The
bell goes.
1,800 of my peers vanish at a flash, as they do every day of the
week, in order to escape the four walls of school. Whether you’re the type of
student who enjoys school, or you’re a tired teenager who counts the days until
you can leave, the end of the school day is always a moment of bliss.
Education
Secretary Michael Gove’s most recent proposition, for shorter school holidays
and longer school days, is a plan which he hopes could be implemented within
the next couple of years. He has added that he wishes state schools to remain
open until 4:30. Gove stated that this system will lead to improved performance
of students, when in fact; I believe he will have the exact opposite effect.
 |
| Education Secretary Michael Gove |
Specific
school times vary between establishments, but as I approach the end of seven
years at my High School, I have become accustomed to a 9am -3:25pm school day
with five hour-long lessons – and this is most definitely enough.
The
average attention span of a teenager is around 10-15 minutes, with hour-long
lessons requiring being broken up into smaller sections to maintain the
continued progress and education of the students. There can be no denying that
the longer the day goes on, this span becomes decreasingly shorter, with an
extended school day disqualifying Gove’s aim of improving performance. Students
will instead be wasting valuable time, with information draining through their
ears, when they could be using the time effectively at home on extra studies
such as homework and revision.
I
would be thoroughly interested in seeing the evidence behind Gove’s reasoning
for this proposal. Unlike Gove, I have had experience in a classroom both in
the UK and overseas, having taken part in lessons in Cologne whilst on a trip
to Germany. British pupils already spend longer hours in the classroom than in
most other countries, with the German school day being just one of many examples,
with students leaving shortly after 2 o’clock in the afternoon at this one
Cologne grammar school.
Even
in Finland, where the education system is consistently regarded as one of the
best in the world, the shorter school days are highlighted as a central point
of their success. Gove should learn from the trust that the Finnish place on
their students, granting them with a greater sense of flexibility, instead of
the negative and doubtful view that Gove clearly has of a teenager’s work
ethic.
He
added that this system would benefit the working parent, making their life
easier in the process. How exactly, I’m not so sure, as having to deal with
disgruntled and tired children isn’t what most parents would choose to do when
they come home from a busy and already stressful day of work. However, is this
even something the education secretary should necessarily be concerned with?
It
stands clear that, as Education Secretary, Gove should be focusing on those
most involved in education – obviously, the students and the teachers. And it
is going to take a lot of persuasion to get the latter back on Gove’s side.
At
the latest annual NUT conference, held in Liverpool with an audience of over 1,000
members of one of the biggest teachings unions in the country, cheers of ‘Gove
must go’ echoed around the room as a unanimous vote of no confidence was
passed.
His
‘limited experience of education’ was pointed out, and can be highlighted in
his suggestion at shortening holidays. By dropping the six-week summer holiday
to just four weeks, teachers and staff are losing out on 14 days of valuable
time, which they require so greatly to complete the vast amount of work and
planning that they must do. Somebody with experience in education would be able
to empathise with this and would understand that the combination of shorter
holidays and longer school days is impractical and simply unfeasible as staff
will not be able to uphold the sheer quantity of work required of them.
Consequently, the standard of teaching and education standards will surely
decrease and Gove’s aim is, once again, strongly challenged.
People
can often quickly criticise members of the teaching profession for their long
holidays and short days; however, if they took a day out to visit a school, it
would soon become evident that their working hours extend much further than the
school’s start and finish times.
Equally
so, students simply cannot switch off from school when they finish at 3:25 and
it is irrational to think that they do; homework, coursework and revision have
to take precedence over daytime TV unfortunately. By keeping schools open until
4:30, Gove is simply holding students back from using their time effectively
for these crucial studies.
What do you think? Is
Gove’s proposal a good one? Or do you agree that ‘Gove must go’? Leave a comment and let me know!
