Educational Organizational Structure of the UK and Romania - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Particulars Page No 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Educational Organizational Structure of UK and Romania 3 2.1 Early Years Education 3 2.2 Primary Education 4 2.3 Secondary Educational Structure 4 2.4 Further Educational Structure 5 2.5 Higher Educational Structure 5 3.0 Funding 6 4.0 Quality of Education 6 5.0 Conclusion 7 6.0 References 8 1.0 Introduction This essay has been designed in a synchronised and comprehensive manner to focus and discuss on the Educational system in United Kingdom and Romania in terms of organizational structures, funding and quality of their educational systems. The UK and Romania both constitutes an integral part of the European Union which makes the readers belief that the educational systems of both this nations are similar in their structures and operating system, however the essay comparatively reflects upon the similarities and differences among the two be large. For instance, unlike the United Kingdom, Romania has a central government which approves and facilitates their educational institutions. Furthermore the diploma certificates issued by the educational institutes from both the countries are accepted on global basis. The essay also provides a conclusion at the end to ensure that the topic under study is easily understood by all its readers and a conclusive fact can be derived from the study. 2.0 Educational Organizational Structure of UK and Romania Both UK and Romania being part of the European Union has five different stages of imparting education which however varies in their names and institutes. The educational system in UK has the following five stages namely: early years, primary, secondary, Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE). The Government of UK has made education for ages 5 to 16 as compulsory which is ages 4 to 16 in the Northern Ireland. Further Education (FE) is not a compulsion and covers non-advanced education. The Higher Education form part of larger recognized Universities or in Higher Educational Institutes and Colleges. In contrast to the educational system in UK, Romania too has five stages in their educational system namely: Kindergarten, Elementary Schools, Secondary Schools, High School and Higher Education. Unlike UK, education is compulsory for all children between ages 6 and 16. Furthermore Romania has a compulsion of obtaining ten grades till Secondary Schools, whereas the last two grades from High Schools, University, Master’s and Doctorate are not compulsory. The five stages comprising the organizational structure of educational system in UK and Romania has been elaborated and contrasted as under. 2.1 Early Years Education For early education of children, primarily of the age group three and four, UK entitles an education of 38weeks per year which mainly takes place in nursery schools, nursery classes and reception classes within the primary schools. The Early Year Foundation Stage (EYFS) was introduced in September 2008 in UK which aimed towards a single regulatory and quality framework for learning, development and care of children in all registered early year schools. In contrast to UK, kindergarten stage is not compulsory in Romania. A child schooling starts only at the age of six where the child goes to class zero (0) which is a preparatory class for the beginning of the Elementary School. Furthermore, in contrast to UK ‘s duration of 38 weeks of classes per year, Romanian Educational System is inclined towards 36 weeks of classes, in total 177 working days for their respective first four stages. In other stages each institution has an individual Educational plan. 2.2 Primary Education Primary education in UK is for children aged between 4 and 12 years. This stage basically covers the following three ranges: Nursery, infant and junior where a mixture of both girls and boys study in the same classrooms. Education in the form of basic literacy and numeracy, brief on mathematics and science and others are imparted in child during this tenure. Whereas in Romania similar to England, primary education range for children between 7 an 10 years in Elementary schools where the child learns basic mathematics, literacy, one foreign language and others. 2.3 The Secondary Education Structure In UK, the Secondary Educational Structure is a combination of different types of schools which is dependent on the local authority and its policies. This is a crucial stage as at the end of this, students enter in an external examination and achieve General Certificate of Secondary Education. However, unlike UK, in Scotland the students enter for National Qualification at the end of the fourth year of Secondary Educational System. In contrast, in Romania the Secondary Educational Structure is same for all students throughout the country, as the students study the same study material and have similar school programs and policies. The Secondary Education structure longevity is for a period of four years and similar to Scotland the students enter the National Testing at the end of fourth year. 2.4 Further Educational Structure Almost all institutions in UK which offers Further Education are based on non-advance courses next to compulsory education. There are a lot many Further Educational Colleges and Community Learning Centres all throughout the country which helps students to enhance their knowledge and skills in different fields or areas such as Business, Education and Commercial. However in Romania the structure of Further Education is different to UK. Here the first of the 2 classes are compulsory which students can learn in of the many High Schools which offers students a variety of specialization courses as per students needs and field of interest. 2.5 Higher Educational System In UK, the Higher Educational System offers different courses which are aimed towards Higher Standards. For example, The GCE level, GNVQ/NVQ level 3 or Excel. This stage offers there defined levels which are Postgraduate courses, Undergraduate courses and other undergraduate courses (VanderPerre, 1994). Romania also has a similar structure of UK in terms of Higher Educational System, as The Higher Education is aimed towards higher standards and imparting or enhancing the skills of students towards professionalism (Sadlak, 1991). Various courses as per student’s field of interest take place in various recognized universities, academics of study and post-university schools. 3.0 Funding With good educational system requires higher funding to support the structure. The public spending on education in UK has shown a remarkable increase in a tenure of one decade where the public spending has risen from 4.5% of the National Income in 1999-2000 to reach 6.4% in 2009-2010 which was the fastest growth over any decade since 1970s. However the current estimate for the period 2014-2015 is expected to fall by 3.5% on public spending on education (Goldston, 2006). In contrast to the public spending on education in UK, the public spending on education in Romania has witnessed many ups and downs. Statistic from the government highlights that public spending on education was 8.33% in 2011 which was highest at 12% in the year 2007 over a period of last decade while the lowest spending was 8.19% in the year 2000. 4.0 Quality of Education As per the current statistic UK holds a dominant 2nd position in Europe in terms of imparting quality education while it ranks 6th on a global basis. The other five being: South Korea (top), three Asian countries and Finland. In contrast to the same Romania ranks much behind UK in terms of quality education and is currently holding 32nd position on a global basis. However, it is to be noted that government of Romania in order to speedy up the process of imparting quality education to its students has signed The Bologna Declaration in 1999 for a structural reform to enhance the mobility of its students and reduce the number of universities to encourage students to participate in master and doctoral programs. 5.0 Conclusion This reports provides a complete comparison of the Educational system in two different countries namely UK and Romania both being part of the European Union. The educational structure in both the countries is divided into five different stages with different characteristics and significance of their own. Both the countries have looked towards higher spending on education to ensure better and quality educational systems. Romania although lagging behind in terms of global positioning in imparting quality education and today holds 32nd position in contrast to UK which holds 6th position globally is looking towards more reforms and policies for a better growth and development of its educational system. 6.0 References Goldston, J. 2006. Public interest litigation in Central and Eastern Europe: Roots, prospects, and challenges. Human Rights Quarterly, 28, 492-527. doi: 10.1353/hrq.2006.0018 Sadlak, J., 1991. Higher education in Eastern Europe: The evolution of the socialist model and its post-socialist framework. The Higher Education Group Annual, 1, 117-140. VanderPerre, J., 1994. Higher education and an evolving Europe. In L. Barrows (Ed.), CEPES papers on higher education (pp. 7-17). New York: UNESCO. Read More