Actually I'm across the water in Ireland, another system entirely...but we get a lot of UK press reported here, hence my interest in Joan Freeman's book and the articles which quoted her.
Our system is different again. At the start of secondary school, at age 12/13, students study about 11 subjects for their Junior Certificate Examination. English, Irish, Maths, a modern language, History, Geography, Science, Civic Social & Political Education (CSPE)and Religion are common obligatory subjects in many schools. Then you can choose another two or three from choices such as Latin, Art, Music, Classical Studies, Technical Graphics. This exam is taken at the end of Third Year.
Most schools offer what is known as Transition Year (TY) which is the 4th year of secondary school and in which students take a break from formal exam preparation. They have an opportunity to develop skills across a range of non-academic and academic areas such as volunteering, drama, work-experience etc. They continue to study core subjects of English, Irish and Maths, and some of their other subject choices.
In 5th and 6th Year students prepare for the Leaving Certificate Exam. Their results are calculated in grades which are each assigned a number of points. The points serve as entry requirements for university courses. Students usually take 7 or sometimes 8 subjects with the best 6 results counted for Points. For entry to Irish universities English, Irish and Maths is required, so almost all students take those. There are almost 30 subjects offered, although most schools can only schedule far fewer than that. Some students take an extra subject outside school, but this is considered a risk because the courses are content-heavy and the workload is considerable.
We have no formal provision for gifted learners here. It is prohibited by our 1998 Education Act for any school to admit students on the basis of ability, so schools for gifted learners do not exist. We have a long way to go to have any state provision of services for gifted children (called Exceptionally Able here). Most of our (scarce!) resources go to supporting those at the other end of the ability scale.
That's it in a nutshell really!
