At GCSE O level (the final phase of compulsory education) there's little formal grammar education. Or at least there wasn't when I did it. The average 16 year old UKian should know what a noun and verb are, but adjective is slightly shakier territory, and adverb ... probably not. Shitsux, and is probably part of the reason why we also tend to fail at foreign languages.
Science is perhaps the most fucked up. Chem/bio/physics aren't considered important enough to be full subjects so they're grouped into a "double award" worth only 2 GCSEs. Health + safety paranoia has gutted chemistry of any remotely interesting experiments, and physics is 50% BAWWWing about environmental issues. Of course we're now paying the price - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4780017.stm