ABSTRACT
British education has become structurally more diverse. Until recently children transferred schools at seven and eleven; now they may do so at any age between seven and fourteen. Educational labels are more deceptive than ever. ‘College’ and ‘school’ are applied at all age levels, ‘comprehensive’ may be applied to last year’s secondary modern, ‘grammar’ may actually be part of the name of a comprehensive school. In post-sixteen education there is often confusion about the meanings of sixth form unit, sixth form centre, sixth form college, secondary college, further education college, technical college, tertiary college, and comprehensive college. Given the high costs of building, the economic expenditure judgments are against the all-through school with integral sixth form. This is based upon two common assumptions: that such schools must be large and that they require new buildings.
