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Looks like the tories are set to destroy the english education system

Michael Gove: Long school summer holidays should be consigned to history | Mail Online

Should public schoolboys have any say in the matter?

Year-round school with shorter breaks means less regression. Kids simply forget a good portion of the new material they learned at the end of the school year because it wasn't reinforced during summer vacation.

I think having shorter breaks would be very beneficial to the kids and to society. I think it would increase retention, making it possible to teach even higher levels of thinking. Most kids look at school as that long punishment they have to endure between summer vacations, so then they graduate, they think that the punishment is over. With more short breaks interspersed through the year, we as a society might be more successful in creating a habit of learning for the sake of learning.

Over here, the strongest opposition to shorter summer breaks come from the industries that depend on summer vacations. Sea World, amusement parks, water parks, beaches, etc etc etc.

When year-round education was considered where I live some 15 years back a lot of people came out against it (we supported it). One daycare owner labeled it a "daycare-nightmare" which went viral locally, and the religious institutions came out very heavily against the idea because they didn't want to loose all the summer activities they sold, so they put forward the argument that year-round education was just the non-religious organizations wanting more time to condition the children to be anti God. The meetings turned into a true ruckus.

The thing is that the person spearheading the year-round education push was a highly respected, very religious man.

Needless to say it never came to fruition here.

I read somewhere the other day about how many households In the UK have both parents working but can't find It now.

It does raise some questions. Working parents do struggle to get child care for 6 weeks.

Ahso!;1424872 wrote: When year-round education was considered where I live some 15 years back a lot of people came out against it (we supported it). One daycare owner labeled it a "daycare-nightmare" which went viral locally, and the religious institutions came out very heavily against the idea because they didn't want to loose all the summer activities they sold, so they put forward the argument that year-round education was just the non-religious organizations wanting more time to condition the children to be anti God. The meetings turned into a true ruckus.

The thing is that the person spearheading the year-round education push was a highly respected, very religious man.

Needless to say it never came to fruition here.


I never heard that... and it makes me furious that people use religion to cause an uproar for their own financial gain. I probably should be used to it by now.

Accountable;1424871 wrote: Year-round school with shorter breaks means less regression. Kids simply forget a good portion of the new material they learned at the end of the school year because it wasn't reinforced during summer vacation.

I think having shorter breaks would be very beneficial to the kids and to society. I think it would increase retention, making it possible to teach even higher levels of thinking. Most kids look at school as that long punishment they have to endure between summer vacations, so then they graduate, they think that the punishment is over. With more short breaks interspersed through the year, we as a society might be more successful in creating a habit of learning for the sake of learning.

Over here, the strongest opposition to shorter summer breaks come from the industries that depend on summer vacations. Sea World, amusement parks, water parks, beaches, etc etc etc.


It might be a debate worth having but this government is intent on imposing change without involving the education professionals. The irony is they are cutting back on funding for early education, pre school and primary and are about to make childcare even more expensive and elitist by bringing requirements for a professional qualification and greater monitoring making it harder for small schools to continue. They have also ended free further education so all those kids working longer at school to get better qualifications will not be able to afford higher education.

To all those who say teachers have it easy I would say why aren't you a teacher if it's that great a job. Happily scotland has a separate system.

Just a bit more government control over how children are raised if you ask me.

I can cope with Accountable's idea, as long as overall the hours spent at school remain the same, but I don't like the idea of my children having to go to school for any more time than they currently have to.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that they determined they actually save money by having year round classes. Perhaps Acc can confirm that.

SnoozeAgain;1424934 wrote: I vaguely remember reading somewhere that they determined they actually save money by having year round classes. Perhaps Acc can confirm that.
I'm sure they do, though I haven't read anything on it. Imagine the cooling costs of keeping computer labs cool during July. Plus, teachers are only contracted for the nine months of school. The other three are off the books. No paid vacations for us! :wah:

Ive read somewhere, that the Finnish education system produces consistently great results and is amongst the best in the world. By consistency, I mean that there seems to be very little variation in results at different region/schools. One thing teachers there are able to do is choose much of their own text books, which allows them much more freedom and not get bogged down in a rigid system. That would indicate that they are getting things right.

We should, surely then, be learning from the success of others. Its not just the kids who need to learn but the educators and policy makers too. We need to widen our view of how to educate successfully

Snowfire;1424951 wrote: Ive read somewhere, that the Finnish education system produces consistently great results and is amongst the best in the world. By consistency, I mean that there seems to be very little variation in results at different region/schools. One thing teachers there are able to do is choose much of their own text books, which allows them much more freedom and not get bogged down in a rigid system. That would indicate that they are getting things right.

We should, surely then, be learning from the success of others. Its not just the kids who need to learn but the educators and policy makers too. We need to widen our view of how to educate successfully:yh_clap :yh_clap