IMPORTANT PEDAGOGUES

BRITISH AND CZECH EDUCATION SYSTEM

GREAT BRITAIN

• nursery school – 3 or 4 years old

• playgroup – similar to nursery school

• primary school

  • at the age of five

  • state-funded or private – both of them have to follow a prescribed national curriculum

  • infant schools - children acquire basic skills like writing, reading and maths

  • junior school – at the age of seven; more complex subjects such as history, geography and science

• secondary school

  • at the age of 11

  • foreign language and a broader range of subjects, taught by different teachers

  • they take GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) that consists of eight or nine exams in maths, English, a foreign language, a science and a humanities subject

  • at the age of 16

    • they can leave school

      • vocational courses - pupils go to school and take exams in practical subjects such as mechanics or painting and decorating

      • apprenticeships – they learn a trade as they work

    • they can study for two more years in an institution called a sixth form college

      • they take four subjects in the first year, which ends with an exam – AS-Levels – then they go to study three of them at A-Level (Advanced GCSEs)

      • exams marked in letters

• university

  • at the age of 18

  • bachelor’s degrees for either three or four years (person became a graduate) - can pursue a master’s degree in science or arts

  • most people in the UK have to fund part of their university education

THE CZECH REPUBLIC

primary, secondary and tertiary levels

• elementary school

  • nine years

  • most schools are financed by the state

  • the school-leaving age is 15

• secondary school

  • grammar school

    • prepares students for university

    • lasts four years or longer if the students have enrolled earlier from elementary school

    • final school-leaving exam in the fourth year - comprises four or five subjects, two on the state level: Czech and a foreign language or maths and two or three on the school level (foreign language and two electives)

  • secondary business schools/ agriculture schools/ pedagogic schools/ conservatories

  • secondary vocational school - train young people for jobs of bakers, mechanics, bricklayers or waiters

• university

  • students have to pass demanding entrance exams

  • education at universities is free of chargé

  • the most popular subjects include humanities, law or medicine

  • Charles University in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno and others

  • three-year-bachelor programmes, five-year-master programmes - finish with a final state exam and a thesis defence