Comprehensive Schools

British pupils usually attend comprehensive schools. Since the 1980ies parents have been able to choose the school for their children, which puts state schools in some kind of competition. The emphasis has been also put on the specialisation of the schools so that parents are also able to choose a school according to their child's abilities and interests.
Comprehensive schools usually teach a large variety of subjects and take children from a wide ability range. Similar to the German "Gesamtschul"-concept, British pupils are divided into sets. The way in which pupils are grouped according to ability varies from school to school. The number of sets, along with the range of different abilities in a set, can differ according to subject type and size of cohort. Core (Mathematics, English, Science) subjects are usually arranged into sets.
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