The plan to increase the school day and decrease holidays is flawed

Teachers already stay after school an hour or two everyday to prepare lessons and hence longer school days aren't manageable

Reply 1

Damask-

Most teachers work much longer than two hours a day outside of class-time, at home as well as in school. We'd probably need more teachers if this were going to happen, or it would become an even less attractive profession and the quality of education in some areas would suffer.

Reply 2

michaelhaych

it's way more than 2 hours a day. Take homework for example; if they take 5 minutes to mark each piece of homework, that's 2.5 hours for a class of 30 children. They may have 5 or 6 different classes to teach, plus they have to plan lessons, mark classwork, put up displays, etc. It's a very demanding job

Reply 3

Mikecool

But what about the idea of public tutors- with more money schools could afford tutors to help children who need them the most yet may not be able to afford their help and this could take place after school or instead of certain classes

Reply 4

Don$

Michael gove is clueless, he says he's going to increase school hours but he hasn't taken the teachers views into consideration. They are the people who will teach our children. They are stressed out and under enough pressure as it is!!!

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Reply 5

Steliata

This is a bad idea because:
1. As previously mentioned, there's the problem of teachers being overworked and unable to provide good quality teaching for so long.
2. Students will suffer - we're all tired by the end of the day as it is. Nobody will be able to concentrate and people will get stressed. In case you haven't noticed, stress causes countless health problems and isn't good for young people to be dealing with. Also, younger children need time to play and older children need time to socialise, something which would be completely missing should school hours be extended.
3. Fact of life: Children need to see their families. Everyone spends so much time talking about how important family time is! Families need time to talk, to think and to be happy. School is not child care to keep kids busy as their parents work.
4. Extra curricular activities that cannot be provided by the school (eg sports with expensive equipment) will not be able to take place as children will still be in school. This will ultimately result in sports being even more elitist, with only the rich kids who go to rich schools being able to do things like gymnastics or rowing.
5. There is not enough funding to keep schools open longer and for more days in the year. You would have to pay teachers more, pay everyone who keeps the school running more, pay more heating and electricity bills. Many schools are struggling to find funds as it is, and this would make things so much worse.
6. Traffic problems would be worse - school runs at the same time as the rush hour would be ridiculous. Also students walking home in winter would be doing so in complete darkness for most of the season.

I can think of so many more reasons why this shouldn't happen, but I can't be bothered to write them all here.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6

Htrain250

The teachers are lazy. They need to work longer and harder just like all the other professions.

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Reply 7

Steliata

Where has this idea of teachers being lazy come from anyway? They work at least 9 to 5, along with extra marking done in their own time, and schools are open during all the holidays except for Chistmas.

Reply 8

jelly1000

Original post by Htrain250

The teachers are lazy. They need to work longer and harder just like all the other professions.

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Most people work a certain number of hours a week and have the time they aren't in work to do as they please which usually includes two full days off. Teachers have to be in work from 8:30-4 absolute minimum, quite often 8-5 if they want to prepare for classes and have after school meetings to go to or detentions. Then on top of that there is marking, lesson preparation, emails to reply to, any extra projects they might have to work on- e.g. my Mum is a deputy head teacher and involved in professional development for teachers so spends a lot of time working on delivering courses for that. During term time she doesn't get a day off of work at all and there is usually plenty of work to do in the holidays as well.

Reply 9

username402722

I predict it will not happen.

Reply 10

StretfordEnd

You are applying logic to a decision which is terrible policy but great politics; a hiding to nothing, really.

This idea clearly isn't being floated with the educational establishment in mind; it's being floated with the intention that it's a good old robust stance that will resonate with the typical 'middle england' voter that the tories are worried they're going to lose to UKIP in 2015.

The most vocal opponents to this? Those who can't vote, and those in education who are not going to be voting tory anyway because they despise Gove with the burning intensity of a thousand suns; so the conservatives are not particularly going to lose any ground they had before.

Reply 11

jelly1000

For disadvantaged kids both could be great. I think extra school hours should be optional for those who need a quiet environment to work in and those who clearly just aren't bothering with homework. Or for sports clubs/other activities for those whose parents can't afford to send their kids to lots of out of school activities.

And the summer holidays are too long for kids whose parents just sit them in front of the TV and don't or can't provide educational stimulants e.g. books and outings. You don't need more than a month at home at a time with nothing much to do, and a month would still give enough time for visiting relatives/going on holiday e.c.t. Then the remaining two weeks should be compulsory but for fun play for primary kids - trips, activities e.c.t like a playscheme