Longer school days to make up for lost learning

[StitchInLime]

Source: Various newspapers, give it a Google (admittedly with a right wing lean)

Apparently one of the options being considered, nothing set in stone of course but for the purposes of discussion...

AIBU to feel both joy and sadness at the prospect of this (joy for me so I can claw back work hours, joy for children so they can claw back some school time but sadness for my teacher friends and all teachers who will need to add more hours to already heavy workload).

[quote Countdowntonothing]@borntobequite

Foolish post. There is no such thing as work-life balance. You should work 5am-11pm without breaks, and still give more unless you want a stranger on MN to call you selfish. [/quote]
You want SIX hours sleep?! How selfish. Won't someone think of the children ...

Not read everyone's responses but the government can fuck right off if they think that either:

I'll support this from a teaching perspective. Children are tired by the end of a normal school day.

I'll support this from a parental perspective. I want my children to live a life outside of school.

Nope.
This idea can fuck right off.

@Nat6999

Why don't they just move the school year around & start again from where they left off at Christmas? Move new reception start date to January, GCSE, A levels etc to October - November, results end of December, just pay for more people to mark exams. Same for universities.

My god. Do you think they'd engage even a tiny amount of common sense and do something this simple, yet effective?

Because we are the people who mark exams. It's hard enough doing 150 in November. 350 whilst teaching a full timetable would be impossible.

Changing direction but I have no interest in this for my DS. In fact I would be actively anti. We've been doing full time days here all the way through. When restrictions loosen and we go back to school I want to do all the other things with him.. go to football practise and cafes and museums and just out and about to nearby towns. He doesn't need extra length of day in the classroom.
Get that others feel differently but how would it be handled? If it's not mandatory I assume you would miss some who most need it. Mandatory... make those who haven't fallen behind sit in for longer? Or are you going to have full assessments run on all years on return?

@Nat6999
If they moved the new reception start date January would the children get a full year first year and start their year 1 in January or just not get a whole first year of school?

What about children who were due to start nursery in September? They wouldn’t get a place because children who were supposed to start school in September would still be at nursery?!

What would happen with the year 6s? They stay at primary for an extra term and move to secondary school in January and have a year less of their first year of secondary?

People in their final year of degrees won’t want to stay until Xmas when they could be finished in June/July and go off to find work.

How is extending the teaching day going to benefit children. in a normal school day, the children are tired by the end. In the exam years we already offer an extra revision lessons for most of year 11 as it is and genuinely there is little point extending the hours as there is a limit to how much longer they can concentrate. So what would be the point.

You can't catch up lost time by extending the day. This is just politics so they can say they are doing something, then blaming the teachers for not doing it.
The kids need time to socialise, to go to clubs, to chill out with their friends, not longer hours in school.

AIMD Uni s tudents have missed out on teaching just the same as school kids have, reset the academic & school year & give everyone a fair chance at their education. Children entering reception wouldn't lose out, just go January to September instead of September to July, don't forget in a lot of countries children don't start formal education until they are at least 6.

It’s a stupid idea and clearly not informed by teachers or parents. Some children have benefitted from lockdown and have been lucky enough to have 1:1 support throughout from a knowledgable and supportive parent, and so won’t need ‘catch up’. Some are behind but this will be supported in school. Once we’re back they will need rest in the evenings along with everyone else.

I think the idea of adding to the school day, or taking from the holidays is such a sad one. I'm working long hours to ensure my class are learning as much as possible. They aren't losing out on input. They are losing out on socialising and playing outside. They need their evenings and summer holiday.

I feel the same @Parrotsandpussies.
For my own dc and my class I want to focus on fitness, socialising and fun

No no no!!!
Volunteers not teachers.
Tired unhappy children failing to absorb the lessons.
My kids already travel 40 miles each day (to their catchment school)

NO to holiday school too
Give every GCSE child a pass grade this year and be done with it

make space in the agendas

As in, take time from their own families. Again, I will not be doing this. My child comes before anyone else's.

@Nat6999 what about those that are starting preschool , do you expect their parents to pay for them to be at nursery longer? Must nurseries round here still charge something when you hit 3 whereas pre schools are free. Plus would there be enough nursery places, waiting lists are long. And January - Sept so no summer holidays next year?

I’m all for extending the early years but it’s not that simple, more spaces and staff would be needed and that is highly unlikely to be funded.

@Nat6999

AIMD Uni s tudents have missed out on teaching just the same as school kids have, reset the academic & school year & give everyone a fair chance at their education. Children entering reception wouldn't lose out, just go January to September instead of September to July, don't forget in a lot of countries children don't start formal education until they are at least 6.

I didn’t realise you meant permanently change the start of the academic year to jan.

I’ll be honest though I still can’t see how that would work in reality without a lot of difficulty.

Yes other countries don’t start until age 6, and for what it’s worth I thinks that’s great and much better than children starting at barely turned 4. However most countries that start at 6 also have better funded pre school/childcare provision than we have here. I still don’t understand what would happen to children due to start preschool this September (maybe through getting their 2 or 3 year funding) if the children from this year stayed an extra term? They’d have to start later...not access their 2/3 year funding for an extra term?

I also agree uni students have had the right amount of teaching as they would have normally got. However I don’t believe than many 3rd year/final year students wouldn’t want to restart their 3rd years when they are so close to the end of their degree and being able to look for work. I have a friend in her final year of social work, she completed the vast majority of her work and is soon to finish her last placement ....why would she ever want to redo this year?

I’m not disagreeing it’s an idea in theory, I just don’t see how it would work in reality.

Uni s tudents have missed out on teaching just the same as school kids have, reset the academic & school year & give everyone a fair chance at their education

Do the university students have to pay another year of £9k fees and £5k rent, plus living expenses in this plan though?!

@echt

It's a bloody stupid idea and won't happen.

Here's one that just might work and is happening in Victorian government schools now:

1. In Victoria the same need for catch-up was identified so an ad went out for interested parties, e.g. retired, n newly-qualfied part-time teachers. They where overwhelmed with responses. This was mid year 2020.

1. Schools identified all students who had underachieved for whatever reason.

1. All support is in-class, no extra lessons.

1. All support is by qualified teachers who are registered.

1. All staff are paid (don't know the rates)

1. All improvements have to be tied to data gathered at identification stage.

Caveat: students don't have support for every lesson.

Obviously improvements are in the future but what characterises this sensible approach is that students don't have an extended day, the support is to do with lesson they are in. They don't lose holidays.

Just as importantly, not for one fat minute did the government approach teachers to do something for nothing.

Unlike the UK who fly kites to raise expectations, with vague talk about volunteers.

Wow-that actually sounds like a plan.

You’re spot on-vague talk about volunteers is exactly what they do. That is not a plan!

@letseatgrandma I agree that sounds like a great move. What a great idea, I’m sure there are recently retired teachers, even student teachers in their final year etc who would be a benefit to children and would want some part time hours.

Children who are struggling and teachers who are struggling won’t need or benefit from longer days and less holiday. I would expect many more teachers are considering leaving teaching after this year, let’s not push more into leaving.

[quote AIMD]@letseatgrandma I agree that sounds like a great move. What a great idea, I’m sure there are recently retired teachers, even student teachers in their final year etc who would be a benefit to children and would want some part time hours.

Children who are struggling and teachers who are struggling won’t need or benefit from longer days and less holiday. I would expect many more teachers are considering leaving teaching after this year, let’s not push more into leaving.[/quote]
I know loads of part time teachers and I think some of them would probably do some extra as well-I’ve got a capacity to do another day a week.

Not after school though-that’s good for no one (except childcare, for which there is paid childcare).

recently retired teachers... would want some part time hours

It’s a nice idea, but as a retired secondary Maths teacher (albeit one who is still working part time in a different sector), I’d be completely put off the idea of helping with catch up sessions by the vicious and unrelenting attacks on the teaching profession from many on this site, not to mention in certain sections of the media. There are notable and particularly distressing examples on this thread.
I understand that to a certain extent these attacks are politically motivated and coordinated, but that doesn’t make them less harmful. The contempt and gleeful derision aimed at teachers is most likely to discourage and alienate those teachers most valuable to children’s happiness and achievement, the ones who genuinely care, do go the extra mile, and are most cast down when denigrated in such a manner.

Uni s tudents have missed out on teaching just the same as school kids have, reset the academic & school year & give everyone a fair chance at their education

No, they haven't. My students have been taught exactly the same content (in online lectures) and had interactive seminars (on Zoom) as normal years, same amount of 'contact' time. Same office hours. Same study skills lessons. Same employability/careers programme. There is some myth that teaching in universities and schools isn't happening- it is, but in different formats. If I were to repeat a year, I would repeating exactly what I did this year!

What uni students have missed out on is coming onto campus, meeting in the library, having coffee and chatting with friends, socializing and going out clubbing, informal chats with lecturers after class.

They haven't missed being taught, and they haven't missed being assessed (we are marking 100's of assignments, same as usual!) Not at my uni anyway.

We can't delay the education of another year group and keep them in sixth form just to offer this. It's sad, especially for the third years that won't have had their fun last year, and I hope we can offer them real-life graduations, coming back events and so forth, but I don't think we should ask the current Year 13's who have had the shittest year ever just to sit in their schools for a further year. We can't double the intake, we took over our usual numbers last year and that won't make campus safe.

Universities get a substantial chunk of income from overseas students. If we altered our school year nationally to begin in January, wouldn’t that have a permanent negative effect on getting overseas students to apply?