Science. 10 Top British scientific inventions that changed the world.

Lecture 4

Education

Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Local authorities (LAs) take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools at a local level.

The education system is divided into nursery (ages 3–4), primary education (ages 4–11), secondary education (ages 11–18) and tertiary education (ages 18+).

Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16, either at school or otherwise, with a child beginning primary education during the school year he or she turns 5. Students may then continue their secondary studies for a further two years (sixth form), leading most typically to A-level qualifications, although other qualifications and courses exist, including Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) qualifications, the International Baccalaureate (IB) and the Cambridge Pre-U. The leaving age for compulsory education was raised to 18 by the Education and Skills Act 2008. The change will take effect in 2013 for 16-year-olds and 2015 for 17-year-olds. State-provided schooling and sixth form education is paid for by taxes. England also has a tradition of independent schooling, but parents may choose to educate their children by any suitable means.

Higher education often begins with a three-year bachelor's degree. Postgraduate degrees include master's degrees, and the doctorate, a research degree that usually takes at least three years. Universities require a Royal Charter in order to issue degrees, and all but one are financed by the state via tuition fees, which cost up to £9,000 a term for English, Welsh and EU students.

Primary and secondary education

The school year begins on 1 September (or 1 August if a term starts in August).^[10] Education is compulsory for all children from their fifth birthday to the last Friday in June of the school year in which they turn 16. This will be raised, in 2013, to the year in which they turn 17 and, in 2015, to their 18th birthday.

State-funded school system

State-run schools and colleges are financed through national taxation, and take pupils free of charge between the ages of 3 and 18. The schools may levy charges for activities such as swimming, theatre visits and field trips, provided the charges are voluntary, thus ensuring that those who cannot afford to pay are allowed to participate in such events. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend such schools.

A significant minority of state-funded schools are faith schools, which are attached to religious groups, most often the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church.

There is also a small number of state-funded boarding schools, which typically charge for board but not tuition. Boarding fees are limited to £12,000 per annum

Nearly 90% of state-funded secondary schools are specialist schools, receiving extra funding to develop one or more subjects in which the school specialises.

Under the National Curriculum, all pupils undergo National Curriculum Tests (NCTs, commonly still referred to by their previous name of Standard Attainment Tests, or SATs) towards the ends of Key Stage 2 in the core subjects of Literacy, Numeracy and Science, but not in the foundation subjects such as Geography, History and Information & Communication Technology where individual teacher assessment is used instead. Pupils normally take GCSE exams in the last two years of Key Stage 4, but may also choose to work towards the attainment of alternative qualifications, such as the GNVQ

Curriculum

All maintained schools in England are required to follow the National Curriculum, which is made up of twelve subjects. The core subjects—English, Mathematics and Science—are compulsory for all students aged 5 to 16. A range of other subjects, known as foundation subjects, are compulsory at one or more Key Stages:

Art & Design
Citizenship
Design & Technology
Geography
History
Information & Communication Technology
Modern Foreign Languages
Music
Physical Education

In addition, other subjects with a non-statutory programme of study in the National Curriculum are also taught, including Religious education in all Key Stages, Sex education from Key Stage 2, and Career education and Work-related learning in Key Stages 3 and 4. Religious education within community schools may be withdrawn for individual pupils with parental consent. Similarly, parents of children in community schools may choose to opt their child out of some or all sex education lessons.

Higher education.

Students normally enter university from age 18 onwards, and study for an academic degree. Historically, all undergraduate education outside the private University of Buckingham and BPP University College was largely state-financed, with a small contribution from top-up fees, however fees of up to £9,000 per annum will be charged from October 2012. There is a distinct hierarchy among universities, with the Russell Group containing most of the country's more prestigious, research-led and research-focused universities. The state does not control university syllabuses, but it does influence admission procedures through the Office for Fair Access (OfFA), which approves and monitors access agreements to safeguard and promote fair access to higher education. Unlike most degrees, the state still has control over teacher training courses, and uses its Ofsted inspectors to maintain standards.^[33]

The typical first degree offered at English universities is the bachelor's degree, and usually lasts for three years. Many institutions now offer an undergraduate master's degree as a first degree, which typically lasts for four years. During a first degree students are known as undergraduates. The difference in fees between undergraduate and traditional postgraduate master's degrees (and the possibility of securing LEA funding for the former) makes taking an undergraduate master's degree as a first degree a more attractive option, although the novelty of undergraduate master's degrees means that the relative educational merit of the two is currently unclear.

Postgraduate education

Students who have completed a first degree are eligible to undertake a postgraduate degree, which might be a:

Master's degree (typically taken in one year, though research-based master's degrees may last for two)
Doctorate (typically taken in three years)

Postgraduate education is not automatically financed by the state, and so admissions are highly competitive.

Specialist qualifications

Education: Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), Certificate in Education (Cert Ed), City and Guilds of London Institute (C&G), or Bachelor of Education (BA or BEd), most of which also incorporate Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

Law: Bachelor of Laws (LLB).
Medicine: Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, studied at medical school
Business: Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Psychology: Doctor of Educational Psychology (D.Ed.Ch.Psychol) or Clinical Psychology (D.Clin.Psych.).

Fees

In the academic year 2011-2012, most undergraduates paid fees that were set at a maximum of £3,375 per annum. These fees are repayable after graduation, contingent on attaining a certain level of income, with the state paying all fees for students from the poorest backgrounds. UK students are generally entitled to student loans for maintenance. Undergraduates admitted for the academic year 2012-2013 will pay tuition fees set at a maximum of up to £9,000 per annum, with most universities charging over £6,000 per annum, and other higher education providers charging less.

Postgraduate fees vary but are generally more than undergraduate fees, depending on the degree and university. There are numerous bursaries (awarded to low income applicants) to offset undergraduate fees and, for postgraduates, full scholarships are available for most subjects, and are usually awarded competitively.

Science. 10 Top British scientific inventions that changed the world.

Great Britain produced many of the most influential scientists, mathematicians and inventors in modern history. With influential people, come influential ideas, theories and inventions, some of which have the potential to change the world forever. This list will look at my pick for the top 10 British inventions which did just that. Note that although a couple of these inventions have been disputed, they are all legally recognized as British inventions.

Nearly Every Modern Sport

Most popular sports in the modern world trace their history to Britain, at least in terms of standardization of the rulesets and widespread competitive play. The most notable being Football, Cricket, Rugby and Tennis. Many other modern sports trace their history to variations on British sports, such as American Football (derived from Rugby) and Baseball (derived from Rounders). Of course, the British weren’t the first to think of kicking a ball around in a field, but the British standardized the structure and rules of most modern competitive sports as we know them today.

Newton’s Laws

Isaac Newton was a British physicist and mathematician. Born in 1642, Newton discovered and documented for the first time three laws of motion in regard to physics. Newton’s Laws are as follows – 1st Law: An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an external force and an object in uniform motion tends to remain in uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force. 2nd Law: An applied force on an object equals the rate of change of its momentum. 3rd Law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Newton was also the first person to document the mechanics of universal gravitation. Newton’s work is some of the most influential in the history of modern science, many regarding him to be one of the most important scientists in human history.

Programmable Computer

The first programmable computer was invented by British mathematician and scientist Charles Babbage in the 1820s. Although he is recognized as the inventor of the programmable computer, Babbage did not live to see the machine completed. Babbage began work on a mechanical computer he called the Difference Engine in 1822, working for more than ten years with government funding. The project was eventually abandoned after losing funding after the British government lost faith in the project after prolonged delays. The machine was built for the first time from Babbage’s original designs over 150 years later in 1989. After his work on the difference engine, Babbage went on to invent the Analytical Engine, a far more complex machine than the Difference Engine, it could be programmed using punched cards. The Analytical Engine, although not built in full until 2011 by British researchers, was the first ever working programmable computer, and was the first step in the history of computing as we know it.

World Wide Web

Not to be confused with the Internet (a global system of networked computers invented in the USA), the World Wide Web, invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, is the system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. The World Wide Web is most commonly experienced as the system behind the concept of web pages and websites. Berners-Lee first proposed the concept of the World Wide Web in March 1989, later pitching it at CERN along with Belgian scientist Robert Cailliau. CERN then publicly introduced the project in December of 1990. The first website, info.cern.ch, went live at CERN on 6th August 1991. Interestingly, Berners-Lee, although realizing the potential for immense personal profit from his invention, chose instead to gift the idea to the world, requesting no payment.

Television

The world’s first publicly demonstrated television was invented by British inventor John Logie Baird in 1925. Logie Baird is also credited with the invention of the first fully electric color television tube. The first public demonstration of Logie Baird’s television was performed before members of the Royal Institution on 26th January 1926. He also later demonstrated the first color television on 3rd July 1928. Logie Baird’s television displayed a 30 line vertically scanned image at 5 frames per second, with later models improving the frame rate to 12.5 frames per second by the time of its first demonstration. Logie Baird’s invention paved the way for what is now nearly a century of work on the development of television technology, which remains one of the most influential inventions in history, allowing people all over the world to communicate via moving images.

Steam Locomotive

The first steam locomotive was invented by Richard Trevithick, a British inventor and mining engineer. Trevithick’s steam locomotive was built in 1804 in Pen-y-Darren in South Wales to carrying cargo. Trevithick sold the patents to the steam locomotive to Samuel Homfray. In one of the earliest public demonstrations, the locomotive successfully carried an impressive load of 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 men 9.75 miles between Penydarren and Abercynon in 4 hours and 5 minutes. Trevithick continued to work with steam locomotives for many more years until his death in April 1833. A full-scale working replica of his first steam locomotive was built in 1981 for the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum, later moving to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. The locomotive is run several times a year along a short length of rail outside the museum.

Theory of Evolution

Charles Darwin was a British naturalist born in 1809. Darwin was the first person to propose the now popular theories of evolution, natural selection and common descent. After a 5 year voyage around the globe aboard the HMS Beagle, Darwin returned to Britain finding himself a celebrity in scientific circles following distribution of his letters to various scientists at home while he had been away studying geology aboard the Beagle. Darwin went on to be elected to the Council of the Geological Society, later moving to London to continue his work and join a circle of scientists which included Charles Babbage. Darwin formed his theory of evolution over much of his life, only publishing it in his later years in his book “On The Origin of Species” for fear of how the public would respond to what was, at the time, a highly controversial theory, since it proposed a means by which life developed on Earth without a God. Charles Darwin continued, despite controversy (and in some cases ridicule), his work until his death on 19th April 1882 from heart disease, likely brought on from years of illness, overwork and stress.

Telephone

The telephone was invented by British inventor Alexander Graham Bell and patented in 1876. Bell left school at age 15, but maintained a keen interest in science and biology. Moving to London to live with his grandfather, Bell developed a love for learning and spent hours each day in study. Aged 16, he went to teach elocution and music at Weston House Academy in Moray, Scotland. A year later, Bell attended the University of Edinburgh, later being accepted into the University of London. His early experiments with sound began when he was taken to see a “speaking” automaton designed by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen and built by Sir Charles Wheatstone.

Fascinated by the machine, Bell purchased a copy of a book written in German by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen and built a similar automaton with his Brother. Many years later, while working at Boston University School of Oratory, Bell became interested in technology to transmit sound. Leaving his job a the university, he made the decision to pursue his personal research on the subject. In 1875, Bell created an acoustic telegraph which he patented in March 1876 following a close race with American inventor Elisha Gray, whom accused Graham Bell of stealing the invention from him. The patent office ultimately ruled in Bell’s favor and he was granted the patent for the world’s first telephone.

English Language

English is the second most widely spoken language in the world behind Mandarin. However, it is the official language of more countries worldwide than any other, and the most common second language globally. English is generally used as the intermediary language of choice at global events and international summits. The English language is also the most far reaching language in the world, with native speakers as far spread as Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and, of course, Great Britain, where the language was born. Every great speech in the long history of the English speaking world, every theory, paper, proposal and design too, share one common thing: the English language. That is why it must be Britain’s most influential invention.

British Culture

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