A Comprehensive school is a type of school providing secondary level education in England and Wales. It was introduced in the late 1960s to the early 1970s. Some 90% of British pupils are educated at Comprehensive schools. Children are not selected on the basis of academic aptitude. Students in Rome, Italy. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: (Welsh for Land of My Fathers) Capital Cardiff (Caerdydd) Largest city Cardiff (Caerdydd) Official language(s) Welsh, English Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification    - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056...

A "Comprehensive" school is a school which teaches a comprehensive range of subjects across the academic and vocational spectrum. In order to achieve this it is commonly understood that the school will need to be of a large size and to take children from a wide ability range.

Operation

Comprehensive schools are usually neighbourhood schools taking their students from a defined local catchment area. Parents have an element of choice in choosing a secondary school and it is not uncommon, especially in towns and cities, for students to travel some distance to school. In human geography: a catchment area is the area and population from which a city or individual service attracts visitors or customers. ...

Most schools use streaming to group children by ability in individual subjects. There has been a recent trend to designate Comprehensive schools as specialising in particular areas e.g. technology.

All comprehensive schools take pupils from the age of 11 to at least 16. Some have a sixth form, entry to which is often on an open basis, with some pupils taking A levels, whilst others follow vocational programmes. England, Wales, Northern Ireland The sixth form, in the English, Welsh and Northern Irish education systems, is the term used to refer to the final two years of secondary schooling (when students are about sixteen to eighteen years of age), during which students normally prepare for their GCE A-level... An A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education usually taken during Further Education and after GCSEs. ...

History and politics

Origins

Before the Second World War, secondary education provision was both patchy and expensive. After the war secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was provided free to at least the age of 14 and managed under the Tripartite System introduced by Conservative secretary of state for education Rab Butler. Children took the eleven plus examination in their last year of primary education and were sent to secondary modern, secondary technical or grammar schools, depending on their perceived ability. In the event technical schools were never widely implemented, and for 20 years there was a virtual bipartite system, with fierce competition for the available grammar school places, which varied between 15% and 25% depending on location. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: (Welsh for Land of My Fathers) Capital Cardiff (Caerdydd) Largest city Cardiff (Caerdydd) Official language(s) Welsh, English Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification    - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056... Motto:  (Latin for Who will separate us?)[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Ulster Scots, Irish3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of... The Tripartite System, known colloquially as the grammar school system, was the structure by which Britains secondary education was organised between the 1944 Butler Education Act and 1976. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative & Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), and the largest in terms of public membership. ... Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG, CH, PC, DL (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician. ... The Eleven Plus is an examination which was given to students in their last year of primary education in the United Kingdom under the Tripartite System. ... Secondary modern schools are a type of school in British educational systems, part of the Tripartite System. ... A Secondary Technical School was a type of secondary school in Britain that existed in the mid-20th century under the Tripartite System of education. ... Grammar school can refer to various types of schools in different English-speaking countries. ...

Controversy around the eleven plus exam combined with increasing dissatisfaction with the education offered by the secondary modern schools led to experiments with Comprehensive Schools from the early 1950s. In some low-population areas of Britain - such as the town of Settle the creation of a tripartite structure was not physically viable and comprehensive schools had been gradually spreading across the country, from Anglesey to the West Riding. Statistics Population: 2420 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SD817639 Administration District: Craven Shire county: North Yorkshire Region: Yorkshire and the Humber Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: North Yorkshire Historic county: West Riding Services Police force: North Yorkshire Police Ambulance: Yorkshire Post office and telephone Post...

These schools were an obvious alternative to the Tripartite System, and had already proven successful in Sweden and parts of the US. Political and admistrative support for general introduction of comprehensive schools was strongest in London: London County Council (LCC) Education Officer Graham Savage, influenced by the US High School system, was a powerful advocate. The Tripartite System, known colloquially as the grammar school system, was the structure by which Britains secondary education was organised between the 1944 Butler Education Act and 1976. ... London County Council emblem is still seen today on buildings, especially housing, from that era London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London from 1889 until 1965, when it was replaced by the Greater London Council. ... High school is a name used in some parts of the world, and particularly in North America, to describe the last segment of compulsory secondary education. ...

Early comprehensives

The first comprehensive school was Holyhead County School in Anglesey in 1954. Other places that experimented with comprehensives included Coventry, Sheffield, Leicestershire, West Riding. Anglesey (Welsh: , pronounced (IPA)), is an island and county at the northwestern extremity of Wales. ... The Precinct in Coventry city centre. ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... Leicestershire (IPA: , abbreviated Leics) is a landlocked county in central England. ... The West Riding as an administrative county prior to its abolition in 1974. ...

In London, the LCC sought to build an entire system of equal-access secondary schools. The first purpose-built comprehensive in the country, Kidbrooke School in Greenwich, was opened in 1954 at a cost of £560,000. The first purpose-built comprehensive school in Wales was Sandfields Comprehensive School which opened in 1958. Kidbrooke School opened in 1954 as the first purpose-built comprehensive school in Britain. ... Greenwich (pronounced grenn-itch or by some grinn-itch ) is a town, now part of the south eastern urban sprawl of London, on the south bank of the River Thames in the London Borough of Greenwich. ... Sandfields is a mainly residential district of Neath Port Talbot. ...

These early comprehensives modelled themselves firmly on the grammar school, with teachers in gowns and lessons in a very formal style. The opening of the Risinghill Comprehensive School in Islington in 1960 offered an alternative to this model. Embracing the progressive ideals of sixties education, the school abandoned corporal punishment and brought in a much more liberal attitude to discipline. A Grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in Britain. ... Islington is an inner-city district in north London. ... Progressivism is a term that refers to a broad school of contemporary international social and political philosophies. ... Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended to correct behavior or to punish. ...

Nationwide implementation

The largest expansion of Comprehensive schools resulted from a policy decision taken in 1965 by Anthony Crosland, secretary of state for education in the 1964-1970 Labour government, a fervent supporter of Comprehensive education. The policy decision was implemented by Circular 10/65, an instruction to local education authorities to plan for conversion. 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 1918 – 19 February 1977) was a British and Labour Member of Parliament and socialist theorist. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ... Circular 10/65, also known as the Crosland Circular, was a document issued by the Ministry of Education requesting local authorities in England and Wales to begin converting their secondary schools to the Comprehensive System. ...

In 1970 the Conservative party re-entered government. Margaret Thatcher became secretary of state for education and ended the compulsion on local authorities to convert. However, many local authorities were so far down the path that it would have been prohibitively expensive to attempt to reverse the process, and more comprehensive schools were established under Mrs Thatcher than any other education secretary. However, she went on to be a vociferous critic of comprehensive education. By 1975 the majority of local authorities in England and Wales had abandoned the 11 plus examination and moved to a comprehensive system. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: (Welsh for Land of My Fathers) Capital Cardiff (Caerdydd) Largest city Cardiff (Caerdydd) Official language(s) Welsh, English Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification    - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056... The Eleven Plus is an examination given to students aged 11 since about 1944 in some parts of the United Kingdom to select whether they go to a grammar school or to a secondary modern. ...

Over that 10 year period many secondary modern schools and grammar schools were amalgamated to form large neighbourhood comprehensives, whilst a number of new schools were built to accommodate a growing school population. By 1968 around 20% of children had been in comprehensives, and by the mid seventies, the system had been almost fully implemented. Nearly all new schools were built as comprehensives, and existing grammar and modern schools had either been closed (see for example the Liverpool Institute) or amalgamated with neighbouring secondary moderns to produce comprehensive schools. Secondary modern schools are a type of school in British educational systems, part of the Tripartite System. ... A grammar school is a type of school found in some English-speaking countries. ... The Liverpool Institute for Boys was founded in 1825, but occupied other premises while the money was found to build a dedicated building. ...

Callaghan's Great Debate

In 1976 the future Labour prime minister James Callaghan gave a speech at Oxford's Ruskin College. He launched what became known as the 'great debate' on the education system. He went on to list the areas he felt needed closest scrutiny: the case for a core curriculum, the validity and use of informal teaching methods, the role of school inspection and the future of the examination system. Callaghan was not the first to raise these questions. A 'black paper' attacking liberal theories in education and poor standards in comprehensive schools had appeared in 1969, to be followed by a second in 1971. The authors were the academics Brian Cox and A E Dyson. They were supported by ex-headteachers, led by Dr. Rhodes Boyson, who later became a Conservative MP. The black papers called for a return to traditional teaching methods and an end to the comprehensive experiment. Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC (27 March 1912 – 26 March 2005), was Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. ... Ruskin College is an independent college in Oxford, founded in 1899 and named after John Ruskin. ... The Right Honourable Sir Rhodes Boyson (11 May 1925- ) is an author and politician in the United Kingdom, and former Conservative Member of Parliament for Brent North. ...

Current status

Comprehensive schools remain the most common type of state secondary school in England, and the only type in Wales. They account for around 90% of pupils, or 64% if one does not count schools with low-level selection. This figure varies by region. Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: (Welsh for Land of My Fathers) Capital Cardiff (Caerdydd) Largest city Cardiff (Caerdydd) Official language(s) Welsh, English Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification    - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056...

Since the 1988 Education Reform Act, parents have a right to choose which school their child should go to. Government policy is currently promoting 'specialisation' where parents choose a secondary school appropriate for their child's interests and skills. Most initiatives focus on parental choice and information, implementing a pseudo-market incentive to encourage good schools. This logic has underpinned the controversial league tables of school performance. 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In business, league tables list the leaders in investment banking activity. ...

Both Conservative and Labour governments have been experimenting with alternatives to the original neighbourhood Comprehensive since the mid 1980s. The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ...

Experiments have included:

• partnerships where successful schools share knowledge and best practice with nearby schools
• federations of schools, where a partnership is formalised through joint governance arrangements
• closing and reopening 'failing schools'
• city technology colleges
• city academies

Currently, following the advice of Sir Cyril Taylor - former businessman and Conservative politician and chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) - in the mid 1990s, both major parties have backed the creation of a specialist schools, which focus on excellence in a particular subject and are theoretically allowed to select up to 10% of their intake. This policy consensus rejects the original logic of the neighbourhood comprehensive - that all children will go to their local school - and assume that parents will send their child to the school they feel they are most suited to. In England, City Technology Colleges (CTCs) are independent schools which charge no fees as their recurrent costs are paid by the DfES and businesses within the private sector. ... A city academy is a type of British secondary school, of which one of the major architects was Andrew Adonis in his capacity as education advisor to the Prime Minister (now Lord Adonis, a junior Minister at the Department for Education and Skills) in the late 1990s. ... The specialist schools programme is a UK government programme which encourages secondary schools to specialise in certain areas to boost acheivement. ...

These new school types mean that it is open to debate whether the Comprehensive system is still in operation; but it could be argued that the new forms of school are best characterised as developments from, rather than challenges to, Comprehensive education.

Debate and issues

Supporters of Comprehensive education argue that it is unacceptable on both moral and practical grounds to select or reject children on the basis of their ability. They also argue that comprehensive schools in the UK have allowed millions of children to gain access to further and higher education, and that the previous selective system relegated children who failed the eleven plus examination to a second class and inferior education. The Eleven Plus is an examination which was given to students in their last year of primary education in the United Kingdom under the Tripartite System. ...

Critics of comprehensive schools argue that the reality has been a levelling down of provision and a denial of opportunity to able children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who might once have expected to pass the eleven plus exam and have the advantage of a grammar school education. The most straightforward way for parents to ensure that their children attend what is perceived to be a "good" school, is to purchase a house within the catchment area of that school. This has led to selection by financial means of parents rather than ability at passing exams. Grammar school can refer to various types of schools in different English-speaking countries. ...

During the late sixties there was heated debate about the merits of streaming pupils. In grammar schools pupils were taught in different classes according to their perceived ability. At first the comprehensives copied this structure, but the failings of streaming, principally that it failed to reflect the spread of abilities in different subjects, led to experiments with other methods. One controversial method, mixed ability teaching, was widely adopted. Over time however it was supplanted in many schools by 'setting', where children are grouped by ability in different subjects, allowing the possibility of being in the 'top' set for mathematics, but the bottom set for History.

Other nations

Scotland

In Scotland a very different system is used, which, whilst based on comprehensive education, has different ages of transfer, different examinations and a different philosophy of choice and provision. Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

In Scotland all publicly funded primary and secondary schools are comprehensive. The Scottish Executive has rejected plans for specialist schools as of 2005. The Executives logo, shown with English and Scottish Gaelic caption The term Scottish Executive is used in two different, but closely-related senses: to denote the executive arm of Scotlands national legislature (i. ... The specialist schools programme is a UK government programme which encourages secondary schools to specialise in certain areas to boost acheivement. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Republic of Ireland

These schools were introduced into the Republic of Ireland in 1966 by an initiative by Patrick Hillery, Minister for Education, to give a broader range of education compared to that of the vocational school system which was then the only system of schools completely controlled by the state. Until this time education in Ireland was largely dominated by religious persuasion, and in particular the voluntary secondary school system was a particular realisation of this. The comprehensive school system is still relatively small and to an extent has been superseded by the community school concept. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Dr. Patrick John Hillery (born May 2, 1923) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and the sixth President of Ireland from 1976 until 1990. ... The Minister for Education & Science is the chief person at the Department of Education & Science is engaged in a wide range of activities covering pllicy planning, quality assurance and providing a broad range of services for education in the Republic of Ireland. ... A vocational school, providing vocational education and also sometimes referred to as a trade school or career college, and school was operated for the express purpose of giving its students the skills needed to perform a certain job or jobs. ... A voluntary secondary school (alternatively: secondary school) in Ireland is a type of secondary education school in Ireland that is privately owned and managed, often by church authorities, especially in the case of the Roman Catholic religion. ... A community school in Ireland is a type of secondary education school funded individually and directly by the state. ...

In Ireland comprehensive schools were an earlier model of State schools introduced in the late 1960s and largely replaced by the secular community model of the 1970s. The comprehensive model generally incorporated older schools which were under Roman Catholic or Protestant ownership and the various denominations continued, and continue, to manage the school as patrons or trustees. The State owns the school property, but it is vested in the trustees in perpetuity. The model was adopted to make State schools more acceptable to a largely conservative society of the time. The last proposed comprehensive school in Ireland was Gonzaga College SJ in Dublin^{[citation needed]}. However late in the negotiations the Department of Education declined to extend this model to the Society of Jesus and the proposal was dropped. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Seal of the Society of Jesus. ...

The introduction of community school model in the 1970s controversially removed the denominational basis of the schools, though religious interests were invited to be represented on the Boards of Management. Community schools are divided into two models, the community school vested in the Minister for Education and Science, and the community college vested in the local Vocational Education Committee. Community colleges tended to be amalgamations of unviable local schools under the umbrella of a new community school model, whereas community colleges have tended to be entirely new foundations. The Minister for Education and Science is the senior minister at the Department of Education and Science (An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta) in the Irish Government. ... A Vocational Education Committee (VEC) are committees in the Republic of Ireland that have charge of vocational schools, certain colleges and previously had authority over the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Regional Technical Colleges until 1992. ...

Sweden

Sweden had used mixed-ability schools for some years before they were introduced into England and Wales, and was chosen as one of the models.

See also

Reputation

Comprehensive education has been controversial from its inception, and there has been considerable discussion about what it has achieved. For debates about its merits against the system it replaced, see the article on debates about the grammar school. For more information on the development of comprehensive schools, see the main article on that subject. The debate about the merits of the British Tripartite System, also known as the grammar school system, still continues forty years after its abolition was initiated. ...

External links

• Centre for the Study of Comprehensive Schools
• Comprehensive Education - Examining the Evidence Report of 1999 seminar organised by CASE (the Campaign for State Education in the UK).
• Campaign for State Education
• Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly on comprehensive education
• Comp, a BBC Radio 4 documentary about the creation of comprehensive schools
• Discussions in 2002 about the future of comprehensives
• http://www.arasite.org/edinandsocmods.html