What the examiner means by "education"
Not the education system of the UK as a topic for an essay. The examiner wants your experience and your opinions: the school you went to, how it compares with schools here, exams, teachers, learning English as an adult, your children's school, whether university is worth it. If you have a child in a UK school, that is your strongest material.
Questions that come up
- Tell me about the school you went to as a child.
- What did you use to enjoy most at school? Was there anything you hated?
- How is school in your country different from school here?
- Do you think children here have too much homework, or not enough?
- Should children start school at four, as they do in England?
- What would you change about the education system if you could?
- Have you studied anything as an adult? How was it different from learning as a child?
- Is university worth the cost nowadays?
- How do you think schools might change in the next twenty years?
- What advice would you give a parent whose child does not like school?
Grade 7 language for this subject
- used to: "We used to start at seven in the morning and finish at one." "I didn't use to like maths, but now I help my son with it."
- Passive: "Exams are taken at sixteen and eighteen here." "In my country teachers are respected more than they are paid."
- Second conditional: "If I could change one thing, I'd make class sizes smaller." "If my daughter went to school in Pakistan, she'd have to wear a uniform too, but she'd learn by heart more."
- Advice: "Parents should talk to the teacher before the problem gets bigger." "You'd better not compare your child with others."
- Advantages and disadvantages: "The advantage of starting at four is that children learn English quickly. The disadvantage is that they're tired, and some of them are not ready."
- Possibility: "Schools might use more technology, but I'm not sure that's a good thing."
- Relative clauses: "The teacher who taught me English is the reason I'm here." "Schools where children wear uniforms…"
A model exchange
Examiner How is school in your country different from school here?
Candidate Quite different, actually. In Bangladesh we used to sit in rows and copy from the board, and the teacher talked most of the time. Here my son's class sits in groups and they're asked questions all day. The advantage is that he's not afraid to speak, which I was. On the other hand, I sometimes think they don't learn enough by heart, like times tables. Is that something people complain about here?
Examiner Some do. Do you think learning by heart matters?
Candidate For some things, yes. If you don't know your tables, you can't do anything quickly later. But I wouldn't go back to the system I had. Maybe a mix would be best.
Four Grade 7 items in two turns: used to, a passive, advantages and disadvantages, a second conditional, and a question back.
Mistakes to avoid
- Describing the UK system from the news rather than from your life. The examiner is not testing knowledge.
- One-word comparisons ("here is better"). Say better for what and why.
- Avoiding opinion. "Should children start school at four?" needs a yes or no with a reason, not "it depends".