Extend school opening hours and eliminate term time

Until a vaccine found, focusing on primary education: to reduce pupil numbers in classes extend school opening and teaching times to hours of 8am-8pm, open schools 7 days per week, do away with term times and open schools throughout year, with school holidays for kids being requested like they would in an employment establishment, anything they miss while on leave should be made available to source online and be the new form of homework that they would usually do in the evenings, teach only core subjects within the school, with subjects such as pe, re, being optional or home schooled, such subjects could be taught online or moved into community centres/ areas similar to how clubs are operated in evenings and weekends pre pandemic, this would reduce class numbers ensuring all areas of curriculum covered. Bring in health as a mandatory subject teaching kids the importance of the new rules and measures and the reasoning and evidence behind such new practices, teach these boundaries to create the new normal within the school and outside the school.

Why the contribution is important

This will reduce the amount of time required within the school setting, it will reduce the class numbers, it will be more flexible creating more time and resources. This will also accomodate keyworker parents who are usually required to work extended shift patterns. Health promotion will instill a healthy and safety conscious community from school age and promote good practices to carry throughout life

by elledoh on May 11, 2020 at 06:47PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 1.5
Based on: 7 votes

Comments

  • Posted by Balderdash May 11, 2020 at 19:19

    Unworkable

  • Posted by Mb123 May 11, 2020 at 19:41

    Hugely difficult to staff and so meet the varied needs of pupils. School is for education not childcare and very few children would be in the best place for learning after mid to late afternoon.

  • Posted by elledoh May 11, 2020 at 20:08

    I know this wont be a popular idea amongst teaching staff themself, as it would mean many changes to their working practices, however its obvious through this pandemic the most important aspect of life is health, and because of this as Nicola Sturgeon said life as we know it wont be the same therefore we need to accept change for the foreseeable future. As a parent my priority is that my kids receive an education based on core subjects such as maths & english and that they receive this in a safe environment thats not based on virtual learning. If this means teachers need to change their work and shift patterns or if they need to bring in teachers nearing end of training early or retired teachers to cover the shorfall to cover such practicrs then why not it worked for the NHS. Its time to put the kids educational needs first and if this means delivering this education on different days or hours than normal then thats ok, whats important is that kids get the education not what time or day that its delivered.

  • Posted by Sayesha May 11, 2020 at 20:58

    I feel this would be extremely unfair and difficult for teachers and parents with younger children at home having to collect there child from school at all hours. Personally I would rather school my child at home than risk him going back to school to soon.

  • Posted by practitionerparent May 11, 2020 at 22:10

    I find this idea interesting.
    I think it's important to remember that with smaller class sizes pupils may not need to do such long days, leaving them more time to relax, play etc, so they dont need to make up 30 hours per week if the quality of learning is high.
    Occasional holidays are important so I dont support this idea - children need a break from time to time, a chance to rest, to process and consolidate their learning and pursue other interests.

    I cant see this being easy to coordinate with working parents, but then again neither are any of the part-time attendance models.

    Teachers cannot be expected to work 12 hour days, and who would look after their children if they are in school all the time...

    The idea that we dont need to be restricted to typical school hours is worth exploring.

  • Posted by SAR May 11, 2020 at 22:11

    Good idea. This means an increase of approx 2.5 times school staff hours. So they would get 2.5 X more pay. So a teacher earning 35,000 would now earn around 90,000.
    Where do I sign up to be a teacher! I could use money like that!
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