Finals are a good idea, but they are weighted extremely heavily. At OSU some of my finals make up as much as 60% of the grade. If homework and projects were waited slightly more I would focus a bit more on them and all in all, I'd know the material better because I wouldn't jsut be memorizing facts for a test. I'd be actually learning and understanding the material.
To say it's two completely different systems, Britain and America have kinda similar takes on things.
We don't do these "Final" thingies, we get a big test at the end of the year usually. Though we get mini tests after each little subject.
As for coursework, it depends on the subject. Some, like German, only count for 25% of the whole mark, whilst things like Tech and Music counts for 60%.
Yet I only know this from GCSE...I don't know about A' Level or Degree courses or owt.