Johnson plans classes on Saturday

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The government wants more of England's state schools to open on Saturdays.

The idea - floated by the Education Secretary, Alan Johnson - is to give extra classes for slower or gifted and talented children.

The lessons would make time for them to catch up or to "broaden horizons", Mr Johnson said after visiting schools in the US that do this.

His department has said it wants to talk to teachers - but union leaders have reacted coolly to the suggestion.

Mr Johnson - who is due to address the Labour Party conference on Wednesday - said in an interview with the Sunday Times: "What you can do with Saturday schools is issues like the arts, music and dance, and broaden horizons, using that important time as an educational tool."

Pay bill

He had asked his officials to work up detailed proposals and expected to get the extra funding required for more teachers in this summer's spending review although that would depend on the chancellor.

It could add another £500m to the £19bn-a-year teachers' pay bill, the paper reported - not to mention other staff costs associated with having a school open at the weekend.

His department's spokesman said: "We are interested in exploring whether more schools in the maintained sector might open on Saturdays as part of our continuing drive to raise standards even higher.

"There are already good examples of schools doing this in the maintained and independent sector, providing young people with catch-up classes or additional programmes for gifted and talented pupils.

"Clearly, our thinking is at an early stage, but we are interested in radical options to boost standards.

"We would of course want to explore this idea in consultation with the teaching profession."

The leader of the NASUWT teachers' union, which works in a "social partnership" with the government over teachers' conditions, said it was important not to confuse school quantity with quality.

Chris Keates said: "The rationale for this is currently unclear. Simply putting children in school for half a day longer isn't going to mean that standards are going to rise."

What might seem like a simple idea would need considerable change to legislation and to teachers' conditions.

She thought there would be a lot of resistance from parents, children themselves and from the teaching profession.

Higher leaving age

Mr Johnson also said he was "seriously considering" raising the compulsory education leaving age from 16 to 18.

In practice most children "stay on" in education or training until 18 anyway, but his concern is the 11% of the age group known as "neets" - not in employment, education or training.

"You want to create a situation where the adult world is saying - given that kids are bombarded with so many messages - look, we want you to stay in education and training.

"Not, perhaps, sitting behind a desk reading Romeo and Juliet; there are different options now.

"We think it unacceptable for you to be out in the workplace now with no training and education at all at the age of 16 and 17, as it used to be aged 14."