{{Short description|English schooling structure}} {{about|the system of schools divided by age|the system of schools divided by exam performance|Tripartite System of education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Gosforth East Middle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=A modern two-storey school building at the end of a drive|Gosforth East Middle School, a middle school in Gosforth, Newcastle]]
'''Three-tier education''' refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system.
== <span id="First school"></span><span id="Middle school"></span><span id="Upper school"></span>Terminology == In a three-tier local education authority children begin their compulsory education in a '''first school'''<ref name=Cantab>{{cite web|website=Cambridgeshire County Council|url=https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/children-and-families/schools-learning/education-system/primary-education-4-to-11-years|title=Primary education (4 to 11 years)|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref> or '''lower school''',<ref name=sw>{{cite magazine|magazine=Schools Week|last=Allen-Kinross|first=Pippa|title=Middle schools defend themselves as councils ditch three-tier model|date=2 May 2018|access-date=6 June 2020|url=https://schoolsweek.co.uk/middle-schools-defend-themselves-as-councils-ditch-three-tier-model/}}</ref> which caters for children up to the age of 8 or 9.<ref name=OxMid>{{cite book|title=A Dictionary of Education|chapter=Middle school |date=21 May 2015 |at=Middle school|editor-last=Wallace|editor-first=Susan|publisher=Oxford University Press|edition=2nd|isbn=9780191758454|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199679393.001.0001/acref-9780199679393-e-611#|access-date=5 June 2020}}</ref> Children then transfer to a '''middle school''', which caters for children from age 9 to age 13 or 14.<ref name=OxMid/> Following this, children transfer for the remainder of their compulsory education to an '''upper school'''<ref name=CantabSec>{{cite web|website=Cambridgeshire County Council|url=https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/children-and-families/schools-learning/education-system/secondary-education-11-to-16-years|title=Secondary education (11 to 16 years)|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref> or '''high school''', sometimes on into the sixth form.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NorthumberlandCountyCouncil/media/Document-store/School%20admissions/Admissions-Handbook-SECONDARY-School-2020-21-FINAL.pdf|website=Northumberland County Council|title=Middle, High and Secondary School Admissions Handbook 2020/2021|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref>
thumb|center|upright=2.5|alt=A diagram showing which school types correspond to which year groups, and which follow on from which.|Diagram of paths through the school system in England. The three-tier systems are in blue and mauve.
==History== References to middle schools in publications of the UK Government date back to 1856, and the educational reports of William Henry Hadow mention the concept.<ref name=directory>{{cite book|editor=National Middle Schools' Forum|editor-link=National Middle Schools' Forum|title=NMSF Middle Schools Directory|year=1995|chapter=Introduction|last=Tipple|first=Christopher|chapter-url=https://middleschools.org.uk/download/history/Introduction-to-Middle-School-Directory-Chris-Tipple-1995.pdf|access-date=5 June 2020}}</ref> It was not until 1963 that a local authority, the West Riding of Yorkshire, first proposed to introduce a middle-school system, with schools spanning ages 5–9, 9–13 and 13–18;<ref name=cometh>{{cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03004270801994806|title='The middle school cometh'…and goeth: Alec Clegg and the rise and fall of the English middle school|journal=Education 3–13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education|volume=36|issue=2|pages=117–125|doi=10.1080/03004270801994806|last=Crook|first=David|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2008|s2cid=144894135 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> one source suggests that the system was "introduced" in that year.<ref name=OxMid/> Local education authorities were permitted to introduce middle schools by the Education Act 1964,<ref name=politics>{{cite web|title=Education leaving age|url=http://www.politics.co.uk/briefings-guides/issue-briefs/education/education-leaving-age-$474737.htm|website=politics.co.uk|access-date=2 January 2018|language=en}}</ref> subsequently, the notion of three-tier education was mooted by the Plowden Report of 1967—this proposed the introduction of first schools and middle schools, which would replace the existing system of infant and junior schools, as well as the first part of secondary schooling.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Dictionary of Education|chapter=Plowden Report (1967) |date=21 May 2015 |at=Plowden Report (1967)|editor-last=Wallace|editor-first=Susan|publisher=Oxford University Press|edition=2nd|isbn=9780191758454|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199679393.001.0001/acref-9780199679393-e-772?rskey=OJaPcd&result=1|access-date=5 June 2020}}</ref> The Plowden Report recommended that middle schools span ages 8 to 12.<ref name=cometh/><ref name=directory/>
The first middle school in England was introduced in 1968, in the Hemsworth division of the West Riding of Yorkshire.<ref name=cometh/> The first authority-wide systems of middle schools were introduced in 1970, in Stoke-on-Trent and Southampton.<ref name=NMSFHist>{{cite web|url=https://middleschools.org.uk/the-history-of-middle-school-education-in-england/|website=The National Middle Schools' Forum|title=The History of Middle School Education in England|access-date=5 June 2020}}</ref> Numbers rapidly grew, with over a thousand opening in the decade from the first introduction.<ref name=cometh/> Sources suggest reasons for the introduction of the three-tier system in local authority areas included capacity problems, as a result of both the raising of the school leaving age to 16 from 15 (which took place in 1972),<ref name=politics/> and the introduction of comprehensive education, with the schools themselves bypassing the traditional Eleven-plus exam which determined which secondary school pupils would attend.<ref name=OxMid/>
The number of middle schools peaked in 1982, when over 1400 middle schools were open;<ref name=cometh/> by 2017, only 121 remained,<ref name=sw/> and by 2019 the National Middle Schools' Forum recorded 107 in its directory, in 14 local authority areas.<ref>{{cite web|website=The National Middle Schools' Forum|title=Current UK middle schools|url=https://middleschools.org.uk/current-uk-middle-schools/|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref> In 2006, it was reported that Bedfordshire, Northumberland and the Isle of Wight were the only LEAs still exclusively using the three-tier system.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fighting for the middle ground|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/sep/05/schools.uk2|work=The Guardian|date=5 September 2006}}</ref>
Multiple reasons have been suggested by sources for this reversion to a two-tier system, including: a lack of clear identity, with the Department for Education and Science labelling them as either primary or secondary;<ref name=cometh/> a lack of teachers trained to teach in middle schools;<ref name=BBCNorthampton>{{cite news|website=BBC News|title=Middle schools face closure|author=<!--Staff writer-->|date=27 June 2001|access-date=6 June 2020|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1410022.stm}}</ref> and increased autonomy being given to schools, with upper and lower schools choosing to expand their age ranges.<ref name=sw/> The introduction of the National Curriculum has also been cited, as the middle school system led to children changing schools partway through one of its Key Stages; the National Curriculum was cited by David Ward, then the councillor in Bradford responsible for education, as a reason for abolishing the system there,<ref name=TES>{{cite news|title=Parents defend the middle ground|url=https://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=396251|work=Times Educational Supplement|date=11 June 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922071852/https://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=396251|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 September 2012|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref> and local authority officials in Wiltshire, when closing the remaining middle schools in 2002, argued specifically that the mid-Key-Stage school change caused children to be disadvantaged.<ref name=BBCWiltshire>{{cite news|website=BBC News|title=Parents fight school closures|author=<!--Staff writer-->|date=10 July 2002|access-date=6 June 2020|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2119730.stm}}</ref> In addition, in Northumberland it was reported that closing its middle schools could allow the buildings to be sold to raise money for repairs to the remainder of the council's school estate.<ref name=TES/>
The Inter-LEA Middle Schools Forum was founded in 1991, later changing its name to the National Middle Schools' Forum;<ref name=NMSFHist/> it describes itself as "the voice of the middle school community".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://middleschools.org.uk/|title=A system matched to the developmental needs of children, fit for the 21st Century.|website=The National Middle Schools' Forum|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref>
In 2016, Nigel Huddleston raised the topic of three-tier education in Parliament; the schools minister, Nick Gibb, noted that the Government had no plans to abolish the three-tier system in areas retaining it.<ref name=hansard>{{cite hansard|jurisdiction=Parliament of the United Kingdom|house=House of Commons|date=16 March 2016|volume=607|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-03-16/debates/16031635000002/Three-TierEducation|title=Three-tier education|column=388WH}}</ref>
==Similar systems== In Scotland, middle schools were operated in Grangemouth from 1974 to 1988, the system having been proposed in 1968.<ref>{{cite web|title=Falkirk Archives: Local authority records: Application Records Finding Aid|url=https://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/media/2245/education_records.pdf|website=Falkirk Community Trust|date=2 March 2018|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref>
In the private sector, some prep schools take pupils up to age 13.<ref>{{cite web|website=The Good Schools Guide|url=https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/choosing-a-school/independent-schools/uk-independent-schools-explained|title=Independent school system in a nutshell|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref> In addition, some private secondary schools admit pupils at 13, including some of those using the Common Entrance exam<ref>{{cite web|website=The Good Schools Guide|url=https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/curricula-and-exams/common-entrance-ce|title=Common Entrance CE|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref> and some public schools.<ref>{{cite web|website=Hong Kong Tatler|url=https://hk.asiatatler.com/life/10-outstanding-british-public-schools|title=10 Outstanding British Public Schools To Consider|date=23 May 2018|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref>
Gibraltar's education system has a system of first, middle and secondary schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/education/schools|website=HM Government of Gibraltar|title=Schools|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/gibraltar/family/schooling-education/the-school-system|website=Angloinfo Gibraltar|title=The School System|access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref>
==See also== *Education in England *List of middle schools in England
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:School terminology Category:Education in England