The trouble is that, even
though his latest proposal might be a good idea, the reasons he gives for it and
the spin he puts on it are spurious and illogical and the way he announces it
is inflammatory and divisive. Politics
being what they are, the other side has to object and oppose; so they do so on
the basis of the reasons, not the substance of the proposal. Then the media get hold of it and also make
an issue out of the reasons, not the substance – and then the teachers
themselves and their unions do likewise – and all we get is pointless arguments
based on misinformation, false premises, anecdotal evidence and distorted statistics.
There is absolutely no
reason why the school day should not be extended – nor why holidays should not
be reduced. There is, self-evidently,
absolutely no doubt that this would enable children to learn more and to
achieve more. That doesn't mean that all
teachers would have to work longer hours (but they could if they wanted) and it doesn't mean that every child would have to spend more time in school (but they
could if they wanted).
When I was at secondary
school, I can hardly remember ever leaving school before 5.00 pm. I was involved in sports, choirs, orchestras,
plays, cadets, debating society and various other clubs or after-school activities pretty well every day of the week – and, if I wasn't, I usually did my homework in the school library,
with access to all the books and other resources.
Yes, that was quite a while
ago, but I don’t remember any law being passed or any directive from the
ministry stating the schools must close at any particular time. Many schools do open in the evening for
community and other activities and many schoolchildren do attend these evening
activities. Where does this daft idea
come from – that children’s education can only happen during “school hours”?
Extending the school
year? Well, first of all, our ridiculous
system of public examinations already means that those pupils sitting GCSE or A
level exams spend most of the first half of the year swotting (i.e. re-learning
stuff they should have learnt the first time), then missing several weeks of
school whilst the exams take place, then having an early holiday once the exams
have finished. Even if it is beyond the
capacity of our educational experts to invent an exam system that is meaningful
and fit-for-purpose, we could at least let candidates sit their exams during
holidays or at week-ends, so that they could actually get on with learning
something during normal school hours!
The problem that really
needs to be addressed is that far too few schoolchildren really want to learn! Funnily enough, most teachers do actually
want to teach. Why not let them get on
with it? Why not let (and encourage, and
help) teachers and schools to find and develop ways of stimulating children so that they want
to be in school?
I know this sounds barmy (and
I’m not really recommending it) – but why not simply allow every child to attend
school as and when they want – and then base school league tables on the number
of hours that the pupils actually attend? Now that really would sort out the good
schools from the bad!
