Schools should close early on a Friday

[Goolagoo]

I know this will be very mixed opinion - especially for working parents .

But , I’m a teacher . Over the years I have seen so much in schools regarding PPA time and really unfair practices . I have seen , and experienced , teachers having PPA taken away due to staffing issues . I once saw a teacher have a day of PPA ( a whole day because she wasn’t having it the week after due to staffing issues so would need to plan 2 weeks work in this PPA session ) taken away - it was a Friday too so she was supposed to be having that day to plan for lessons beginning on the Monday . It was taken away due to staffing issues and she was in tears - she had plans that weekend that she had to cancel so she could plan for the week ahead ( I didn’t work in that school , she’s a teacher friend ). I have also had PPA time taken away from me before and I also have never had a class that didn’t get upset at me not being in class and having a supply or a Ta cover . Usuall work that’s done during the cover whilst class teacher is out on PPA isn’t ‘important’ work - it’s a lot of filler work , or work that doesn’t go in books . A lot of children also get anxiety over their class teacher being out and children with SEN especially suffer with this .

I read about a school that decided to close at 1pm every Friday to allow teachers to all have their PPA time . They said that they made the time back with a slightly later finish time / slightly earlier start time and they found that behaviour improved massively. Fridays are usually the end of a long week and filled with behaviour issues and this reduced along with attendance improving . I know some schools around the area do Finish at 1/2 on a Friday and I wonder if this is the reason why .

It seems like it would really make sense !

Maybe even , as TAs don’t get PPA time as they don’t plan , they could offer a kind of after school club ( until normal pick up time ) where the TAs watched the children who’s parents couldn’t do an earlier pick up time .

Personally I think school should be better funded and staffed so that planning time is never taken away. I would also like the education system to catch up with working mums too, the holidays are so difficult and it's unbalanced in the year.

Yes - planning is part of the job, as well as marking and writing up concerns so they can be looked into.
PPA doesn’t allow all of this to be completed so no teachers do not finish earlier - term time workload is huge.

But teachers aren't gaining anything if their teaching time is extended on other days.

Teachers contracts are different in Scotland, they’re contracted to a 35 hour week with a maximum of 22.5 hours of contact time so balancing out slightly longer days Monday to Thursday doesn’t mean they loose prep time, because 12.5 hours a week is non-contact time regardless of when they actually work those hours.

My kids primary school did this, but it was to cut costs rather than give anyone a break. Everyone was miserable with the change, particularly as there was no wraparound care offered, so hundreds of parents had to suddenly figure out how to have every Friday off work. They changed it back and resumed normal hours the following year.

It happens in my area of Scotland but it's rally not so kids can do their hobbies! It was a compromise agreement after a sustained period of industrial action (that lasted for my whole high school life) to shorten teachers' hours while paying them the same money. I want to say it's called the McGlone agreement but I might be making that bit up.

It is ridiculously hard to get p/t hours with a Friday off in consequence and most kids do end up doing hobbies, but that's to cover childcare.

We did this post covid to allow for "enhanced cleaning" but it wasn't sustainable, it didn't work for us

We need that in early years too. We open from 7am until 6.30pm. The building is occupied with children constantly between those times. We have to squeeze planning in around looking after the children. I know we don't have to do lesson plans in the way needed for older children but we still need to write up reports, plan, organise, deal with SEN needs (ie writing EHCPs) while technically looking after the children. It is very hard work trying to do it all while doing 10/11hr days and always having children to care for.

I'm a primary teacher and I wouldn't want it. You'd need to extend the other days to make it work and personally I think 9-3 is long enough for young kids' attention spans. When I was in school we were in until 4pm but we had a longer lunch time.
I don't think finishing early on a Friday would be that great as it would be such a hassle for parents needing childcare (which I know is not what we're there for but we need to realistic). I also don't think it's useful for all teachers to have planning and preparation time at the same time because everyone will be trying to use the shared printer, photocopier etc at the same time.
I also think councils would use the excuse of the pupils having done home to close the buildings early to save money on heating, janitor staff etc and teachers would have no choice but to take their work home. I prefer to stay late and get my work all done so I only take the bare minimum home, others prefer to come in early. Some working parents need to take their woke home due to childcare issues and I think we are very lucky to have that flexibility in our job.

You say that children are tired and behaviour takes a dip on a Friday and then expect a very low paid TA to care for the children whose parents can't collect them. Okay.

when I worked as a teacher the teaching staff rarely left before 5 usually closer to 6

Edited to add, how long do you think it would take to plan 5 lessons for the next day, get resources ready, mark the current days work, contact parents and speak to other teachers?

What's PPA?

Edinburgh gave schools a half day finish in the 80's. Some schools hold their CAT sessions then.

@Itsmyshadow

The job your parents did is unrecognisable from the job teachers do today.

Teachers don't forget that other people work long hours or extra hours.

Pointing out the hours teachers work simply tells you how many hours teachers work. It doesn't say anything about other jobs.

So not finishing early at all then. They did their contracted hours and then went home.

Then did more work.

FFS.

Can I ask a honest question? Most of the teachers in my children’s primary school (and mine albeit a long time ago!) taught the same class year in year out.

Do you not just recycle the previous years lesson plan?

Do you have to do an entire new lesson plan for the whole year, every year?

Genuinely interested and 100% not trying to downplay a teachers work load- I could not teach a fish to swim! Just curious how ‘planning’ works year to year.

My secondary school finished early on a Friday by 45 minutes, it was glorious! Primary would be hellish for me as no wrap around childcare in the area.

What I meant was you finish being responsible for the kids much earlier than an average job finishes, so then working to when an average job is contracted to finish gives some planning time as part of working an average number of hours per week. I don’t think an even earlier finish on a Friday when other jobs don’t get that benefit (and the childcare expense / difficulties that would cause) is fair.

Our local sixth form finishes an hour later and then does a half day Friday. It seems to work well.

I would love this and I say this as a full-time working parent. Having Friday afternoon for sport or hobbies would be dreamy so as not to take up the whole weekend!

(And totally see the benefits to teachers as well)

I'm a TA. I do need to plan and I am not a babysitter.

Your problem is SLT not respecting the need for good planning and suggesting TAs as child care is not the answer.

Why should children lose 2 hours of education to resolve an underfunding crisis?

PPA is time that is legally required to be given off-timetable for Planning, Preparation and Assessment.

The poster posting about the early finish is clearly after a rise from others as most people know it's an easy dig.

Kids are in my primary class at 8.40, so I'm required there by ten mins before they are in, but get in at 8 each day.

Directed time is usually an amount of time after the kids finish, where we are expected to still be on site and available. When it's not a meeting night, it runs until 4. Today I left at 5 and it wasn't because I was writing reports or anything special, just still planning for next week - after losing half of my PPA due to staffing shortage!

A lot longer than the PPA time you are allocated, which is why you also do it after 3:15 also, but people in other professions are also working after 3:15 as a matter of course.

In the early 90s I was a teacher in a school that had planning time on Friday pm. This was well before PPA

Friday pm had a longer lunch till approx 1.15 . Support staff did register. HT did an assembly for 30 mins (so approx 2pm) . Support staff and outside led clubs for 1 hour. Support staff and SLT did end of day. School finished 30 minutes earlier than usual at 3pm with free out of school for 30 mins if needed

We all had to be off site by 3pm (same time as school day ended on Friday).

Oh shut up.

Was that to me?