by Ben Hughes

Created on: March 09, 2008

With the experience of working in a tough, low-achieving secondary school, my firm belief is that the school year shouldn't be lengthened at all because it would only help to alienate the pupils, put more pressure on the teachers and result in even poorer exam results.

Most of the pupils I know struggle to get to school on time and find it difficult to get to the end of the day because of boredom and low attention spans. So would a longer school year be for them?

HOLIDAYS AREN'T HOLIDAYS

Even though people tell me I have an easy life as a teacher, most people don't realise the amount of hard work and effort a teacher puts into their job. I might only teach lessons during the school day, but in the evenings, at weekends and during my holidays, I'm planning and preparing lessons, marking books and filling in paperwork.

A longer school year will only put more pressure on teachers who already feel weighed down by the hidden work that others don't see.

STRESS

A lot of my spare time during the day is taken up finding pupils who have misbehaved and need detentions or phoning parents to inform them of their child's bad behaviour, poor attitude or lack of homework.

A longer school year will only make this problem worse and add to teachers' stress levels, not make life any easier.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS

For any pupils who want to learn, extra-curricular activities are always available. These are in sports, academic clubs or whatever they want. A longer school year would mean teachers are too tired or stressed to run these, but for the more gifted, talented or brighter pupil, these are still here and should remain by choice rather than making them compulsory.

DE-MOTIVATION

A longer school year will only serve to de-motivate pupils and teachers who already feel there is enough to do during the year. It won't raise exam results because everyone will already be fed up with too much time in school.

A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST

Holidays are a vital part of life because without them, we wouldn't be able to rest, have a lie in or recharge our batteries. School is important for learning, but children also learn through play and socialising which they do in their own time. Just as teachers deserve a break, so do students.

MAINTENANCE

My school has recently been painted and had an area of the playground extended. Could jobs like this really be done without a break in the school year? It would make life much more difficult for the running of the school and the workmen if everyone had to work around each other.

So for the health and general sanity of both pupils and staff, it's important to keep the school year as it is and not lengthen it because someone thinks it's a good idea. I presume that person wasn't one of the many parents from my school who are only to glad to hand the responsibility of their children over to someone else.

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