England

D

Religion

The Church of England, a Protestant Episcopal denomination, is the state church and the nominal church of nearly three-fifths of the population. The denomination next in importance is the Roman Catholic church, which has about 6 million members in England. Among the numerous Protestant denominations are the Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalist, Unitarian, and Society of Friends. England also has thousands of Muslims and Jews. Large communities of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs have immigrated to England since the 1950s.

E

Education

For the development and administration of the educational system, see United Kingdom. In England and Wales school attendance is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16. About 90 percent of the elementary and secondary schools are organized and maintained by local education authorities and supported entirely by public funds; the remainder are voluntary schools, provided and maintained by a private body, usually of a religious denomination.

E

1

Elementary and Secondary Schools

In the mid-1980s about 7.7 million pupils were attending publicly maintained schools in England and Wales. Enrollment in independent schools was about 512,000; these private schools are referred to in England as “public” schools. The transfer from elementary to secondary school generally takes place at the age of 11.

E

2

Specialized Schools

Children with conditions such as blindness, deafness, mental retardation, or other disabilities are given special aid in ordinary schools or attend one of the day or boarding schools established for such children. In the mid-1980s these special schools numbered nearly 1500 in England alone.

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E

3

Universities and Colleges

In the mid-1980s some 500 institutions provided part-time or full-time education beyond the secondary level (called “further education”) for students who do not go to a university. These schools included colleges, polytechnics, and institutes of agriculture, art, commerce, and science. Colleges of education numbered about 60.

Of the 34 traditional degree-granting universities in England, all except Oxford and Cambridge (see Cambridge, University of; Oxford, University of) were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries, many of them since World War II (1939-1945). In the mid-1980s full-time university students totaled more than 290,000 annually.