There has been much debate and anguish over Michael Gove’s plans for a longer school day. My opinion, for what it is worth, falls firmly behind the gainsayers here. Although, not necessarily for the same reasons.
I don’t teach children. Good God, no! You wouldn’t get me into a class of adolescents for love nor money. The very thought of teaching thirty odd captives, the majority of whom don’t want to be there, fills me with horror. No, let some masochist who enjoys the conflict and misery have that delight. I prefer to teach adults who want to be there. Indeed, so much so, they pay me for the privilege. It makes the learning process so much more enjoyable for both student and teacher. However, I wouldn’t dream of offering a training day of longer than about six hours. The reasoning is simple enough – there is only so much learning a person can achieve before their brain turns to fudge and they stop taking stuff in. Also, as a teacher, there is only so much I can give before I go off the boil. Teaching as well as learning is mentally tiring. At the end of a training day, I tend to flop in front of the television and fall asleep. But maybe that’s just me.
I spent a day with two trainee motorcycle instructors this week. The training I was offering was pretty intense and by three in the afternoon we were all tired and ready to stop. Even accepting that unlike my trainees, young minds are like sponges and other countries do, indeed, have longer school hours, it’s worth remembering that point – we can only absorb so much before we need to take time out. Not everyone can cope with having information pumped into them without adequate time to reflect. With that in mind, I’d say that the school day as it stands is probably about right.
So, some of the spurious arguments aside, I have to side with the naysayers on this one.
One of the issues I have with education, is that the people delivering it have no idea of how it is going to be used in a person’s career or life, it is the detachment from the practical use of what is being taught which makes the kids captive. I remember in maths when a girl asked what was the point of a particular thing we were learning, the thing was described as a ‘construction’ ie drawing points and lines on a piece of paper as instructed. The teacher could not actually think of a reason except that it was ‘on the curriculum’ and he could see no practical application. The teacher was wrong in his answer and most of the class switched off its attention and it could be seen as having no benefit. If the teacher had understood that every practical trade from craftsman level to professional, from fields as diverse as fashion and construction use this technique to design items, there would have been thirty interested kids in there and not some bored ones.
A good first point would be to explain to the pupils the practical application of what they are studying, that may well get some interest and motivation.
I struggled with maths for years – right up until about the age of 14 when I realised that my father used geometry and trigonometry on a daily basis – he was a carpenter and joiner. So, yes, practical application is important. As a teacher of adults, I don’t have that problem as my training is directly related to either their work or their plans to ride a motorcycle on the public highway. That said, I always try to give a real world example when teaching a new skill as this gives them something to hang it on and remember it.
But just imagine you had to teach these TWO trainees a curriculum restricted to approved propaganda as detailed in the National Curriculum. Now imagine what it is like to teach THIRTY plus unwilling students that same curriculum.
It was so much better a long time ago in the bad old days when teachers were regarded as professionals capable of deciding what was best and most relevant. The youngsters left school far better equipped than they do now and if they went on to college they learned something an employer thought of value.
My curriculum was pretty restricted as it is laid down by the DSA requirements for Direct Access. However, I decided how this course was to be run and it was all pretty fluid. You simply give another reason not to go anywhere near teaching children in state schools. Not in a million years, frankly.
I can remember learning in primary school, all about where Jute comes from, somewhere in the Indian sub continent as I recall. Now I am the kind of guy who really values knowledge of all kinds, I love stuffing my brain with information of all kinds, just for the fun of it. However, I can honestly say that I have reached middle age without this particular peice of knowledge ever having been of the slightest use to me.
Now if only I’d had your education; the Spouse’s family were involved in the jute trade for several generations. In fact, Pa-in-law was raised in India, where his father was an engineer in a jute mill; we’ve had many interesting conversations about the business, hampered rather by my complete ignorance on the matter.
Instead, I spent many tedious hours at school learning about hop-picking in Kent and the construction of oast-houses. If only I’d married into a family of brewers!
Doesn’t this idea (although they won’t admit it), stem from the fact that a longer school day and shorter school holidays would mean less necessity for working parents to demand time off when they want it? At the moment, parents can pretty much dictate what hours they work and when, and they can take off at a moment’s notice without their boss being able to raise so much as an eyebrow if it’s for some “family” reason associated with their children. With kids stuck in school until five or six o’clock, there’d be no excuse for parents to avoid working late or working long hours, and shorter holiday periods would greatly reduce the times when they could insist that they be able to take their holidays because the kids were off school, too.
In other words, the Government have got themselves into a corner through their endless “family friendly” policies and have now (privately) recognised that these policies are a huge drain on productivity, and are now casting about for a way out without having to appear to be altering those policies which caused the problem in the first place.
But one thing’s for certain – it definitely isn’t “for the sake of the children” or their education. As you say, there’s only so much work that anyone can do in a day, and children tire more easily than adults. The especially restricted working hours which are enshrined in employment law in respect of young people pay credence to that. Indeed, this proposal might even raise the legal question as to whether a longer school day would actually contravene the law in that respect.
Sorry to be OT but I sometimes visit here during breaks at work. For the last few days I have found myself blocked by your spam filter. Is there any way that I can be unblocked?
I don’t suppose you know what the IP is? If you can mail it to me, I can go in and look to see if the spam filter has logged it as spam. If so, I can unblock it.
I will try to find out. It is a German based company so the server is in Germany AFAIK.
If you can. I would rather not switch off the spam filter as it has stopped the plethora of spam that I’ve been getting. I can release individual IPs if I need to.
I was a teacher during the 1980s before I got into software. You have it spot on Longrider. Teaching is a damned sight more tiring than working at a desk. School days and school terms are set at the length they are because that is about the most that either teachers or pupils could cope with. When I left teaching I didn’t miss the long holidays in the slightest as I no longer needed them. Also it was great to have the flexibility to choose when I wanted to go on leave.