where schemes for a universal system of free education was being formulated as early as the 16th century. Scotland maintains a separate education system from England, granted in the 1707 Act of Union. This continues at the secondary level to present day.
and is provided through a mix of public and private provision, in the likes of nursery schools, day nurseries, and play groups; as well as through private child care and other arrangements. The government has a policy of guaranteeing a nursery place to every child age four or five.
and is provided free by the state. Guidelines are set by the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum, as there is no direct counterpart to the English National Curriculum.
As 11 year olds, students transfer from primary to secondary school, going on to study for �O Grade� and �Higher� examinations, which are generally taken at ages 15 and 17, with nearly three-quarters continuing at school beyond 16. Scotland is also home to some of Britain�s oldest and most distinguished private schools.
The university sector has undergone two major phases of expansion in recent decades, during the 1960s and the 1980s-90s, with a corresponding growth in the numbers of Scottish students undertaking higher education, while further education colleges offer other post-secondary options, often of a more vocational nature.
with policies and bulk funding administered through the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED), for nursery-level and school education, and Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department (further and higher education). Many aspects of administration and delivery are passed on to local authorities (including schools, special educational needs and community education) and to schools themselves, with tertiary level bodies operating largely autonomously, funded through the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and the Scottish Further Education Funding Council.
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