Gove says lengthen school days and shorten long summer holiday

[juneau]

Here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22202694

I think it's a great idea and I'm sure working parents will welcome it. I also think it's bollocks that teachers need the six week summer break to recharge their batteries. Do they work harder or longer hours than other workers who only get four or five weeks a year then?

Having just endured a bored DS1 over the Easter holidays I think any break of more than two weeks is actually pretty dull for kids and I'm sure poorer kids really suffer from lack of stimulation and/or money to do stuff.

[TheRealFellatio]

I think it's a great idea and I'm sure working parents will welcome it.

Well I am sure they would, but that's not a reason to do it. Schools are for educating, not babysitting.

[Squarepebbles]

So the majority have to suffer for a minority.

[hedgefund]

what are disdvantaged children? how are they defined? hm?

[HumphreyCobbler]

no, it is not something he has just made up.

[Roonilwazlib]

If they propose to decrease the school holiday total rather than relocate the weeks from the summer elsewhere, it's not just the extra pay for teachers, but the support staff's hours would increase too. The secretaries, teaching asisstants, cleaners, care takers, lunch asisstants, technicians and librarians would all work more hours and cost more. Would the govt then increase the amount of money per child to cover this?

I don't want my children in school for longer days with less holidays. I just about cope with my children being in state schools where they are pawns for the govt to mess around trying to prove a point or play with to show the other team how it's done.

BACK AWAY FROM OUR CHILDREN MR GOVE.
Stop, look and LISTEN Mr Gove.
Listen. Please Mr Gove.
Please.

[HesterShaw]

Surely then the onus is on the government to take appropriate measures for disadvantaged children rather than forcing ALL children into school for longer. And I'm sure just stuffing them into school for longer hours won't magically sort them out.


Or maybe Mr Gove is an education and childhood expert and knows better than teachers, parents, and children?

[HumphreyCobbler]

I agree with your point HesterShaw - but I do think it is reasonable to point out that it is NOT a policy that he has just pulled out of his arse hat? And that Gordon Brown and the scottish parliament are considering it seriously?

[MadCap]

I don't want my kids in for longer days or with shorter holidays. The summer hols are too short as it is!

Fuck Tory child snatchers.

[Squarepebbles]

I agree Hester.

[hedgefund]

well i guess this is a good time for me to jack in my holiday play job and be glad my kids are nearly at school leaving age!

[HumphreyCobbler]

child snatchers?

[Talkinpeace]

Shorten the Parliamentary holidays first .
Make those MPs be "at work" for 230 days a year.

[HesterShaw]

Oh yes, I'm sure it wasn't.

It's a shit policy whoever it came from.

And I'm absolutely certain that they are doing it partly so they don't have to address the problem of what can they do with all these ghastly, feral poor children/young people in the evenings. Keep them the equivalent of being locked up and they won't be on the streets mugging decent rich people.

[Iggi101]

Euphemia are you in Scotland? Gove has no power here thank god.
I love when someone looks at an entirely different culture to ours, different parental attitudes to education, different family structures, presumably different employment market, and thinks that adopting one thing they do differently to us will magically make us the same.

[ChasingStaplers]

Holidays shouldn't be cut, they should be spread more evenly throughout the year so more people can get holiday with their DC.

As for longer school days, when are parents supposed to see their children? I don't want teachers to bring up my children. Why do we want to turn our children into drones? There is plenty of time for them to work full time when they're adults. Until then, let them be children ffs.

[Iggi101]

Humphrey what is the link between Gordon Brown and the Scottish Parliament?

[Iggi101]

Sorry, Euphemia, have just read your earlier comment.

[HumphreyCobbler]

Just that he considered it and they are also thinking about it according to a link I clicked earlier.

I remember threads about this before. Not sure it will ever happen.

[TheRealFellatio]

agree tiggytape. I bet a longer school day is the easy option though - getting the kids to stay in non-compulsory care outside of school will be the challenge. It's ok for younger children, but older kids simply won't turn go.

[HumphreyCobbler]

I would seriously consider home schooling my smaller children if this policy came in.

[fishandlilacs]

being bored is a creative state.

[LooseyMy]

It wouldn't make much difference to ds who already spends a lot of time in after school and holiday childcare. For full time working single parents like me this would be a great money saver. I'd like to see more of my son but the reality is that it's work full time or starve for us, so yes from a selfish perspective I'd support this.

[GoblinGranny]

Boarding school for all children, from 4-18 years old so that we can ensure they are all raised ethically and with a decent moral code, eat healthily have enough sleep, do their homework, learn table manners, how to care for animals, parenting classes, road safety on bikes, household maintenance, budget management and at least two sports, one musical instrument and how to swim. Have I forgotten any of the suggestions made as to what schools should teach that have been suggested here and elsewhere over the last 5 years?

Parents will have the option to leave them in school over the holidays if they think they will be bored at home, or they can't be arsed to look after them.
This could be staffed by teachers, all those lovely squaddies that we were told were going to enter the education system and a selection of unemployed people who have relevant skills and could be employed. A rolling shift pattern.

[CreatureRetorts]

Euphemia so do I now I think about it I'm not a teacher but do work.