренных детей либо ломает, либо заставляет притворяться «такими как все», - и в том, и в другом случае ребенок переживает драму.
Лицеи, гимназии и специализированные школы – не выход. Во-первых, чаще всего они специализируются на какой-либо одной дисциплине. Во-вторых, как правило, принимают детей хорошо подготовленных, а не быстро обучаемых, что не одно и то же. А в-третьих, учат как в обычной школе, только дают больший объем информации.
Для одаренных детей в Туле была открыта Материнская школа. Она создана по модели семьи – в ней 5 групп, в каждой из которых по 12 детей, причем разного возраста. Принимают в нее малышей от трех лет.
Здесь они получают начальное образование. Каждый учится в своем темпе и имеет возможность при необходимости переходить из группы в группу. Таким образом, в выпускном «классе» может оказаться и шестилетний, и десятилетний ребенок. Никаких оценок, контрольных, лабораторных и т.п. Только творческие работы и «дневник успеха», где тщательно анализируется процесс интеллектуального развития ребенка.
Принимают сюда, конечно, не всех. Критерии отбора – коммуникативность, уровень развития речи, широта представлений о мире, неординарность и скорость мышления, обучаемость и еще многое другое. Как правило, дети раскрываются после первой же беседы с психологом. И даже если талантливый ребенок уже пострадал из-за своей необычности (в детском саду, в школе, общаясь со сверстниками или взрослыми) и успел замкнуться в себе, в Материнской школе он быстро отходит и становится свободным и естественным.
(Молодой Коммунар, 27 мая 2000 г.)
Task 6. Read the text and answer the comprehensive questions based on it:
THE PUBLIC SECTOR OF BRITISH SCHOOLING
The public (in fact private fee-paying) schools form the backbone of the independent sector. Of the several hundred public schools, the most famous are the ‘Clarendon Nine’. Their status lies, for the British, in a fatally attractive combination of social superiority and antiquity, as the dates of their foundation indicate: Winchester (1382), Eton (1440), St Paul’s (1509), Shrewsbury (1552), Westminster (1560), The Merchant Taylors’ (1561), Rugby (1567), Harrow (1571) and Charterhouse (1611).
The golden age of the public schools, however, was the end of the nineteenth century, when most were founded. They were vital to the establishment of a particular outlook and set of values by the dominant professional middle classes. These values were famously reflected in Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, written in tribute to his own happy time at Rugby School. Its emphasis is on the making of gentlemen to enter one of the professions: law, medicine, the Church, the Civil Service or colonial service. A career in commerce, or “mere money making” as it is referred to in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, was not to be considered. As a result of such values, the public school system was traditional in its view of learning, and deeply resistant to science and technology. Most public schools were located in the countryside, away from industrial cities.
After 1945 but before the introduction of comprehensives, when state-maintained grammar schools were demonstrating equal or greater academic excellence, the public schools began to modernise themselves. During the 1970s most of them abolished beating and ‘fagging’, the system whereby new boys carried out menial tasks for senior boys, and many introduced girls into sixth form, as a civilising influence. They made particular efforts to improve their academic and scientific quality.
Demand for public school education is now so great that many schools register babies’ names at birth. Eton maintains two lists, one for the children of ‘old boys’ and the other for outsiders. There are three applicants for every vacancy. In 1988, for example, there were 203 names down for only 120 places at Radley School in the year 2000. But such schools are careful not to expand to meet demand. In the words of one academic, “Schools at the top of the system have a vested interest in being elitist. They would lose that characteristic if they expanded. To some extent they pride themselves on the length of their waiting lists.” This rush to private education is despite the steep rise in fees, for example 31 per cent between 1995 and 1998. In order to obtain a place at a public school, children must take a competitive examination, called ‘Common Entrance’. In order to pass it, most children destined for a public school education attend a preparatory (or 'prep')’school until the age of 13.
There can be no doubt that a better academic education can be obtained in some of the public schools. But the argument that parents will not wish to pay (by 1990 average boarding public school fees were over £7,000 annually) once state schools offer equally good education is misleading, for it suggests a simple solution. The background from which pupils come greatly affects the encouragement received to study. Middle-class parents are likely to be better able, and more concerned, to support their children’s study than low-income parents who themselves feel they failed at school.
State-maintained schools must operate with fewer resources, in more difficult circumstances, particularly in low-income areas. In addition, the public school system creams off many of the ablest teachers from the state sector. As the head of one teachers’ union remarked, “If the independent sector recruits some of the most able state school teachers, then the outlook for the larger maintained sector is very bleak indeed.”
The most serious complaint against the public school system is that it is socially divisive. Intentionally or not, it breeds an atmosphere of elitism, leaving many outside the system feeling socially or intellectually inferior, and in some cases intimidated by the prestige attached to public schools. In 1988 a television documentary was made of an exchange for two weeks between pupils at Rugby School and at a Liverpool comprehensive. Horror was expressed by both groups at the alien culture of the other. The Liverpuddlian pupils spoke ‘Scouse’, the dialect of Liverpool, while Rugby’s pupils spoke RP, the accent of the educated upper middle class. Rugby boys found the comprehensive school and its environment characterless, as indeed much of Britain must seem to children coming from highly privileged backgrounds. The comprehensive pupils regarded Rugby as old-fashioned, formal and rigidly disciplined. Neither side liked what they found.
The old public schools still dominate public life, and because of their recovery in the late 1970s, seem likely to do so for some time to come. In 1983 Eton produced the Governor of the Bank of England, the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Editor of The Times, and the heads of the home Civil Service and of the diplomatic service. Winchester continued to produce a substantial number of senior judges. As Anthony Sampson asks, “Can the products of two schools [Winchester and Eton], it might be asked, really effectively represent the other 99.5 per cent of the people in this diverse country who went to neither mediaeval foundation?”
Alongside the criticism that public schools are socially divisive must also be the fact that the very best intellectual material is not necessarily among the independent school 7 per cent. Even a century after it tried to turn its pupils into gentlemen, the public school culture still discourages, possibly unconsciously, its pupils from entering industry. “It is no accident”, as Sampson comments, “that most formidable industrialists in Britain come from right outside the public school system, and many from right outside Britain.” Britain will be unable to harness its real intellectual potential until it can break loose from a divisive culture that should belong in the past, and can create its future elite from the nation’s schoolchildren as a whole.
(from Britain in Close-up)
1. What is the status of public schools for the British? When were most of them founded?
2. What brought public schools into existence? What are the priorities of public schools? How did it influence the choice of core subjects?
3. How were public schools modernised before the introduction of comprehensives?
4. How great is the demand for public schools? What is the route to the public school? Why do public schools not expand?
5. Why do they cause a lot of controversy?
6. Why does the problem of teaching staff shortage arise in state-maintained schools?
7. What is the most serious complaint against the public school system?
8. What was the educational experiment that was made into a TV documentary? What clash between two school systems did it reveal in terms of language, attitude and motivation?
9. What intellectual material do public schools produce?
10. What is the road to success for Britain in creation of future elite?
Task 6 [A]. Find the words in the text to fit the definitions given below:
1) part of something that gives it its main strength and unity;
2) something that you say, do, or make to show your admiration and respect for somebody;
3) a group of moral principles and beliefs;
4) very boring and tiring;
5) a list of people who have asked for something which cannot be given to them immediately;
6) a very strong reason of acting in a particular way, for example, to protect your money, power, or reputation;
7) very big;
8) planned to happen;
9) to take people away and treat them in a special way, because they are better than the others;
10) causing hostility and argument between people;
11) to cause something bad to develop;
12) to bring something under control and use it;
13) to make somebody deliberately frightened enough to do what you want them to do;
14) bad, gloomy
Task 6 [B]. Complete the sentences with the words you picked up in Task 6[A].
1. The Health Secretary called for return to a _____ of traditional family _____ .
2. The article dwelt on low paid _____ jobs, such as cleaning and domestic work.
3. Over 9,000 ex-servicemen and women marched past in _____ to their fallen comrades.
4. The small business people of Britain are the economic _____ of the nation.
5. The private schools ____ many of the students.
6. Attempts to _____ people into voting for the governing party didn’t work.
7. Many predicted a ____ future.
8. There were 20,000 people on the _____ for a home.
9. Everybody knew that Muriel was _____ for great things.
10. The administration has no _____ in providing public schools good or bad.
11. Consumers are rebelling at _____ price increases.
12. Abortion has always been a _____ issue.
13. The movement tries to _____ the anger of all Ukrainians.
14. Reminding all concerned that violence ____ violence they repeat their appeal for calm and restraint.
Task 7.Fill in the prepositions in the text and comment on the problem areas touched upon in it:
PARENTS NOW SPEND MORE THAN £100M ON TUTORING
Thousands …… British parents have spurned independent schools, …… political or financial reasons, while appearing to lack complete confidence …… the state sector. The quest …… superior exam grades and intense competetion …… places …… the best secondary schools has led …… a boom …… the demand …… private totors. Spending …… their services has now reached more than £100 million a year. One visible measure of the growth is afforded …… a glance …… the Yellow Pages, where the space devoted …… adverts …… tutors has expanded tenfold over the past decade.
Recent research …… Diane Reay, from Kings College, London, found that up …… 65 per cent …… pupils …… some schools were receiving private coaching, paying rates from £15 to £36 an hour – a total …… more than £2,000 a year. Many parents are sanguine …… such bills, given that independent school fees can cost more than £18,000 a year.
Demand is particularly high in London, where schools’ catchment areas often cover deprived areas: about 44 per cent …… inner London pupils are poor enough to be eligible …… free school meals, compared …… a national figure …… of 17 per cent. …… average incomes almost 50 per cent higher in the capital, parents are prepared to pay.
Candidates …… places at popular secondary schools are routinely tutored. At Henrietta Barnett school in North London, where 900 applicants chase 90 places, almost all …… the hopefuls are thought to receive some form …… coaching.
(The Times, April 25, 2002)
Task 8.Translate into English:
Родиной классического образования по праву считается Великобритания. Частные школы в этой стране по-прежнему строги и академичны. Начинают учить детей, как в России, с семилетнего возраста. В 11 лет дети сдают экзамены, которые определяют их дальнейшую судьбу: чем выше окажутся полученные баллы, тем больше шансов продолжить дальнейшее обучение в престижных школах. К их числу относятся известные далеко за пределами Великобритании Eton College, Westminster School и Winchester College (для мальчиков), ROEDEAN (для девочек), Lancing College, FETTES College. В них почитают за честь учиться дети лордов. Записываться в эти школы надо заранее, в Eton College, например,– сразу после рождения ребенка, поскольку очередь туда на много лет вперед.
Сегодня и российские граждане могут попасть в престижные английские школы. Однако не стоит думать, что достаточно лишь кругленькой суммы денег (кстати, в среднем обучение стоит $5,600 за семестр). Главное – знания. Если вы хотите определить свое чадо в самую престижную английскую школу, необходимо сначала дать ему отличное знание языка и пройти тестирование по основным предметам.
При поступлении в престижный британский вуз вместо вступительных экзаменов абитуриенты проходят тестирование и предъявляют результаты сданных в школе экзаменов на A-Level (минимум три предмета). В течение двух последних лет учебы школьник готовит для сдачи A-Level именно те предметы, которые он планирует изучать в университете.
Task 9.Read the article about single-sex education in the USA and be ready to discuss advantages and disadvantages of this sort of education.
BOYS WILL BE BOYS
SINGLE-SEX EDUCATION –
AN IDEA THAT MAY BE WORTH TRYING
It is not for nothing that the phrase "separate but equal" rings alarm bells for many American women. For nearly a century, federally condoned bigotry knew no finer name: girls were separated from boys and dumped in schools better equipped for needlework than for higher mathematics. Nowadays, the educational rights of girls have improved considerably - so much so, in fact, that people are thinking about separating the sexes again, this time by choice.
On May 8th, as part of George Bush's proposals for school reform, the Department of Education released a "notice of intent to regulate", indicating that it will allow public schools to offer same-sex classes. There are currently only 11 single-sex public schools in the country. The idea has been viewed as dangerous ever since 1972, when Congress formally banned sex discrimination in schools. Although the law - known as Title IX- did not ban same-sex schools, most schools have worried that they would get sued if they tried it.
The new guidelines will encourage the schools to experiment more with same-sex classes, and then possibly pave the way for more same-sex schools. Title IX remains a great totem of the left. One sign of change is that a bevy of women senators from both parties are in favour. One prominent backer is that bastion of feminism, Hillary Clinton; though it is said that she only supports single-sex schooling because it may make public schools better, and stop parents fleeing (vouchers in hand) for the private sector.
Single-sex schools flourish in the private sector, and students who attend them do better than average in tests. That could be because most are in the private sector. But their supporters claim that students work harder when they are free of the distractions of trying to impress, put down or seduce the opposite sex. It is also easier to abandon gender stereotypes: girls in all-girl schools are more likely to study maths and science, boys in all-boy schools become more involved in theatre. Dr Leonard Sax, the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Single Sex Public Education, even claims a neurological reason for his cause: girls and boys mature at different rates, so they need different teaching methods
The arguments against single-sex education come primarily from civil-rights and women's groups who oppose publicly-funded segregation on principle. They fear that gender stereotyping will increase. A report by the Ford Foundation lambasted a Californian experiment in single-sex schooling for problem students in 1998 for sustaining certain "gendered perceptions" and for lacking a "gender equity-driven agenda" - wording which says more about the authors' education than that of the pupils concerned.
With enemies such as these, single-sex schooling is hard not to love. Like another controversial idea, school vouchers, it will hardly solve all America's education problems. But it is surely worth a go.
Task 10.Look at this school report of a twelve-year-old girl. What are her strong and weak points at school?
What other subjects did you study that aren't included here? Which subjects did you like or dislike most at school?
Write an imaginary report on a pupil’s achievements in English as a school subject.
WINTERSIDE SCHOOL
SUMMER TERM 2001
AGE:12 CLASS:3 B
Language B+
Claudia has worked hard throughout the school year, and has made noticeable progress. She has become more confident in her own abilities and is always keen to express her opinions in class. This has led to a distinct improvement in her oral skills. She is also a very competent reader - she is quick to absorb and understand what she reads. Although she has handed in some good examples of creative writing, she must realise that handwriting and presentation are also important. There is a need for improvement here.
Mathematics C-
Claudia has found Maths hard going this year. Although her arithmetic continues to be good, she has experienced difficulties in understanding some of the more advanced concepts which are important at this level.
Science C-
Claudia has not made as much effort as she could have this year. Progress has been disappointingly slow. Her homework and written work in general have been carelessly presented and full of inaccuracies.
History C+
Claudia must learn to organise her work more effectively Some of her ideas were not carefully enough thought out and expressed.
Art B+
Claudia has produced original and creative work - a great improvement on last year. Well done, Claudia!
Music A
She has.worked well throughout the year and made considerable progress. She has natural ability and a particular talent for playing stringed instruments. Excellent.
P.E. B+
Claudia works well, is keen and has shown good coordination. She has a competitive instinct which should help her to succeed.