Michael Gove axes six-week summer holidays for schools
The six week holiday is one of the few remaining iconic elements of the a fast dying post war consensus. I fear it will be very sad to lose it. Perhaps I am just sentimental but I fear more the unfettered individualism which will encourage a schools free for all distant from any broader local accountability and the dwindling of small rural schools in “unexceptional” areas. Perhaps I am a sentimental dinosaur! Still what do you think? This story tells us:
The tyranny of the summer school break – an unbroken six weeks of freedom for pupils and inflated holiday costs for their parents – could soon be over, after the Department for Education announces that all schools are to get the power to set their own term dates.
The change is included in the government’s deregulation bill, which removes the role of local authorities in fixing the dates of school terms and leaves the decision to school leaders and governors.
However, some school leaders warn that too much variation could lead to chaos for families with children at different schools.
Academies, free schools and voluntary-aided and foundation schools already have the ability to set their teaching hours and term dates. Among those doing so is Boulevard academy in Hull, which plans to reduce its summer break to four weeks. Andy Grace, the headteacher, says the extra two weeks of school will help parents who struggle with childcare for the longer holiday.
The new legislation extends the freedom to all state-maintained schools as the education secretary, Michael Gove, pushes for a rewriting of state teachers’ terms and conditions through the independent School Teachers’ Review Body.