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Concept
Comprehensive school
Summary
A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria, usually academic performance. The term is commonly used in relation to England and Wales, where comprehensive schools were introduced as state schools on an experimental basis in the 1940s and became more widespread from 1965. They may be part of a local education authority or be a self governing academy or part of a multi-academy trust.
About 90% of English secondary school pupils attend a comprehensive school (academy schools, community schools, faith schools, foundation schools, free schools, studio schools, university technical colleges, state boarding schools, City Technology Colleges, etc.). Specialist schools may however select up to 10% of their intake for aptitude in their specialism. A school may have a few specialisms, like arts (media, performing arts, visual arts), business and enterprise, engineering, humanities, languages, mathematics, computing, music, science, sports, and technology. They are not permitted to select on academic ability generally. Comprehensive schools correspond broadly to the public school in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Comprehensive schools provide an entitlement curriculum to all children, without selection whether due to financial considerations or attainment. A consequence of that is a wider ranging curriculum, including practical subjects such as design and technology and vocational learning, which were less common or non-existent in grammar schools. Providing post-16 education cost-effectively becomes more challenging for smaller comprehensive schools, because of the number of courses needed to cover a broader curriculum with comparatively fewer students. This is why schools have tended to get larger and also why many local authorities have organised secondary education into 11–16 schools, with the post-16 provision provided by sixth form colleges and further education colleges.
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Related publications (4)
Related concepts (16)
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually referred to as secondary schools, and in areas of England, such as Buckinghamshire (where they are referred to as community schools), Lincolnshire and Wirral, (where they are called high schools).
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school. The original purpose of medieval grammar schools was the teaching of Latin. Over time the curriculum was broadened, first to include Ancient Greek, and later English and other European languages, natural sciences, mathematics, history, geography, art and other subjects.
City Technology College
In England, a City Technology College (CTC) is an urban all-ability specialist school for students aged 11 to 18 specialising in science, technology and mathematics. They charge no fees and are independent of local authority control, being overseen directly by the Department for Education. One fifth of the capital costs are met by private business sponsors, who also own or lease the buildings. The rest of the capital costs, and all running costs, are met by the Department.