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| School holidays: making the break | School holidays: making the break |
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| The long – for some parents, agonisingly long – summer school break in England could be about to end. From September 2015, the 70% of state primaries and 30% of state secondaries still under local authority control will have the right to set their own terms. Michael Gove says the current six-week summer holiday is a hangover from an agricultural economy, when children helped with the harvest. If so, what does that say about another institution he attends – parliament – which sits for around 150 days a year? | The long – for some parents, agonisingly long – summer school break in England could be about to end. From September 2015, the 70% of state primaries and 30% of state secondaries still under local authority control will have the right to set their own terms. Michael Gove says the current six-week summer holiday is a hangover from an agricultural economy, when children helped with the harvest. If so, what does that say about another institution he attends – parliament – which sits for around 150 days a year? |
| There are obvious advantages to spreading the load and the breaks more evenly throughout the year. Some schools, like the David Young Academy in Leeds, which operates a seven-term year starting in June, already do that. It buys time, makes for fresher pupils during term time and halts the educational slippage during the holidays. Others, like the Ark schools, go for four longer days and one shorter one during the week, and longer breaks during those days. In theory, it makes eminent sense to let schools decide how they want to divvy up the minimum of 190 days a year. In reality, the changes to the school year might affect only the start and end of it. | There are obvious advantages to spreading the load and the breaks more evenly throughout the year. Some schools, like the David Young Academy in Leeds, which operates a seven-term year starting in June, already do that. It buys time, makes for fresher pupils during term time and halts the educational slippage during the holidays. Others, like the Ark schools, go for four longer days and one shorter one during the week, and longer breaks during those days. In theory, it makes eminent sense to let schools decide how they want to divvy up the minimum of 190 days a year. In reality, the changes to the school year might affect only the start and end of it. |
| But equally, it would not be difficult to apply the chaos theory to what looks on paper like a good idea. For working parents with two children in different schools, or as in London or Birmingham, two children in different education authorities, the idea of every school going their own way, irrespective of what is going on in the neighbourhood, will add another pressure to what has already become an overpressurised and expensive business of childcare. That is the reason why most schools with the freedom to choose prefer to follow the local authority calendar, because it makes sense to have local co-ordination. | But equally, it would not be difficult to apply the chaos theory to what looks on paper like a good idea. For working parents with two children in different schools, or as in London or Birmingham, two children in different education authorities, the idea of every school going their own way, irrespective of what is going on in the neighbourhood, will add another pressure to what has already become an overpressurised and expensive business of childcare. That is the reason why most schools with the freedom to choose prefer to follow the local authority calendar, because it makes sense to have local co-ordination. |
| With teachers already working from 50 to 60 hours a week, longer days and shorter breaks could also have the opposite of the intended effect. Mr Gove may be tempted to see the bright side of the longer Japanese or Korean school day and ignore the downside, a school day that is too long, with pupils toiling in private crammers far into the night, six days a week. That is not a model for our children to emulate. They work hard enough as it is. Some independent schools in England, which already have the freedom to set their own terms, use it by choosing longer summer holidays and do not appear to suffer educationally. For the less well off, there are dangers of using the longer school day to replace, or compensate for, what parents should be doing. | With teachers already working from 50 to 60 hours a week, longer days and shorter breaks could also have the opposite of the intended effect. Mr Gove may be tempted to see the bright side of the longer Japanese or Korean school day and ignore the downside, a school day that is too long, with pupils toiling in private crammers far into the night, six days a week. That is not a model for our children to emulate. They work hard enough as it is. Some independent schools in England, which already have the freedom to set their own terms, use it by choosing longer summer holidays and do not appear to suffer educationally. For the less well off, there are dangers of using the longer school day to replace, or compensate for, what parents should be doing. |
| The freedom to change terms should be used sensibly and in co-ordination with what other schools are doing in the same area. Nothing is to be gained from competition. | The freedom to change terms should be used sensibly and in co-ordination with what other schools are doing in the same area. Nothing is to be gained from competition. |
| • This article was amended on 4 July 2013. The original suggested schools in England and Wales were to be given the freedom to set their own term dates from September next year; the policy will apply from September 2015, and only in England. | • This article was amended on 4 July 2013. The original suggested schools in England and Wales were to be given the freedom to set their own term dates from September next year; the policy will apply from September 2015, and only in England. |
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