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Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with each country having a

separate education system.

Whilst education in England is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for

Education, the day-to-day administration and funding of state schools is the

responsibility of local authorities. Universally free of charge state education was

introduced piecemeal between 1!" and 1#$$. Education is now mandatory fromages %ve to si&teen '1( if born in late )uly or *ugust+. n "11, the rends in

nternational /athematics and Science Study '/SS+ rated 101$-year-old pupils in

England and Wales 1"th in the world for maths and #th for science. he ma2ority of

children are educated in state-sector schools, a small proportion of which select on

the grounds of academic ability. wo of the top ten performing schools in terms of

34SE results in ""5 were state-run grammar schools. 6ver half of students at the

leading universities of 4ambridge and 6&ford had attended state schools. 7espite a

fall in actual numbers the proportion of children in England attending private

schools has risen to over !8. n "1", more than $(8 of places at the University of

6&ford and $"8 at the University of 4ambridge were ta9en by students from privateschools, even though they educate 2ust !8 of the population. England has the two

oldest universities in English-spea9ing world, Universities of 6&ford and 4ambridge

'2ointly 9nown as :6&bridge:+ with history of over eight centuries. he United

Kingdom has # universities featured in the imes ;igher Education top 1""

ran9ings, ma9ing it second to the United States in terms of representation.

elfast, built in 1$#

Education in Scotland is the responsibility of the 4abinet Secretary for Education

and ?ifelong ?earning, with day-to-day administration and funding of state schools

the responsibility of ?ocal *uthorities. wo non-departmental public bodies have 9eyroles in Scottish education. he Scottish

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* government commission=s report in "1$ found that privately educated people

comprise !8 of the general population of the UK but much larger percentages of

the top professions, the most e&treme case @uoted being !18 of senior 2udges

n each country there are %ve stages of education early years, primary, secondary,

Further Education 'FE+ and ;igher Education ';E+. he law states that full time

education is compulsory for all children between the ages of ( '$ in Corthern

reland+ and 15, the 4ompulsory School *ge '4S*+. his full time education does

not need to be at a school and a growing number of parents choose to home

educate. Grior to the 4S* children can be educated at nursery if parents wish

though there is only limited government funding for such places. FE is non-

compulsory, and covers non-advanced education which can be ta9en at further

'including tertiary+ education colleges and ;E institutions ';Es+. he %fth stage, ;E,

is study beyond * levels or >E4s 'and their e@uivalent+ which, for most full-timestudents, ta9es place in universities and other ;Es and colleges.

he Cational 4urriculum 'C4+, established in 1#, provides a framewor9 for

education in England and Wales between the ages of ( and 1. hough the C4 is

not compulsory it is followed by most state schools, but many private schools,

academies, free schools and home educators design their own curricula. n Scotland

the nearest e@uivalent is the 4urriculum for E&cellence programme, and in Corthern

reland there is something 9nown as the common curriculum. he Scottish

@uali%cations the Cational $H(s, ;ighers and *dvanced ;ighers are highly similar to

the English *dvanced Subsidiary '*S+ and *dvanced ?evel '*+ courses.