Four day week

Barmeyoldbat If they finish at 2.30pm, what time do they start and how long are their breaks? There's been a tendency to move towards earlier start times and shorter breaks, but they still have the same number of hours of lessons.

So if schools are only open four days a week, what are parents who work on other days supposed to do?

Have you ever been in an afternoon lesson? Most children are already dropping and don't learn so well.

Yes, Annaram1, I remember too and the result was that people spend more than the hours specified in their contract (and not always paid either).

This has been talked about for many years. I remember it being debated about 40 years ago, along with a 35 hour working week. Neither of them has yet come about, and I am long retired.

I can't see any problem with a 4 day work, many companies and the NHS are already doing it now. My own Dr is only working 4 days a week but others Dr's are available. Nurses now work longer hours and have more days off. Teachers, well they could finish later and the children have 4 longer days at school, at the moment around here they seem to finish at about 2.30 or so.

I remember going to parents meeting when my children were teenagers, and the topic being... coping with increased leisure!
The assumption was that, with increased automation, working hours would be reduced, and pupils needed skills in music, art, or motor cycle maintenance to ensure they would e able to make use of all the extra leisure time!
What happened?

Yes and it was the the Tory/Libdem coalition government in 2013 that abolished the Agricultural Wages Board that set minimum conditions for farmworkers especially were tied cottages etc where involved.

So much for Johnson and Swinsons pledges in regard to caring about workers rights.

What a joke.

Remember in the past a 6 day week used to be the norm, then it went to 5 1/2 days, then 5. Of course health care, child care etc is a 24/7 occupation, but there’s no reason why , in certain sectors, a 4 day week couldn’t be the norm. My DiL works a 4 day week doing 4 10 hour shifts and much prefers it to 5 8 hour shifts.

Only listening to he who is waiting in the wings to take over as PM/Leader of the Opposition, take your pick.
McDonnell.

Further, can anyone enlighten me as to when the manifestos of both parties will appear?

Does anyone know what the Labour Party is actually proposing? It seems to me that people are making a lot of assumptions. It's clear that different systems would suit some jobs, but would be difficult, if not impossible, in others.

pipdog and don't get me started on farming - 5 am starts, sometimes working all night, then having to carry on the next day. Four day week? they do not have a clue about some people's working lives!!

pipdog 100% agree with your above post. ?

I'm not claiming it's easy, but emergency services already work shifts. There are 168 hours in a week, so at least four people will be needed for 24/7 hour cover anyway. The problems just aren't the same.

Just wondering if we are ultimately heading towards a rolling 7 day week, who is going to look after the children at weekends or are teachers expected to do that on top of everything else we are expected to do?
The grandparents, of course, those baby boomers who have had so much from the state (apparently)!

newnanny some change is good but constant change causes stress and does in fact cost (waste) so much public money.
I returned to permanent work in the mid 1980s and there appeared to be nothing but constant change, none of it seemingly for the better.

No one has mentioned farm workers. If you own the farm then you expect to work all day everyday until the work is done but if like my husband you are an employee then you work the hours set, (or longer as my husband did as he wouldn't leave a job half done!). Someone has to feed the stock every day no matter what and that someone has to know the stock to know when one is unwell etc. Most people don't credit farming as a skilled occupation but it is. How many people can lamb a sheep, calve a cow, build a stone wall, lay a hedge, mend tractors etc all in the same day. these things take time to learn properly, colleges just don't cover all these skills with enough attention to make sure the students are proficient enough to do the job. Most people wouldn't work for the money most agricultural workers are paid for the dirty and often dangerous work that is done daily on a farm. Where on earth would you find more staff with these skills?

Think how much more difficult then growstuff to ensure services are covered 24/7 in the case of emergency services, hospitals, residential and community care.

Our building firm could not work a 4 day week

Just wondering if we are ultimately heading towards a rolling 7day week, who is going to look after the children at weekends or are teachers expected to do that on top of everything else we are expected to do?

NfkDumpling in regard to your post @10:59 today, many manual
Workers have to work outdoors in poor weather conditions at all seasons of the year.

How do you think your local supermarket, Pharmacy, greengrocers and many other retailers would manage every day if the delivery drivers were not prepared to work making deliveries to those retailers in all winds and weathers, day and night right throughout the year.

Even more importantly how do you think we would all manage if the employees at your local sewage treatment plant were not prepared to get out there again day and night, in all winds and weathers, at any time of the year clearing blockages and restrictions in the tanks and flow channels.That action requires carrying out far more often when the weather is as bad as it has been of recent.

Of course, no one ever thinks of them or quotes them in forums posts or other media. Just think of the professionals in classrooms and cosy offices and the world will be just OK.

@MazieD, I was one of those teachers who left at 57 after teaching for all of my working life and examining A levels too. The frequent changing of exam specifications so when you have spent about 80 -100 hours preparing for a new specification it changes after one or two years meaning you have to start from scratch again and is very disheartening. This along with new curriculum maps and constant recording is very draining and takes the joy out of teaching. There is a massive issue in teaching as there are fewer new recruits than those who retire plus many are also leaving. In some subjects vacancies go unfilled for months on end. When I gave in my notice at Xmas they could not recruit another suitable candidate so I had to stay on until July and even then they wanted me to go in to school in September to do handover as they had to use a NQT.

I would not worry Rosina. It is another looney left idea by JC and McD that is ill thought out and will not work in practice. We are already short of NHS staff so giving them all 20% time off is typical of him, making a situation worse and adding confusion. Labour will not get in with their shambolic ideology and leaders who support terrorism.

It's absolute madness . As for the NHS maybe if they give the nurses fix contracts rather than 3 monthly , it would be more appealing .

I don’t think a lot of trades - plumbers, carpenter, plasterers and so on - could cope with hard physical work for ten plus hours a day. Especially for outdoor work when on dull day we’re lucky to get six hours decent outdoor light.

DC number 1 is a 'part-time' GP. The hours necessary to do her job are working 7.15 am to 8.15 or 9.15 pm several days a week with ''half days' of 7.15 am to 2.45 pm.

Perhaps patients only see the number of hours available for consultations and not the many hours necessary each day for administrative work. Doctors are also unavailable for consultations as they visit nursing homes and make home visits. Oh, I didn't mention the'phone calls that come through at any hour, should there be a crisis.

Where exactly are these 'part-timers' supposed to find extra hours?

DC number 2 is a 'part-time' civil servant. She works three full days with hours spread over four days. So far so good, except that there are so many staff shortages for a variety of reasons, that she is covering four full-time jobs. Four.

Both these public servants also work evenings and weekends, once home, trying to do their jobs thoroughly.

The public need to know that these and many thousands like them are propping this county up. There is no slack in some sectors for reduced hours!

Politicians can promise the earth but reality is that shortage of money and a genuine willingness to sort these problems out is immediately necessary before more people bow out of these incredibly stressful roles and we sink even further.