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welcome to my brand new series britain
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explained where i'll guide you through
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different aspects of british culture
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today we're looking at the british
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education system and i'm going to show
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you how this country learns so if you're
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ready let's do this hello welcome to eat
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sleep dream english if you haven't met
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me before my name is Tom and I teach
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fresh modern British English so that you
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can take your English to the next level
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and achieve your life goals today we'll
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look here at the British education
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system and I'm going to break down how
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it works in 15 steps so let's get to
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number one the first thing to know is
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that education is compulsory from the
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ages of five to 16 that means that
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everybody in the country has to go to
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school in 1988 the National Curriculum
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was introduced the National Curriculum
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is a framework for learning it was
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brought into standardized learning
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across the country so that all students
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were learning the same things in Britain
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we have two main types of schools we
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have state schools and private schools
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or independent schools a state school is
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a school that's free it's open to
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everybody
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it's government-funded and you don't
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have to pay so it's for anybody to
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attend now the other type of school is a
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private school or independent school
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these are fee paying schools so students
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are expected to pay fees per term and
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they don't have to follow the National
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Curriculum
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so strictly whereas in the state school
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they have to follow the National
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Curriculum in addition to private
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schools or independent schools we also
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have public schools these are a group of
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schools that are the most expensive the
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most elite if you will for example we've
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got Eton Harrow Cheltenham ladies
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college these are the kinds of schools
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that royalty go to for example Prince
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Harry and Prince William both went to
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Eton so it sounds like they should be
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free like public school but in fact it's
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the opposite so when with five years old
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we go to primary school primary school
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is the first school you're going to it's
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from five to eleven years old
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in America they would call primary
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school elementary school but over here
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primary school now when you get to 11
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that's when you go to secondary school
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secondary school secretary school is
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from 11 to 16 or sometimes 18 as well in
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America they call that a high school but
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here secondary school in most places in
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Britain you go to a comprehensive school
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which is open to everybody but in some
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places we still use the system of
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grammar schools and Secondary Modern now
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a grammar school is generally more
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academic whereas the secondary modern is
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more vocational when you finish primary
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school you will take a an exam called
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the 11 plus and that will decide if you
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go to a grammar school or a secondary
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modern as I say this is only in some
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areas in Britain generally certainly in
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London where I live we have
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comprehensive schools which is just for
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everybody I know it's getting a bit
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complicated but stick with me so
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secondary schools you have comprehensive
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schools or if you're in some areas in
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grammar school or secondary modern now
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when you get to 16 that's when you do
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your first big exams we call these GCSEs
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General Certificate of Secondary
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Education generally you take about nine
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subjects you have to take English you
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have to take maths and I think science
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in some places and then you get to
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choose so if it's awful I chose
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geography history French things like
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that it's graded from a start is the top
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to a B C and so on I remember getting 1a
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I got one name the rest B's which I was
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happy with at 16 you then get to choose
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if you want to continue with school or
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leave school and maybe start a job or do
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something else so between the ages of 16
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and 18 we have something called sixth
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form 6th form these are the top two
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years of the school you have the lower
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sick and then you go to the upper sick
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that's the highest class at school in
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sixth form you do something called a
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levels now if you study for two years
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you'll get an A level if you study for
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one year you're getting a s level
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generally you do about three or four a
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levels I remember I did I did I think I
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do for a levels and again you can get a
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star's A's B's C's etc that's how its
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graded in Scotland that they don't do a
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levels they do something called hires
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hires now this aged between 16 and 18
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you can choose to stay in your secondary
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school but we also have something called
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a
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college or Sixth Form College as it's
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also known where you can go and study
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your a-levels this can get bit confusing
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because I know in America colleges are
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what we call universities but our word
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college has a few other meanings in this
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case the Sixth Form College is for 16 to
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18 year olds there are some colleges
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that follow the international
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baccalaureate system the IB system and
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in some places you can choose to follow
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that system rather than the a-level
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system if you're not interested in doing
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academic subjects then you can do
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vocational subjects we have something
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called a BTech or NVQ or apprenticeships
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and you can do subjects like plumbing or
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carpentry things like that perhaps more
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practical skills that lead into a job in
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Britain there are a number of faith
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schools these are schools that are
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connected to a religion the majority are
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Church of England schools but there are
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also schools from other religions like
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Catholicism Islam Judaism and this is
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where they followed the national
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curriculum but they also are associated
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and teach the practices of these
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religions many students who pass their
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a-levels then go on to university now a
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university in Britain we do one subject
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we take one course subject so again it
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could be English it could be data
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science it could be history we do one
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main subject and a bachelor's degree or
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an undergraduate degree takes three
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years however in Scotland they do a four
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year degree and at the end of your
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course you take something called your
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finals your finals these are your exams
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at the end to see what grade you get now
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our grading system goes from a first
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which is the top then you get to 1 to 2
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and then a third if you're in your first
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year of university you're called a
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fresher and in fact the first week of
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university is known as your freshers
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week freshers week then you become a
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second-year and when you're in your
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third year you're in your final year now
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there are a group of elite universities
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places at Oxford Cambridge Bristol
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Edinburgh and they are known as red
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brick universities red brick
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universities they're the old traditional
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universities kind of similar to in
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America they've got Ivy League schools
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here we call the red brick University
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university is also shortened down to you
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so when I'm talking about universities
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I'll say are you know which uni did you
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go to means which university did you go
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to it's also common for people to do a
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masters which is considered to be a
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postgraduate degree you could do a
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masters which is usually one or two
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years and then of course a PhD if you
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want to continue with your studies
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right you see dreamers what I would like
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you to do is in the comments below I'd
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like you to share your experiences of
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the education system in your country I'd
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love to know how it's different from the
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British system what are the similarities
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share your experience I want to have a
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cultural exchange okay so tell me about
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the education system in your country
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what are the exams called the GCSEs and
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a-levels what are they called in your
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country do you have faith schools I'd
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love to know so tell me in the comments
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below also Roma guys you can join my
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youtube membership scheme it's open you
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become a member of eat sleep dream
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English hit the join button next to the
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subscribe button and you can get access
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to live Q&A with me you can get your
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English questions answered you can get
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extra content videos behind-the-scenes
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footage all that kind of stuff so yeah
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click the join button and follow the
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steps from there remember got new videos
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every Tuesday and every Friday helping
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you take your English to the next level
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also join me on Instagram and Instagram
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stories where I put daily English
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content and of course on Facebook but
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until next time guys this is Tom the
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chief dreamer saying goodbye
