On 1 February 2022, Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and Welsh Language will be making a statement to the Senedd on the reform of the school day and year. This article provides some background information on potential reforms, sets out the current legal position and looks at what has happened in other countries in this area.
Who’s responsible for setting school terms?
Currently, local authorities and the governing bodies of voluntary aided and foundation schools are responsible for setting term and holiday dates. They must work together, aiming to harmonise dates - to ensure that dates are the same or as similar as possible - across Wales, The Education (Wales) Act 2014 also gives the Welsh Ministers a power to direct local authorities and the governing bodies of voluntary aided and foundation schools on what their term dates must be.
Regulations set out that local authority maintained schools and special schools are to meet for a school day which is ordinarily divided into two sessions (with a break in the middle), and for schools (other than nursery schools) to meet for at least 380 sessions, which equates to 190 days, during any school year.
School governing bodies are responsible for setting school session times. Although, where a local authority is satisfied that changing a school’s session time at the beginning or end of a school day would promote sustainable modes of travel or would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of travel arrangements, it can change those times.
Why reform the school year and school day?
The pattern of the school year and day has been the subject of debate for many years. In December 2017, the Welsh Government commissioned a review of school teachers’ terms and conditions. In its report (September 2018), the review panel said “it is time to think afresh about how schooling works for pupils, for their families and for teachers”.
The panel recommended that a Commission should be established to “re-imagine schooling in Wales”. The Commission would look at how the school system could be changed to fit with modern and anticipated future life for families and communities. It would consider whether the rhythm of the school year, the pattern of terms and holidays and the shape of the school day should be rethought.
In response to this recommendation, an Expert Panel was appointed in 2019 to undertake the first phase of the work. It was due to submit its report to the Welsh Government by September 2019, with that report forming the basis for the research and consultation process that would be taken forward in Phase 2 of the work. However, in January 2021, Kirsty Williams, then Minister for Educationsaid that this work had been “partly derailed” by COVID 19.
What are the benefits of changing the school year?
In January 2022, the Welsh Government published ‘Effects of changes to the school year and alternative school calendars: review of evidence’, a summary of the main findings and recommendations of a Rapid Evidence Assessment. That assessment examined the effects of changes to the school year, including:
- impacts on learning;
- children’s health and wellbeing;
- the provision of wraparound care;
- family life; and
- any other societal impacts.
The review looked at literature including studies from Wales, the wider UK, and the USA.
It found that evidence in relation to changing the school year was found to be ‘mixed and inconclusive’. Little research is available to enable the Welsh Government to investigate these topics.. The review recommends ensuring high quality, focussed evidence gathering and evaluation is built in to any proposed programme of school calendar change from the outset.
How do other countries structure their school year?
A European Education and Culture Executive Agency report, the ‘Organisation of School Time in Europe’, provides international information on the start, end dates and length of school years, the timing and length of school holidays and the number of school days. Despite some differences, countries in Europe have many similarities in their school calendars.
Across Europe, there are five main periods of school holidays: autumn; Christmas and New Year; winter/carnival; spring/Easter; and summer. With the exception of the Christmas/New Year’s holiday, other school breaks differ both in length and timing. The school year generally finishes between the end of May and the second half of July. The length of the summer holidays varies significantly between countries: from 6 weeks in some areas of Germany to between 11 and 14 weeks in Italy and Portugal.
What is the Welsh Government currently doing?
The Welsh Government’s ‘Programme for Government 2021-2026’ includes a commitment to consider reforming the structure of the school day and the school year. Building on that, the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru states that:
to narrow educational inequalities and support learner and staff well-being, we will look to radically reform school term dates to bring them more in line with contemporary patterns of family life and employment.
It goes on to say that:
running alongside the school year reforms, we will explore options around the rhythm of the school day, specifically to create space for additional sessions providing wide ranging, culturally accessible activities and opportunities.
On 9 December 2021, the Minister for Education and Welsh Language announced that, as part of the work to consider reforming the school year, £2m was available for up to 14 schools to take part in a national trial. Over a 10-week programme the primary and secondary schools involved will provide an extra five hours of bespoke activities each week for groups of learners, with sessions such as art, music and sport, as well as core academic sessions. Schools will be able to work with external partners to run the additional sessions or adapt existing activities such as after school clubs.
The current format of the school year has been long established and making changes is a bold suggestion, with many countries having broadly similar systems of long summer holidays. You can follow the Minister’s statement on SeneddTV on 1 February.
Article by Sian Hughes, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
