1988, the British parliament passed the education reform bill, which was formulated by the Minister of Education Baker, and set off the largest education reform in Britain since World War II. This law provides a legal basis for the comprehensive reform of contemporary British education system. The main spirit of this law is to reform general education while giving consideration to higher education. Its main contents are:

1. stipulates the implementation of the national unified curriculum. There are three courses in compulsory education: core courses, basic courses and additional courses. Core courses and basic courses are collectively called "national courses" and are compulsory courses in primary and secondary schools. The core courses include English, mathematics and science.

2. Reform the examination system. During the whole compulsory education period, four national examinations were held at the age of 7, 1 1 year,1year and1year.

3. Reform the school management system and strengthen the central government's control over education. Primary and secondary schools supervised by local education authorities can get rid of the control of local education authorities and directly accept the guidance of central education institutions at the request of most parents. This policy, called "get rid of choice policy", is considered to be an important step for Britain to break the tradition of decentralized management education between the central and local governments and move towards centralization.

4. Reform the management and budget of higher education. Abolish the "dual system" of British higher education, that is, the system in which all kinds of colleges in Britain are managed by local governments and universities are managed by the central government. Some institutions of higher learning will break away from the jurisdiction of local education authorities, become independent institutions and obtain legal person status.

After the implementation of the "open enrollment" policy in Britain, the enrollment of primary and secondary schools is generally guaranteed by the local education authorities as planned, so public schools lack competition among peers. 1988 education reform law has changed this situation to a great extent. 1980 education law gives parents the right to choose freely in the public school system for the first time, and stipulates that parents have the right to obtain detailed information of the selected school. The bill stipulates that parents' choices should generally be met unless these schools are overcrowded or have other good reasons to refuse. Although the 1980 education law gives parents the right to choose schools for their children, parents are often restricted in exercising their right to choose because of the limited enrollment places in popular schools. In addition, the bill stipulates that education funds are allocated according to the number of students enrolled, which means that more students mean more funds. The bill requires local education authorities to allocate funds to local schools according to the approved formula, which changes the traditional way of distributing public education funds equally among schools. Of the funds allocated according to the formula, 75% is allocated according to the number of students in the school to encourage the school to attract and retain students, and the remaining 25% can be allocated according to other factors. All formulas must be approved by the Ministry of Education and Science, and local education authorities must consult with the local school management team before making a decision on the ingredients in the formula. The system of allocating education funds according to the formula makes the open enrollment system worthy of the name.

6. The establishment of a new type of secondary education institution The Municipal College is a new type of secondary education institution established by the 1988 Education Reform Law. The bill stipulates that the Secretary of State can reach an agreement with anyone to establish an independent school of the municipal technical college or the municipal art and technology college. These two schools must be located in the urban area, and provide education for students with different abilities of 1 1- 19 years old who are all or mainly from the school area. In offering a wide range of courses, the Municipal Institute of Technology focuses on science and technology; The Municipal College of Arts and Crafts focuses on the application of technology in expressive arts and creative arts. These two schools are funded by the Minister of State and are not under the jurisdiction of local education authorities. They can be sponsored by industrial and commercial enterprises and enroll students free of charge. City College is actually a secondary technical school. Like comprehensive middle schools, it focuses on teenagers aged 1 1 and 18, but it is different from comprehensive middle schools. Comprehensive middle schools are managed by local education authorities, and urban technical colleges are managed by school boards independent of local education authorities. It is different from grammar school because it is open to students of all abilities. Courses offered focus on science and technology education and practical courses related to enterprises. The school keeps close contact with the industrial and commercial circles, and adopts the method of combining teaching in school with enterprise practice to cultivate technical intermediate talents urgently needed by enterprises. About 80% of the running funds of City University of Technology come from the central government, and 20% are sponsored by local enterprises. On the one hand, we hope that enterprises will participate in running schools, and corporate donations will become the main source of funds for such schools. On the one hand, it is to break the monopoly of local education authorities on secondary compulsory education, expand parents' choice of school places for their children, and improve the quality of secondary education.

Second, the significance of "1988 Education Reform Act" in Britain:

From the main contents of the British Education Reform Act 1988, it can be seen that the issues involved in this Act are very extensive and very important, which touches on some traditions of British education to some extent. Therefore, it has aroused extremely strong repercussions in Britain, and is regarded as another landmark education reform bill in British history after 1944 Butler Education Act. Generally speaking, this reform has strengthened the centralized education management, and started the national unified management of courses, examinations and other issues that have never been uniformly stipulated in the past, which has had a noticeable impact on the future education development in Britain.

background

Since 1980s, with the acceleration of globalization and informatization, international competition has become increasingly fierce. In order to improve the quality of education and enhance the comprehensive national strength, all countries in the world have accelerated the pace of education reform, trying to find a way out of education development through reform and better promote economic development. Not to be outdone, Britain is actively involved in this torrent of education reform, and the education reform bill of 1988 is one of the most important bills. We know that no reform or bill can be achieved overnight, and the British education reform law of 1988 has been brewed for a long time and promoted by various factors.