B

Baccalauréat A school leaving examination in French secondary schools. General lycées offer a general Baccalauréat and the technical lycées offer the Baccalauréat Technologique. These general and technological Baccalauréats are not of equal prestige. In 1985 a third type, a four-year vocational course followed by the Baccalauréat Professionnel, was introduced. (See also International Baccalaureate, Technological Baccalaureate)

Bachelor of Education (BEd) It was recommended in the Robbins Report (1963) that teaching should become an all-graduate profession. By the end of the 1970s, Teachers’ Certificate courses had been replaced by three-or four-year courses leading to the award of a Bachelor of Education degree. This degree includes a professional teaching qualification and may be taken at a large number of colleges of higher education and university departments of education. Courses will include curriculum subject studies, educational and professional studies, school experience and teaching practice. Most students preparing for teaching careers in primary schools follow this ‘concurrent’ pattern of initial teacher education and training. Applicants for BEd courses are expected to have a good general education and will normally be required to have passed General Certificate of Education examinations in English and mathematics, at an appropriate level, together with two subjects at A Level. Some BEd degrees have been renamed Bachelor of Arts (BA) with professional qualifications. Several institutions of higher education also offer a BEd degree for serving teachers who hold a certificate qualification but wish to achieve graduate status. In-service BEd courses focus largely on the academic study of education. Such courses have also proved to be suitable for teachers from overseas who are seeking to upgrade their professional qualifications. Since the Government introduced salaries for postgraduate teacher trainees in March 2000, many institutions have been restructuring their BEd courses to include shortened primary courses, or are offering a three-year course followed by a Professional Graduate Certificate of Education.