A radical overhaul of England's school summer holidays is being proposed in a new report, which recommends cutting the six-week break to just four weeks. The authors argue this change would not only boost pupil wellbeing but also help address the educational disparities exacerbated by the pandemic.
The report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and due for publication next month, argues that England's school calendar has remained largely unchanged since Victorian times and is no longer fit for purpose. Lee Elliot Major, a professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter and one of the report's authors, claims reforming the academic calendar could be a cost-effective way to tackle educational divides.
Professor Major says that spreading school holidays more evenly throughout the year would bring numerous benefits, including enhanced wellbeing for pupils, improved working conditions for teachers without additional cost, balanced childcare expenses for parents, and potentially improved academic outcomes for disadvantaged children. A four-week summer holiday would still provide ample time for teachers to recuperate, while two-week breaks in February and October would offer respite during the most demanding periods of the academic year.
The report addresses concerns about 'learning loss' during long summer breaks, particularly for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds or those with additional learning needs. It notes that the autumn term often becomes a period of revision rather than advancing new learning, with teachers also reporting increased behavioural and wellbeing issues following extended summer holidays.
This call for change aligns with proposals already being explored by the Welsh government, which plans to modify its school year from 2025-26. The initial plan is to shorten the summer break to five weeks and extend the autumn half-term, with further adjustments potentially including a four-week summer holiday and altered Easter break timings.
School trusts and local authorities in England have already trialled extended autumn half-terms, with one multi-academy trust reporting a sharp decrease in pupil and teacher absences during its longer half-term experiment. However, some parents raised childcare concerns.
The debate around shortening the summer holidays is not new, with previous calls from policymakers to modernise the school system dating back to 2013 when former education secretary Michael Gove made a similar proposal. However, earlier attempts by free schools and academies to adopt more radical timetables often faced opposition from parents and difficulties in coordinating with other schools.
Divisions among teachers on this issue are highlighted by polling from the Teacher Tapp app, which indicates that opinions are split.