4 day week for schools?

Daisymae

Apparently according to an article in the Times, there's a campaign for schools to consider a 4 day week to help with financial difficulties. Schools are struggling financially in the current climate but surely children have fallen behind enough? I don't expect that private sector schools have any such plans. How is this allowed to happen?

Yes, there was a campaign
There was a petition to Parliament in January 2022 which was rejected.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/606773

Apologies for the link!

Are public schools going to have a 4 day week, too. Or is this only an idea for those who can’t afford to pay for a private education?

growstuff

PS. Most schools are now academies, so pay their own energy bills - not the councils.

Not here, so I will try to find out if this is a proposal for English schools only.

Will teachers' salaries be reduced by one-fifth too?
Dinner ladies?
Admin staff?

Elizabeth27

I think families are struggling enough without an extra day of childcare for working parents.

When it gets colder it would benefit children of poorer families to have extra time at school where there is heating and hot food that may not be available at home.

I agree.

Dreadful idea both for the children and the poor parents trying to work and worry about the kids at the same time look how children fell behind in the pandemic how many children fell off the radar
If the schools can’t heat their premises how can the parents ?

Primary schools here in France have always been 4 days a week, Wednesday a day off. The hours are longer though 8 am until 4-30 or 5pm. Working parents usually take Wednesday off and a lot of government offices are closed on a Wednesday to allow time off for parents. It all seems to work well.

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/school-energy-costs-pay-increase-shorter-week-b2145109.html

Most private schools work a 5.5 day week with a longer day.

Many schools are reported to be having to cut Learning Support and Teaching Assistants as the much heralded pay rise for teachers did not bring an increase in schools' budget with it. Add on uncapped energy costs and desperate measures will need to be taken.

It will cut running costs, but the biggest saving will in teachers and other staff employed for four days in stead of five.

Academies tore up National conditions of their employment ages ago.

Management wil, of course, be needed to be employed on full time contracts.

Growstuff and FannyCornforth hit the nail on the head. Schools are required to keep their budget in the black. This year's budget, set some time ago, will have no provision for the massive rise in energy bills.
Even more troubling, this will be doubly difficult for special schools, with frail children who must be in warm rooms at all times and children with statements necessitating regular stints in the ( hot!) hydrotherapy pool the school must provide.

I've not read anything about how this idea might help financially but without detriment to education.

Maybe it means that teaching will take place on any 4 days staggered over 5, so schools will still be open ( and heated) over 5 days but teaching only taking place over 4 of those and not necessarily Mon - Thursday. And anything not covered in school might need to be continued at home.

GagaJo

It could be a way to reduce teachers unmanageable workload.

Teachers will still be expected to get through the same amount of subject content, but on less time. The school day would probably lengthen and non-contact-time would all be shoved into the 5th day of the week when the heating was off.

It could be a way to reduce teachers unmanageable workload.

Even when under local authority control schools have had to pay their own fuel (and cleaning and day to day repairs) from the budget given to them so academy trust or not the school will have less money to spend on actually educating its children. Not sure what schools can do other than reduce expenditure on staff, hardly a desirable outcome. And particularly bad news for experienced staff.

growstuff

PS. Most schools are now academies, so pay their own energy bills - not the councils.

Academies get their funding directly from central govt. When the heating bills go up, something else has to be cut. The easiest cut is to get rid of experienced staff and pack the school with those new to teaching.

Sorry, NotSpaghetti did. Right, I’ll leave the thread alone, I’m making a mess of it!

I don’t think that anyone is saying that it’s a good idea

Secondary schools can't fit in all the things they're supposed to be teaching now, so how will a 4 day week help? Y9s and Y11s can't do the option combinations they want for the following year. A pupil might have 2 or even 3 different English teachers in a week or non-specialists teaching a subject that's not their own. because the timetable is so complicated.
Changes are supposed to improve the child's education not make it worse.

Ah! Okay, thank you growstuff I didn’t realise that about the heating bills.
At least it won’t be added to the Council Tax then

PS. Most schools are now academies, so pay their own energy bills - not the councils.

No need to apologise! The more who get this message out, the better. It wouldn't surprise me, if teachers get "blamed" for wanting a day off! Schools need money - and the latest formula for funding means the schools in the most deprived areas have lost out - so much for levelling up!

Sorry growstuff, I’ve just repeated much of what you said!

I predicted this. ?
The heating bills are going to be through the roof. Councils won’t be able to afford it.
I think four days is on the optimistic side.

Of course schools shouldn't go to a four day week, but what are they supposed to do when they don't have enough money to pay their energy bills? They still haven't recovered from paying for the extras they had to install for Covid. They need an immediate cash injection.

I think families are struggling enough without an extra day of childcare for working parents.

When it gets colder it would benefit children of poorer families to have extra time at school where there is heating and hot food that may not be available at home.