To think we should do away entirely with school holidays?

[SkaPunkPrincess]

Just musing and wondering why we don't just do away with them entirely?

Run schools like a regular workplace in that they operate 52 weeks of the year, Teachers and students to get 4 weeks allocated holiday allowance per year and parents can use this at their discretion. Staff would be able to be more flexible and they would have more time in the year to teach children at a more realistic pace?

Am I missing why this isn't a genius idea?

Perhaps because children don’t run the same way as adults?

I feel like kids need time just to experience life and grow without being constantly hemmed into school life.

Yes you are.

I fancy taking my holidays in the run up to GCSE. Your kid is in Y11. Still keen on the idea?

YABU

The kids would burn out, never mind the teachers.

My kids are exhausted after a 9 week half term. Do you have DCs?

Can teachers use the holiday allowance at their discretion, or is that just for the parents? Teachers should not be required to provide work for holidays. There would have to be times (like exam season) when kids could not be taken out of school, as the exam boards won't reschedule exams just because parents want to go on hols.

Teachers need a break as well....

Everyone was shattered after the 7 week term we just had. The kids need regular breaks to learn effectively.

It's a terrible idea because children need time away from school to pursue their own interests, to develop socially, to rest and relax. Intensive year-round schooling would cause them to completely burn out and would deny them the opportunities to experience life outside of the school room.

Right so 30 children turn up for their GcsE maths lesson and Mrs smith has gone off to Cancun for the week?

The school summer holidays were the some of the best days of my childhood. Not because we went on exotic trips or anything, just the freedom of being a child all summer with no school responsibilities.

I fancy taking my holidays in the run up to GCSE. Your kid is in Y11. Still keen on the idea?

This.

As a parent, however, my four-year-old is exhausted at the end of each half-term. Aren’t your children?

I would be in favour of shortening the summer break and distributing those weeks elsewhere in the year. The ‘summer dip’ is well-documented and disproportionately affects disadvantaged pupils.

Oh I'm sure the government or the various school academies will come up with an idea like this eventually to make teacher recruitment and retention even more difficult than it is now.
That's even before the adverse effect on children is considered.

I think the resultant tax burden would be very unpopular.

Paying teachers for all the additional weeks would cost a hell of a lot. How would you expect schools to provide cover if teachers would have random weeks off? Pay for cover? More money.

Nope my school run is pretty difficult with 4 kids and don't drive (live far from the school so it's a long walk) I enjoy a breAk from the school run tbh.

Its a horrible idea. I home educate one of mine and wish the other would agree to it to but she won't so I respect that and support her above and beyond in her choice. Always counting down to the holidays though. Children deserve and probably need long periods of freedom and no responsibilities. We already have one of the highest rates of child MH issues in the developed world, what a shit idea to add even more pressure and demands to that.

From a work perspective, I get it. But the kids are knackered at the end of each term/half term and we're all greatful for the break. The break from the early mornings and the running round, and the costumes and the school admin, and the homework. And I don't resent the teachers the same break at all.

How can you manage refinancing different holidays?
Staff would also need paying more , supporters are only paid for term time so who will foot extra cost?

School doesn't exist purely to facilitate working parents. The best interests of the kids should be primary.

How would teachers and kids being allowed to be out of school at varying points work from a continuity standpoint anyway?

I actually think you're right in that we should have schools operate in such a way that children and teachers aren't utterly exhausted at the end of term. There's also a lot of evidence that the long summer holiday is detrimental. That said I still think there should be some allocated holidays where kids have a longer time to indulge their interests or just get bored.

It's easy to see the education system as free child care but it's not. So it's not structured to facilitate parent's work schedules.

I mean some parents under your proposal might not even take the discretionary 4 weeks holiday for their child at all. They'd just leave them at school for 52 weeks of the year.

It's a ridiculous idea. So, 30 children in one class all take their holidays at different times.

How does the teacher ensure that 30 different children catch up on parts of the curriculum they missed when they were away? Many more children if it's secondary.

I think the curriculum/expectation of schools would just expand to fill whatever time is available. This would still lead to children missing out on things and falling behind, especially in the early years.

Children would also miss out on life experiences, especially when they are teenagers. Things like independent day trips, camping trips, volunteering, getting holiday jobs and work experience- these are all much more likely to happen if they have the long six week summer holidays.

But the main reason this won't happen is that the country can't afford it. School staff currently aren't paid for their holidays, so the salaries of all teachers, support staff, office staff, lunch time supervisors etc etc will increase proportionally. Plus you'd have extra bills for supply teachers and cover staff.

Yes, there are significant financial implications.

Staff on term-time contracts would have to be paid year-round. Schools can currently secure a modest income stream from letting their premises and facilities to holiday clubs etc; that would be lost.

Meanwhile, some schools are shortening their teaching weeks in order to save costs. Where exactly should they get the funds to pay for an extras twelve weeks’ worth of resources, heating, electricity etc?

How could you possibly teach a curriculum on that basis?

We are paid term time only so I look forward to having a few months extra salary added on to my current pay...

In all seriousness, students are shattered by the end of terms. Life is about more than school and formal education. Education is more than what you learn in school.

Most of the claims to reduce school holidays seem to come from the view that school is there to provide convenient childcare. It isn't.

I do agree with PP about the summer. I like the 6 weeks but wouldn't mind 4 weeks at summer and then a the spare 2 weeks being allocated elsewhere.