Island Life: More time with the family
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I work a bit with the school sector in my day job and it is commonly mentioned that one of the reasons for the 9-3 day for the children is some throwback to the days when many families were involved in farming and the kids were actively involved in that work. No idea if it's true, and I know nothing about farming, but I understand the 3pm finish time somehow correlated with getting home to help with the milking?
However I would point out that although the children go to school 9-3 (or thereabouts) those who work in schools generally do much longer hours. Research done last year by one of the teacher unions showed primary teachers doing on average 52 hour weeks IIRC (and that average includes taking into account the school holidays, which are often not very holiday-like for the school staff). Principal workloads were even higher. Support staff who work in schools would do lower hours, but partly that is because schools cannot afford to pay them for the hours they are needed (whereas teachers and principals are salaried).
In regard to the length of the school year, I could rant on and on, but I'll restrict myself to simply noting that several teachers told me that in 2006 (I think) when the break between Terms 1 and 2 was only 1 week in primary both Terms 3 and 4 were much harder to cope with than normal. The observation was that chidren were more likely to catch illnesses, behaviour was worse as the school year ended, and staff were much more stressed out because of the loss of downtime earlier in the year.
On homework, I hates it. I didn't mind doing it as a kid a lot of the time because I was a total geek, but then I seem to recall primary homework being restricted to a spelling list that my mum tested me on (Dad spells October with an M, don't ask), and working on special projects from time to time. Project work I found fun because we got to pick what we were interested in, and I used to try to pick the most obscure topic within the prescribed range.
Talking to teachers and principals about homework evokes some interesting responses - most that I have discussed it with seem to agree with many of those examples quoted already in this thread, ie they don't think it is effective at enhancing learning and would prefer not to set it. However all have mentioned the extreme pressure from some parents to have masses of it, and the squeaky wheel gets the oil often.
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However all have mentioned the extreme pressure from some parents to have masses of it, and the squeaky wheel gets the oil often.
One thing I learned in my time on a primary school board of trustees is to be very sceptical about the squeaky wheels. We had one small bloc of parents who were rabidly enthusiastic on school uniforms. We were of the opinion that uniforms have no effect whatsoever on the kids' learning. After getting tired of their politicking we held a referendum, result: no uniforms. Two years later, after the elections, with a new board in place, all of a sudden, another referendum, result: still no uniforms.
I'd love to see a referendum about homework. I know the school down the road is a no-homework school. -
reading between the lines he was saying - stop being so angsty you silly wmc parents - your kids will do much better sharing your time than doing stuff they should be doing at school in the first place
My mum was a (decile 3) primary school teacher & has been vexed at the number of parents that'd ask why she didn't set her students any homework. As a result, she got into the practice of setting semi-regular simple homework tasks that she doesn't enforce or mark.
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Moz,
Working hours: I'm looking for a new job right now and so I've been tiki touring workplaces. The best (worst?) interview was with a guy who said straightfaced "I have managed large teams of software professionals in successful projects so I know you will be happy to work a minimum 45 hour week". I gave him the "I have 4-5 productive hours a day available" line and expected the interview to be over right then. But his currently sole developer was very keen to have me... he's finally persuaded the boss that there's too much work for one person to do it all, hence the interview. They decided to hire someone less experienced :)
I'm serious about the 4-5 hours of productive/creative work. Sure, I can fill in an hour or two of admin and housework, but more than that and I often end up doing negative work - it takes more time to fix it up afterwards than it would take to do properly in the first place.
I think longer holidays would be an excellent thing. I'd like to be able to have a few days off here and there during the year as well as a solid month break over summer. I intend to keep trying for it, but no luck so far (why people who are offering a 10% pay rise won't give me an extra two weeks holiday instead I do not know). FWIW, I took a months unpaid leave last year... annual pay was still higher than the deal I was offering them.
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