School holidays - cost of travel and taking kids out in term time poll - the results!

[JustineMumsnet]

Morning,

So it seems that understandably we're pretty angry about school holiday price hikes. (see results of MN survey below). Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts about what next - we could release these findings and they might make a news item but should we be trying to do more - effect policy in some way, put direct pressure on the travel companies, lobby abta or something... anyone got any ideas on what next?

Here are the key findings:

4 out of 5 (81%) of parents said they felt angry about the price hikes in holidays during the school holidays and 74% felt that the travel companies were exploiting parents who had no choice about holiday dates. 62% said that the cost of taking a break during school holidays was stopping them from going away.

More than half (56%) of parents surveyed said they would take their children out of school during term time for a beach or relaxing holiday, with the figure rising to 80% if it was a once in a lifetime, long haul trip. Of those who had already taken their child out of school during term time 43% cited cost as the reason for doing so.

Other findings:

? More than 40% of parents say their school strongly discourages parents from taking children out of school during term time, but at these schools, 77% report parents do it anyway, often citing the 10 day guideline.

? 58% of parents agreed that taking a child out of school for a holiday is hard on the teachers

? 66% agreed that children can learn as much from being on holiday a being at school.

How about different (but overlapping) holidays for England/Scotland/NI/Wales then??

i'm going to stick my neck out & say something unpopular.

the concept of 'family holidays' is a modern, western one. other societies don't have this idea. we don't need them, however much we like them, and if you can't afford one, you're not suffering in any real sense.

however much we enjoy holidays, we have no 'right' to them. the things that kids learn on holiday can be learnt at weekends/day trips etc, whereas i doubt very much if children receive several hours of academic input each day whilst on holiday. families do not become less of a family just because they don't get a holiday each year.

our own desire for this treat is only part of what makes them so expensive. the harsh fact is that it IS expensive, both in human-made monetry terms, and also in resources. even if the demand were 'spread', the cost of fuel, food, hotels etc would still need to be dropped & would only go so far towards a price cut.

i live in the states, where there is a 3 month summer holiday, and different states/regions do have different holidays, varying by up to a month, but the cost of flights stays high right across the summer.

so, i don't think that any tinkering with the education system (which, i think implies some twisted priorities, re-organising an entire business, just for the sake of holidays) OR lobbying of govt, travel co.s etc will make a blind bit of difference.

having a holiday is like driving a good car, very many of us want to, but if you can't afford it, you just gotta suck it up.

having said all that, a child missing a week of school occasionally is no biggy, but one or two weeks a year is going to make a very real difference to their educational results, career prospects etc. so the one-off week for a special reason seems ok, but not those who take kids out of school once or twice a year.

Over half seriously believe that a child can learn as much on holiday as at school?

just make it acceptable for all children to be able to miss the 10 days of school without recriminations

simples!

I am a teacher and I am forced to take my holidays in the most expensive times, therefore we don't go anywhere very expensive and we have 1 week a year. But I knew this when i signed up to be a teacher and the pro's definatly outweigh this con.

Kickassangel, this is why I like MN, there is a spread of opinion. I think there's some sense in what you say.

In practise today each LA and indeed each school can change its dates. Have DS' at local primary / secondary at the same school. The secondary finishes this week and the primary next week and they are within 100 metres of each other!!!

My DW is also a teacher so we can only take long holidays when she's off.

What I would like to see is a nationally agreed set of term dates so all schools will open/ close at the same time. Any term ending should have a 2 week break to allow holidays to be taken then.

At least this way to makes it easier to plan for the dates. Can't do much around the price of holidays with the travel companies and if parents have flexibility to take days off during term time they should but try to discourage it.

Also ideally would like to see teacher training co-ordinated too, at least within same LEA, may not be possible due to getting in speakers etc but I'm sure it could be planned around. Also some schools could co-work together more to share ideas / good practises.

Kickassangel - great post. I got a bit of a roasting for agreeing with a similar post a few weeks back but you are right - we don't have a right to a holiday and having holiday at home can be just as much fun with a bit of careful planning.

Changing/staggering holidays won't work because it will give the holiday companies more opportunity to raise the prices for the rest of the year. It is a basic fact of supply and demand that prices go up if something is more in demand. Short of a UN resolution putting a cap on the prices that holiday companies can charge there is nothing that is going to alter that.

Better to leave things as they are imo. If you can have 10 days off in term time you have to apply for it but it won't be encouraged.

TheFool -- I think the key is in the phrasing. Obviously a child can learn as much on holiday as at school. That doesn't necessarily mean that a child would notmally learn as much on holiday as at school.

would anybody support a boycott of holidays abroad in the six weeks school hols next year. it would teach the travel industry a lesson and do the uk ecomony a load of good??