I. Before you read the passage, talk about these questions. 1. What types of schools in Great Britain do you know?

1. What types of schools in Great Britain do you know?

2. What percent of children go to state-funded schools?

3. When were Academy schools established?

Some 93% of children between the ages of 3 and 18 are in education in state-funded schools without charge (other than for activities such as swimming, theatre visits and field trips for which a voluntary payment can be requested, and limited charges at state-funded boarding schools).

Since 1998, there have been six main types of maintained schools in England:

Academy schools, established by the 1997-2010 Labor Government to replace poorly-performing community schools in areas of high social and economic deprivation. Their start-up costs are typically funded by private means, such as entrepreneurs or NGOs, with running costs met by Central Government and, like Foundation schools, are administratively free from direct local authority control. The 2010 Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government expanded the role of Academies in the Academy Program, in which a wide number of schools in non-deprived areas were also encouraged to become Academies, thereby essentially replacing the role of Foundation schools established by the previous Labor government. They are monitored directly by the Department for Education.

Community schools (formerly county schools), in which the local authority employs the schools' staff, own the schools' lands and buildings, and have primary responsibility for admissions.

Free schools, introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition following the 2010 general election, are newly established schools in England set up by parents, teachers, charities or businesses, where there is a perceived local need for more schools. They are funded by taxpayers, are academically non-selective and free to attend, and like Foundation schools and Academies, are not controlled by a local authority. They are ultimately accountable to the Secretary of State for Education. Free schools are an extension of the existing Academy Program. The first 24 free schools opened in 2011.

Foundation schools, in which the governing body employs the staff and has primary responsibility for admissions. School land and buildings are owned by the governing body or by a charitable foundation. The Foundation school appoints a minority of governors. Many of these schools were formerly grant maintained schools. In 2005 the Labor government proposed allowing all schools to become Foundation schools if they wished.