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184There is no secondary school diploma as such in England Instead the majority of young people at age 16 leave school without any certificate for diploma At age 16 20 of the students take either the GCE examination in individual subjects or the CSE examination these exams and the examination boards were described in the overview section of this chapter It is worth repeating here that essay type questions are preferred not only in the external examinations but also in every teacher s normal internal assessment during the school year There are sex differences on the external exams in 1982 for example four times more boys than girls took GCE O level exams in physics Similarly two times more boys took O level exams in chemistry In 1982 for the first time girls outnumbered boys in total enrollment in courses preparing for the GCE A level examinations 131 700 girls to 130 600 boys Schools offering training in vocational skills are in the separate further education system and certificates are given when one has mastered a particular skill to a specified level Teachers Teacher Pupil Ratios The teacher pupil ratio for all maintained secondary schools in January 1982 was 1 16 In the upper years of secondary school 16 year old and older the average class size is about 11 students
In 1982 there were the full time equivalents of 228 400 teachers in the maintained secondary schools Vocational Education While there are some vocational courses in the regular secondary schools comprehensive schools vocational education occurs mainly in the separate further education system The schools here are called either colleges of further education or technical colleges They offer secondary education to persons 16 years and older and they charge tuition Training for various trades is offered including the building trades automobile repair and printing Some academic courses are offered to a minority of the students who wish to prepare for GCE O level or A level examinations Many of the students taking the vocational courses are employed by factories and firms and are given day release several hours each week to attend classes in the colleges of further education which also have full time students There were 313 000 part time students and 573 000 full time students in 1982 Some of the factories or firms pay the tuition costs of their workers on day release
