age certificate compulsory punishment results sex system
Some schools in England are for boys and girls and some are single ____
In the English education ____, there are private schools and state schools.
Some subjects, like English and maths, are ____ until the age of sixteen in England.
English children must sometimes stay in class at break as a ____
The minimum leaving ____ in England is sixteen, but most students continue for another two years.
There is no leaving ____ in England, but many students take 'A level' exams when they are eighteen.
School students in England get their exam ____ in the summer holidays after they leave school.
Read a magazine article about education in Ireland. Match the paragraphs to the headings
Ireland now has one of the best education systems in the world. Class sizes are small, exam results are good and most children are happy to stay at school after the minimum leaving age of sixteen. It is easy to forget
that the picture
used to be very different.
For years, Ireland had one of the most complicated education systems in the world. There were many different kinds of school, but most of them had a lot in common. Classes were large and the teaching was very
traditional. As in many
countries, teachers used to hit the children if they made mistakes (the government banned corporal punishment in 1982).
Parents used to pay for their children's education and, as a result, there were schools for the rich and schools for the poor. Boys and girls went to different schools and studied different subjects. Nowadays, most
schools are free and
only about half the schools are single-sex. In many ways, education is now a woman's world. Girls do better than boys in their exams, more girls go to university and most teachers are women.
At the end of secondary school, students take their final exams (the `Leaving Certificate'). Compulsory subjects are maths, history, Irish and a foreign language. In addition, they must choose two or three extra
subjects. Some of these.
like Business Organization, help to prepare them for the world of work. This is very different from the past when Latin, Greek and Religion used to be the most important subjects.
Think about schools in your country now and in the past. How are they different? Make notes, using your own ideas and the ideas in the box to help you.
computers
technology
class sizes
types of school
the school buildings
when you can leave school
school subjects
exams
behaviour
punishment
Work in pairs and compare your ideas. Are schools now better or worse than they used to be?
Schools in my country used to be very different. For example, ...
Used to = an action or habit that was common in the PAST but not anymore.
I used to drink coffee every morning but now I drink tea.
She used to live in London but now she lives in New York.
He used to play football professionally but he had to quit because of an injury.
Used to in Negative
I didn’t use to smoke.
I never used to smoke.
Used to in Questions
Did you use to ride a bike to school when you were a child?
What did you use to do after school when you were a kid?
Where did you use to go on vacation with your parents?
