An Ofsted (英国教育标准办公室）study reports that teachers are discouraging students who want to leave school and work as apprentices (学徒）in beauty salons (美容中心）or hair dressers.
Inspectors questioned 105 young people for a report on apprenticeships published on Wednesday. They found several examples of young people who felt they had been laughed at by their teachers for wanting to progress to work-based learning, particularly in care or hairdressing, rather than stay on at school.
Right or wrong, is it any surprise that this is happening? From 2014，the government will measure schools according to the rate of their pupils who go to university. Brian Lightman , general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says the government has already put teachers under “very great pressure to focus on academic subjects”
On the other hand, the Education Act 2011，which came into force in November, places schools under a duty to give fair career advice to pupils. This advice must include information on all post-16 education and training choices, including apprenticeships. This doesn’t appear to be happening in several schools, according to Ofsted9S report. Many of the young people the inspectors talked to said the advice they had received on apprenticeships was “unsatisfactory”.
Schools were also blamed for lack of work experience courses, which are particularly important for teenagers considering an apprenticeship. They help students decide whether they enjoy a line of work and enable employers to see whether those on work experience have the potential to be hired as apprentices in future years.
But there is a good reason why they can’t do this: they’d be unable to adapt to GCSE (英国齊通中等教育证书）exams if they did. Sometimes, it seems, schools just can’t win.
小题1:Why do teachers oppose the students’ leaving school and working as apprentices?
A．The government urges teachers to concentrate on academic subjects.
B．The students are only wasting time working as apprentices.
C．Employers are under great pressure of taking GCSE exams.
D．Employers don’t give students chances to work as apprentices小题2:Pressure for schools to provide pupils with career advice comes from ______.
A．Association of School and College Leaders
B．Education Act 2011
C．GCSE exams
D．OFSTED小题3:The underlined word “They” in Paragraph 5 refers to _____.
A．schools
B．employers
C．work experience courses
D．teenagers considering an apprenticeship小题4:What does the author think of teachers’ discouraging students working as apprentices?
A．Surprising
B．Understandable
C．Wrong
D．Right
小题1:A
小题2:B
小题3:C
小题4:B
题目分析：文章讲述的是英国教育标准办公室研究发现，老师阻碍学生去美容中心或理发店当学徒。作者认为这样做是不对的。
小题1:细节理解题。根据第三段says the government has already put teachers under “very great pressure to focus on academic subjects”.可知政府使得老师很有压力，必须特别关注学术类科目。故选A。
小题2:细节理解题。根据第四段On the other hand, the Education Act 2011，which came into force in November, places schools under a duty to give fair career advice to pupils.另一方面，<<2011教育举措>>从11月开始实行，又使得学校担负起为学生提供就业建议的任务。故选B。
小题3:推理判断题。根据第五段Schools were also blamed for lack of work experience courses, which are particularly important for teenagers considering an apprenticeship. They help students decide whether they enjoy a line of work。学校还被责备缺乏工作经验方面的课程。这些课程对于那些考虑要去当学徒的学生非常重要，它们帮助学生知道它们是否喜欢这份工作。它们当然应该指那些work experience courses。故选C。
小题4:作者态度题。根据第三段From 2014，the government will measure schools according to the rate of their pupils who go to university. Brian Lightman , general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says the government has already put teachers under “very great pressure to focus on academic subjects”.
说明作者认为老师那样做是可以理解的。故选B。