Table 1

Passage from one year to the next one is automatic. At the age of 14 pupils are test­ed in English, maths and science, as well as in statutory subjects.

" Streaming", i. e. dividing pupils into dif­ferent groups according to ability, is practiced in many schools. A few Local Educa­tion Authorities still send bright children to one school and slow learners to another (to a grammar school and a secondary mod­ern school, respectively), but now that the vast majority of schools are comprehensive (i. e. accept children of all abilities) the decisions have to be made within the schools. Very few teachers believe that it is possible to educate children of all abilities together if some are going to study advanced mathematics, for example. On the other hand, few teachers want to go back to rigid streaming where children were kept apart, and those at the bottom were always at the bottom. Rigid streaming is considered re­actionary in England and unfair to children who are denied opportunities for educational advancement because they are put into cat­egories at an early age. However, it is eas­ier to organise special help for slower chil­dren if they are all together in one group. And clever children like to work with clever children. So the schools are always facing a dilemma. The most common solution is to organise children into both classes of mixed ability and groups of similar ability, and to organise timetables in which they are mov­ing between classes and groups.

When they reach the age of 14—15, in the 3rd or 4th form, pupils begin to choose their exam subjects (called subject " op­tions") and work for two years to prepare for their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications. The exams are usually taken in the 5th form at the age of 16, which is a school-leaving age. Russian schoolchildren sometimes believe that life in British schools must be wonder­ful because pupils decide for themselves what they are going to study. Life is not quite so simple! The GCSE must be taken in " core subjects", plus three, four or five other subjects (usually chosen in discussion with teachers, from a list). But there is no " free choice" because of the timetables and demands for a coherent education. One of the subjects must be practical, another must be part of " social studies" — geography, history, etc. Academic pupils will be able to choose mostly academic subjects, those who find school work more difficult can concen­trate on practical and technical subjects.

The actual written (and sometimes prac­tical) exams (sometimes two papers in each subject) are set by independent examina­tion boards, and are marked anonymously by outside examiners, though they must be approved by the government and comply with national guidelines. There are several examination boards in Britain and each school decides which board's exam its pu­pils take.

Most exams last for two hours; marks are given for each exam separately. There is a complicated (and changing) system of mark­ing. Exams are usually marked out of 100, and then are " converted" into grades from A to G (grades A, B, C are considered to be " good" marks). This means that there is far less subjective impression of whether this or that pupil deserves a good mark or a not-so-good mark.

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