Do you WANT longer school days and shorter school holidays?

[shadowlily]

YABU- yes I want schools to have longer school days and shorter holidays

YANBU- no I'd rather keep the hours/terms we have.

I keep seeing this is being discussed in the media today, do you think it's likely to happen? Personally I think kids would benefit more from the summer holiday and being able to catch up on the activities they've missed and socialisation with friends. They've been home schooled to keep up with the curriculum (for the most part! I know this might be a contentious statement for some!) but nothing has replaced the play dates, day trips, parties etc. they have missed.

What do you think?

Most schools have reduced the lunchtimes because of behaviour. They won’t increase them back again, I don’t think without considerable extra funding for staffing.

I just think its appalling people don't appreciate what will go as a result:

football clubs, brownies, swimming clubs, rugby, dance classes, martial arts, tutoring, after school clubs, holiday clubs, childminders, tennis clubs, netball clubs, scouts, beavers, rainbows, church groups....if kids can't attend at a reasonable time then they will go.

Plus lots are run by teachers or school staff who will no longer be able to do it.

@TheHoneyBadger

Kids get bullied. Kids lose half their learning time to accommodate the kid who will not let the lesson proceed because they enjoy the attention and they know they can get away with wasting everyone's time. Kids get taught by people who can barely speak English let alone manage and engage kids because working conditions are too shit to attract or retain well qualified professionals with options. Kids get pushed onto sitting through the next year's lessons despite clearly not having mastered the literacy skills necessary to access the curriculum for 4 years running. Kids sit perched on the end of a desk after hunting the maths block for a chair because there are 33 kids in their class and not enough room or chairs.

Parents stick their fingers in their ears and say la la la.

Is the real reason teachers are hated in the uk that people are scared of hearing the state that schools are in?

Where are you in the U.K.?

I’ve used both sectors and been happy with state but it hasn’t been this.

God forbid you have to hear what schools are really like when you have no choice but to send your kids there.

Shoot the messengers rather than campaign for modern funding for modern education from public school boys who don't give a fuck.

It's 2021 and to try and do a lesson using IT I'd likely have to book a trolley of shitty chrome books, half of which won't work, 2 weeks in advance. What does that tell you about funding and value in education?

I think the summer holiday should be four weeks long, with an extra week at October half term and Christmas. I’m both a teacher and a parent!

I'd prefer 4 longer days but a 3 day weekend

I went to an independent school with a 5 term system. We had 2 weeks off in October, 2 weeks off at Christmas, 2 weeks off end of Feb, just a few extra days out the bank hols at Easter, 2 weeks off in May and 4 weeks off in Summer, going around 20th August. It worked really well.

God forbid you have to hear what schools are really like when you have no choice but to send your kids there.

Who is this to? Or is it just general ranting to all. As I said I’ve used state I don’t recognise what you list. What kind of area are you in?

Definitely not longer school days. A tired child will learn less. I have always felt the summer holidays should be 4 weeks not six though. Six is too long the kids forget loads and need to spend first few weeks being reminded of stuff. I would take two weeks from the summer and plonk them on half terms.

@TheHoneyBadger

Kids get bullied. Kids lose half their learning time to accommodate the kid who will not let the lesson proceed because they enjoy the attention and they know they can get away with wasting everyone's time. Kids get taught by people who can barely speak English let alone manage and engage kids because working conditions are too shit to attract or retain well qualified professionals with options

Well this is clearly an issue of a poor teacher. A kid should not be ruining the learning of the rest of the class. I don’t know anyone who teaches in the U.K. in state schools who can’t speak English. What a load of bollocks

You are scaremongering and it’s unfair.

@Findahouse21

I think they should start again with the school arrangements. 6 terms of equal length, seperated by 1-2 weeks of holiday. Work out what teachers are paid now and then change it to reflect that it's a full time job.

Agree with this

Honeybadger, the laptops in my department are 20 years old.

They don’t work, disconnect, shut down , won’t load, and are just crap. The kids are very adept at using keyboards without keys. This is the digital age. It’s appalling.

I don’t know anyone who teaches in the U.K. in state schools who can’t speak English. What a load of bollocks

Exactly

A leafy village a few miles away from less leafy estates and a town. A fairly typical secondary though you may wish to believe otherwise.

What part of what I said do you find so incredulous?

@Grace58

I think the summer holiday should be four weeks long, with an extra week at October half term and Christmas. I’m both a teacher and a parent!

The thing is, if you surveyed all parents and asked what alternative to the current system they’d prefer, there wouldn’t be one clear overall preferred option as the winner.

I certainly wouldn’t want more at Christmas, October or February when the weather is cold, but it might suit some people who eg like skiing to have extra at February. I’d happily have more at whitsun but appreciate this would be a nightmare for external exams.

This is why I don’t think anything will change.

YANBU.

They're children! They need holidays and down time. Longer school days and shorter holidays aren't for the benefit of the children, they're proposed for the parents.

@TheHoneyBadger

A leafy village a few miles away from less leafy estates and a town. A fairly typical secondary though you may wish to believe otherwise.

What part of what I said do you find so incredulous?

Why do think your bad experience means everyone has this?

Well this is clearly an issue of a poor teacher. A kid should not be ruining the learning of the rest of the class. I don’t know anyone who teaches in the U.K. in state schools who can’t speak English. What a load of bollocks

Many many outstanding lesson observations and 25 years experience. Bad behaviour is rarely down to the teacher, and often down to lack of support, children with bad home lives and class size. NOT the teacher.

Poor kids. Poor school staff.

As if they haven't suffered enough. Let them have some fucking downtime over the Summer before the shit storm of winter is back.

Oh we're just making it up arsein apparently.

Same as my son having 2 maths teachers in ks3 whose English was appalling.

That recruitment crisis and it's real life ramifications are teacher propaganda.

Oh and that kid who gets removed from lessons twice a day and fucks the education of the unlucky form group landed with them is made up too. Or just the fault of one shit teacher.

Marsha I've taught in several counties and many schools. Don't be obtuse.

@TheHoneyBadger

Oh we're just making it up arsein apparently.

Same as my son having 2 maths teachers in ks3 whose English was appalling.

That recruitment crisis and it's real life ramifications are teacher propaganda.

Oh and that kid who gets removed from lessons twice a day and fucks the education of the unlucky form group landed with them is made up too. Or just the fault of one shit teacher.

I don’t disbelieve you’ve had a terrible time for various reasons.

It doesn’t mean that everyone is just unaware of the same.

I haven't had a terrible time. I'm experienced, don't take things personally and am assertive enough to remove kids for the sake of others in the class.

Less experienced or confident teachers bow to pressure that a child being removed is your failure and just allow mayhem.

Much as you'd like me to be I'm not a weak teacher.

Provision has been variable , there needs to be some way of allowing children to catch up. I think reduced holidays is the best solution , this would ensure children improved work habits, the long summer break is not ideal for learning and research has shown children go backward in normal circumstances during that time - that was before the pandemic

Honeybadger, with class sizes of 15 none if this would happen. It’s also the fault if the government. I taught under the last Labour government. After the Tories came to pier, the following happened:

Behaviour management support team axed
Learning mentors axed
Send support axed
Class sizes have risen
Kids with complex and profound needs shoved into a huge class with no support. They get overwhelmed and misbehave. I had 3/4 of a class with complex needs in a y7, with no support. It was crazy.
Equipment breaking or faulty giving rise to bad behaviour through frustration.
Insufficient resources.
Mental health support in schools axed.
IT budget axed. Shit computers equals shit behaviour.

THiS is what is causing behaviour problems, not the teacher.

It's funny that you think it's a terrible time rather than a day in the life for a teacher.

Not every class has a child that disruptive, some have none, some have three.

Why the need to believe I'm lying?

This is something mostly taken in my stride as part of the job not some strange victim hood that must be an anomaly because Marsha would like to believe that angry, disruptive, attachment disordered kids don't exist