Synopsis of article in The Sunday Times

Synopsis of article in The Sunday Times, August 13, 2006

The school system in Britain is divided into primary and secondary schools. Children attend six levels of primary and six levels of secondary. School is compulsory until the age of 16. In parallel to the state system there is also a large independent private sector, historically dating back to the days of the boarding schools where children lived in the school for 12 weeks 3 trimesters a year. Now most independent schools are day schools and children do not live in the school.

At the age of 16 students sit O-level (Ordinary level) exams and at the age of 18 they sit A-levels (Advanced level). Because subjects are treated much more in-depth at A-level, students will sit fewer A-levels. If the student plans to go to university, the A-levels chosen will reflect the subject area they are intending to study there.

At A-level students can choose whatever subjects they want, including rare foreign languages, arts and crafts and more esoteric subject areas. The overall mark is made up of results from continuous assessment in classwork over the 2 years leading to the exam, as well as the exam result itself. Students can resit the exam however many times they want.

O-levels and A-levels have always been the standard exams of the English educational system, like the baccalaureate in France and the panhellenian exams in Greece.

In Scotland the system is slightly different where, instead of A-levels, students sit Scottish Highers, one year after their O-levels.