England should ditch its school calendar “stuck in place since Victorian times” and replace it with shorter summer holidays and longer half-term breaks to improve the lives of pupils and teachers, according to a new report.
The report on tackling post-pandemic education inequalities, to be published by the Nuffield Foundation next month, is to recommend an overhaul of the school calendar that could see summer holidays in state schools reduced from six weeks to four, while half-term breaks in autumn and winter could each be extended from one week to two.
The summary of the report says it is “time to consider reforms to a school calendar that has been stuck in place since Victorian times”.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter and one of the report’s authors, said reforming the academic calendar in England would be an effective and low-cost way of tackling the educational divides that have grown since the pandemic.
“Spreading school holidays more evenly across the year makes complete educational sense: improving the wellbeing of pupils and the working lives of teachers at no extra cost, balancing out childcare costs for parents, and potentially boosting academic results for many children,” Major said.
“Reducing the summer holidays from six weeks to four weeks would still provide adequate time for teachers to recuperate, while two-week breaks during the February and October half-terms would give much-needed time off during the most gruelling parts of the academic year.”
The report says that calls to reduce the length of holidays often centre around potential learning loss over the summer. Some pupils, especially those from financially disadvantaged backgrounds and those with additional learning needs, find it difficult to get back to learning after long summer holidays. This results in the autumn term being devoted to revision rather than advancing learning. Teachers also report more behavioural and wellbeing issues after the summer break.
No thanks.
It sounds naff for kids. There is so much more you can do in summer outside of school compared to February/October.
It sounds naff for parents. Good luck booking a summer holiday in the condensed 4 week window, that’d be more expensive.
Can’t comment on what teachers would think.
The UK already has the joint lowest in Europe….meanwhile Italians laughing with their 13 weeks off.
No thanks. It’s the only quiet time at work when the parents take a bunch of leave together.
This will work wonders for the growing teacher shortage!
This would make all holidays at least 50% more expensive for families (since this period is when companies jack up their prices to make up for quieter periods the rest of the year), AND make it harder for employers when most of their staff are clamouring for the same few weeks off so they can be with their families (which, let’s be honest, is the whole reason why we go to work in the first place).
Fucking stupid idea all round.
This would make holidays during those 4 weeks more expensive (February or October doesn’t really have the weather most people want in Europe).
Would this include expanding universal infant school meals? Because that budget would need to be looked at if school holidays are cut.
My school implemented 2 week half terms in the autumn and spring term when we were in sixth form because those terms were so tiring in the cold and dark and it worked quite well. Actually think this is quite a good idea.
What the fuck??? No thanks… I work at a school and fuck me, the holidays are always too short lol
The holidays should be phased over a 12-13 week window, there is no need for every kid in the land to be off the same time.
Could be by local authority or school cluster but a holiday window could reduce costs for parents wanting to book something
Those 6 weeks are used for a lot of planning and maintenance by the support teams too
No. Statutory paid leave should be raised so parents don’t have to fucking panic about where their child will go for the last 2 weeks because all your annual leave is depleted from the rest of the year.
Keep the surfs working! The more mindless the task the better!
Take a week off the summer and add it to the summer half term. Would be better for revision for exams and would generally be of benefit. Spreading out the summer days off across the summer months will help tourist, schools, parents and holiday prices.
It’s already 2-3 months in most of Europe, what the fuck
I actually don’t think the people suggesting these changes know anything about anything.
A better idea, IMO anyway. Instead of the six weeks in a big block, have school open 3 weeks out of 4 in spring/summer months.
Having done maintenance and refurb contracts in schools I could see how if the holidays were properly staggered by area it could work but in a lot of cases schools store up their building and maintenance work making six weeks tight. If contractors have to work around the clock to complete projects in four weeks it will push costs up, and many schools/ Local Authorities are already struggling with costs.
I know a few teachers and they often tell me that of the six weeks they only really have a couple of weeks free as the remaining time is spent lesson planning so cutting back to four weeks will impact on either their free time or their planning time.
As a teacher, I’m not looking forward to trying to book a holiday in an adult only hotel with a 4 week window.
It’ll be £2000pp to turkey before you know it
Our friends with kids in private school already get cheaper holidays due the fact that their posh school breaks up much earlier that state schools, how is 4 weeks beneficial to anyone?
That’s very expensive assuming you’re paying all teachere for those additional weeks.
4 weeks only is nuts, 6 weeks flies by anyway. More pointless changes suggested by someone that probably doesn’t know what they’re doing.
A fine way to ensure teacher retention falls even further.
This would be so much better. The kids end up getting bored and then they struggle when they go back. 6 weeks was always ridiculous.
You’ve got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone.
At one of my schools in 2004 one of the teachers went on holiday during term time, I wonder what other teachers think regarding this?
Only reason I’d agree with that is because my partner is a teacher and it winds me up having to get up when I know she doesn’t. Otherwise it’s a fucking stupid idea.
28 comments
England should ditch its school calendar “stuck in place since Victorian times” and replace it with shorter summer holidays and longer half-term breaks to improve the lives of pupils and teachers, according to a new report.
The report on tackling post-pandemic education inequalities, to be published by the Nuffield Foundation next month, is to recommend an overhaul of the school calendar that could see summer holidays in state schools reduced from six weeks to four, while half-term breaks in autumn and winter could each be extended from one week to two.
The summary of the report says it is “time to consider reforms to a school calendar that has been stuck in place since Victorian times”.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter and one of the report’s authors, said reforming the academic calendar in England would be an effective and low-cost way of tackling the educational divides that have grown since the pandemic.
“Spreading school holidays more evenly across the year makes complete educational sense: improving the wellbeing of pupils and the working lives of teachers at no extra cost, balancing out childcare costs for parents, and potentially boosting academic results for many children,” Major said.
“Reducing the summer holidays from six weeks to four weeks would still provide adequate time for teachers to recuperate, while two-week breaks during the February and October half-terms would give much-needed time off during the most gruelling parts of the academic year.”
The report says that calls to reduce the length of holidays often centre around potential learning loss over the summer. Some pupils, especially those from financially disadvantaged backgrounds and those with additional learning needs, find it difficult to get back to learning after long summer holidays. This results in the autumn term being devoted to revision rather than advancing learning. Teachers also report more behavioural and wellbeing issues after the summer break.
No thanks.
It sounds naff for kids. There is so much more you can do in summer outside of school compared to February/October.
It sounds naff for parents. Good luck booking a summer holiday in the condensed 4 week window, that’d be more expensive.
Can’t comment on what teachers would think.
The UK already has the joint lowest in Europe….meanwhile Italians laughing with their 13 weeks off.
No thanks. It’s the only quiet time at work when the parents take a bunch of leave together.
This will work wonders for the growing teacher shortage!
This would make all holidays at least 50% more expensive for families (since this period is when companies jack up their prices to make up for quieter periods the rest of the year), AND make it harder for employers when most of their staff are clamouring for the same few weeks off so they can be with their families (which, let’s be honest, is the whole reason why we go to work in the first place).
Fucking stupid idea all round.
This would make holidays during those 4 weeks more expensive (February or October doesn’t really have the weather most people want in Europe).
Would this include expanding universal infant school meals? Because that budget would need to be looked at if school holidays are cut.
My school implemented 2 week half terms in the autumn and spring term when we were in sixth form because those terms were so tiring in the cold and dark and it worked quite well. Actually think this is quite a good idea.
What the fuck??? No thanks… I work at a school and fuck me, the holidays are always too short lol
The holidays should be phased over a 12-13 week window, there is no need for every kid in the land to be off the same time.
Could be by local authority or school cluster but a holiday window could reduce costs for parents wanting to book something
Those 6 weeks are used for a lot of planning and maintenance by the support teams too
No. Statutory paid leave should be raised so parents don’t have to fucking panic about where their child will go for the last 2 weeks because all your annual leave is depleted from the rest of the year.
Keep the surfs working! The more mindless the task the better!
Take a week off the summer and add it to the summer half term. Would be better for revision for exams and would generally be of benefit. Spreading out the summer days off across the summer months will help tourist, schools, parents and holiday prices.
It’s already 2-3 months in most of Europe, what the fuck
I actually don’t think the people suggesting these changes know anything about anything.
A better idea, IMO anyway. Instead of the six weeks in a big block, have school open 3 weeks out of 4 in spring/summer months.
Having done maintenance and refurb contracts in schools I could see how if the holidays were properly staggered by area it could work but in a lot of cases schools store up their building and maintenance work making six weeks tight. If contractors have to work around the clock to complete projects in four weeks it will push costs up, and many schools/ Local Authorities are already struggling with costs.
I know a few teachers and they often tell me that of the six weeks they only really have a couple of weeks free as the remaining time is spent lesson planning so cutting back to four weeks will impact on either their free time or their planning time.
As a teacher, I’m not looking forward to trying to book a holiday in an adult only hotel with a 4 week window.
It’ll be £2000pp to turkey before you know it
Our friends with kids in private school already get cheaper holidays due the fact that their posh school breaks up much earlier that state schools, how is 4 weeks beneficial to anyone?
That’s very expensive assuming you’re paying all teachere for those additional weeks.
4 weeks only is nuts, 6 weeks flies by anyway. More pointless changes suggested by someone that probably doesn’t know what they’re doing.
A fine way to ensure teacher retention falls even further.
This would be so much better. The kids end up getting bored and then they struggle when they go back. 6 weeks was always ridiculous.
You’ve got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone.
At one of my schools in 2004 one of the teachers went on holiday during term time, I wonder what other teachers think regarding this?
Only reason I’d agree with that is because my partner is a teacher and it winds me up having to get up when I know she doesn’t. Otherwise it’s a fucking stupid idea.