http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/gove-set-to-ban-family-holidays-in-termtime-7216685.htmlI reckon this will be a much, much hotter topic than Gove realises, simply because of the fact that so many parents who are struggling economically cannot afford to take children away during peak-season school holidays - there will be a backlash from them for sure.
Having said that, and I am on the other side of the political divide than Gove, I must say that I have some real sympathy for what Gove is trying to do here, he is trying to break the truancy culture and is there really a more flagrant form of truancy than buggering off to Spain with your parents for two weeks during term time!!!???
I would be really interested to get peoples views on this one, my own situation is a bit different because I can only take my own holidays at set-times during the year anyway (no, I am not a teacher), but I know many folks on here have taken their kids out during term time for economic or logistical reasons.
Your views?
Comments
For the record i won't take my son out of school for a holiday.
it's a tough one, guy I work with has booked and is taking his 3 kids out of school for a week this summer, he's just been fined £200 per child for the week !
You dont need 2 weeks in the sun every year.
You learn too much both academically and socially in a relative short period of time in school, no probs with the proposals in my eyes.
I took my girls out of school for holidays, because at their ages, I believed it wouldn't hurt, but now my eldest is due to go to secondary school, I wouldn't
And for the record - Michael Gove is an insipid little Tory xxxx!
One point missed is that if little Jordan and Jamie take a week off skiing then another couple in the summer, then a few days here and there to go to Alton Towers, etc - all of a sudden they're missing a month of school. It's not just the effect on them per se but on the rest of class because the teachers then have to spend extra time with those kids making sure they catch up on what they've missed meaning that the rest of the class is put at a disadvantage. Multiply this by half the class and you’ve got a real problem with students not making as much progress as they should be.
Plus everyone gets to have the holiday they want i.e. with other families or without other peoples children being around.
If the school deem them necessary, then why not take them all at once (ideally after a bank holiday). This would allow you to take your child away at an off peak period, whilst schooling disruption is kept to a minimum.
I'm not sure the posters on this thread realise quite the level of disrutpion that is occurring in schools these days. In some schools it has got out of hand - students missing 6 weeks a year (usually with parents who complain the loudest at the end of the year when their levels have dropped and who expect each teacher to provide catch up work tailor made to their special ones.)
If you have chosen to have kids, its fairly obvious school holidays are more expensive. It has always been the case. Simple supply and demand rules apply. Budget for it. No one is stopping you take your kids out for you to save a few quid - its just there needs to be a deterrent to level the playing field so more parents will do the balance of cheaper holiday plus fine vs not missing education.
Equally, I have some sympathy for families who do take term time holidays because of cost. However, I do think it depends on what the 'experience' is going to be as to whether it outweighs the negatives.
It is also very disruptive and time consuming for the teachers who have to ensure that the children complete all missed work and tests etc. on their return. In my opinion, for what it is worth, it is disruptive all round.
Never thought I would until I saw the absolute extortionate rates they charge during the holidays.nearly a 300% mark up!
Wouldn't be surprised if Cameron and his ilk even think the workers deserve a fortnight in the sun.
When they start dealing with the feral scum on the streets and the no good junkie alcoholic workshy maggots, the gypsy children that travel the country not attending any formal education,
Then I will take a fine
Don't buy the 'travel [to Orlando!] broadens the mind' argument (& i bet some schools would turn a blind eye to a genuinely enlightening trip). School trips do that job, and that would also be the way for low income kids to have varied trips. The family holiday - I guess it's camping, caravan or similar - no it's not exotic but it's still a holiday. You can find a way. Of course low income is not much fun, I realise that...
Last year I asked if I could take my 2 children of school age to centre parcs during term time (missing jut 4 days as they were only starting back on the tuesday) and was told categorically no............i did it anyway as the price was double otherwise and any fine (I was told the council could fine me £100) would be worth taking. I don't like doing this but I have very few options due to my family circumstances. Also I will continue to take this stance , especially when the school then decides to take an inset day (teacher training days that used to be called Baker days) on the first day back from a holiday (like today). YTeachers get 12 (TWELVE) weeks holiday a year, compared to most people's 4 or 5. I understand that some of the days they are working, but it is still hell of amount of time off. A lot of parents have to work during school time and so arranging child care is a problem..........to add another day when the teachers have just had a week off is adding insult to injury & so if the school persists in taking this stancei will persist in taking mine.
A close neighbour took her daughter out for a year as was very unhappy at school, again incredibly positive results did not suffer educationally and now at university.
I would not hesitate to take my youngest son who is in year seven away from school during term time if I felt it was best for him as a person and he was gaining greater worldly experience then sat in a classroom.
How on earth can it help you cover the twelve weeks holiday when you use some of yours taking them away during term time?
I don't approve of taking kids out during term time but then I'm more concerned with my son's education than I am In showing the school how important I am and that I can do what I want.
With some of the comments on here is it no surprise to me that we seem to have so many under 24 year olds that are struggling to get jobs. For goodness sake don't they get enough hoidays for you all to choose a couple of weeks. And if you can't afford a holiday when the the schools are shut then don't go. Talk about having to have everything.
Last year my brother-in-law got married in Greece and in order to prevent my son missing any time off school my wife went on her own for a week.
If you don't want to make the sacrifices don't have the children in the first place!
2,The rip off Britain culture where a huge mark up on holidays in school holiday time seems acceptable, that mean little to the overpaid expense fiddling crooks that inhabit the corridors of Westminster who can afford any holiday they want during their huge Summer Recess.
Apart from during external exam years in my experience not a huge amount of work is done in the final weeks of the Summer term so what is the problem with the politicians? More Nanny state? Statistic "massaging"?
By the way, Inset/Baker days aren't additional to the holidays for us teachers - they're training days that replaced days that used to be holidays (so kids spend no less time in school because of them). Robbo on the Wing - some schools do lump inset days together in a single week, though as we do focused training on these days (at least in my school), I definitely gain more from having them spread over the year so I have time to implement the ideas I pick up, see how they work, come back to them on future training days etc.
What is happening now in Secondary schools is surreal though. Under pressure to produce Examination results, teachers are pressured to put on catch-up sessions after school, and complain to parents if their child doesn't attend. Some of these sessions are for coursework in 'controlled conditions' which exam boards now insist on. The exam boards are not brave enough to call them exams, which in effect they are (just not fixed to an exam timetable)...it certainly isn't coursework in the understood sense.
Now you have kids not bothering much in lessons, and saying they will do it in 'catchup' which they then don't attend, or attend haphazardly.
Or the kids complain that all the subjects have after school catch up at the same time, on the same days, and want it 'timetabled' better. Parents sometimes contact schools, apologising that their son or daughter can't attend one session in a particular subject because they have to attend another one (or two, or three).
The actual school day, or school week is disintergrating for teachers, students and their families. At English GCSE there has to be so many hours of 'controlled conditions coursework' that lots of teaching simply does not happen.
The thing is that supply and demand during the school holidays allows firms to charge what they want, they isn't a lot parents can do, other than take their kids out during term time.
To Sao{auloAddick : can't you do the training during the week you are off - or do you need 12 weeks holiday a year ??
It's no wonder that the country is in such a financial mess.
If by 'catchup' you mean revision sessions, then these have always taken place. There may be some 'catchup lessons' for lower ability students who struggle in class - this is a good step forward from the old days.
Controlled assessment will sometimes, and it is relatively unusual, be undertaken outside classroom hours.
This will be if the students timetables are complicated and they need to be withdrawn from a number of option subjects to take, say a History CA.
The initial reason for controlled assessment (CA) was not an insitance from exam boards, but rather from parents who felt that the coursework they replace was too often being done by parents and not students. The parents who played by the rules felt they were being cheated by the parents who helped their children, This got out of hand and the sensible alternative was controlled assessment.
The second reason was again from parents whose children didnt flourish under written exam papers. CA can be brilliant for children who are good at manipulating data - a skill required in real world workplaces. Frankly 2 and a half hour exams (without access to computers) many of us were used to are skills no longer required in todays world. How often would this skill be needed in any office? CA is far more realistic.
you say a lot of teaching doesnt get done during controlle assessment but this is somewhat disingenious - teaching doesnt get done during exams, and usually CA.
Golf - its not as simple as you state, as noted in my earlier post.
And yep I'll stand by my 12 weeks holiday - during term time I work my nuts off! I can't say this for every school, but in my school teachers and students are absolutely fried by the end of term. We do benefit from the time off to recharge batteries, mark books, plan lessons, produce resources etc.
And before anyone says anything about pampered public sector workers I worked in the private sector for over 10 years before I became a teacher, doing a job that involving long hours and plenty of stress, so I have something to compare it to - the hardest I've ever worked is the last few years as a teacher, holidays or not.
I didn't have a holiday last year and will not be having one during the summer.
You obviously see yourself as some sort of paragon of virtue. Unfortunately, you are utterly deluded if you really believe that by attending a family wedding in Australia Guiness Addick is contributing to the countries financial woes.
Personally I can understand why parents might want to take their kids away out during term time, because prices go up so much in the school holidays, but unless it's an exceptional reason (family wedding overseas etc) then I don't think it's on to take your kids out for an extended period in the middle of the school year. Even if they get given "homework" to take with them, it usually means they are behind on the stuff covered over that period, and the teacher ends up having to go over it again for their benefit later. I'd say the exception is probably the last couple of weeks of summer term when school trips and special activies are happening, but even that doesn't necessarily apply in year 10 and 12, as there may be coursework catch-up going on.