tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post118140486078493788..comments2024-03-27T16:39:43.522+00:00Comments on Liberal England: Michael Gove talks nonsense on the history of school holidaysJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-72479477526417785922013-07-02T17:53:39.540+01:002013-07-02T17:53:39.540+01:00Taking a week off summer and putting it on Christm...Taking a week off summer and putting it on Christmas could work.<br /><br />I asked some kids handily lying around in my house if they would prefer 6 and 2 or 5 and 3. They said 5 and 3. <br /><br />Kids can get a bit bored and restless after 6 to 7 weeks of holidays. In mid-Winter when the days are shorter it is a drag to get out of bed in the dark to go to school. Younger ones get more tired. <br /><br />It's an extra week in mid-Winter to lie aound in bed and play X-Box, and not have to get out of bed and go to school. Vanessanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-35533154980766746212013-04-21T17:30:36.604+01:002013-04-21T17:30:36.604+01:00His main point - that schools in other countries h...His main point - that schools in other countries have longer days and terms - also <a href="http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2013/04/gove-misleads-spectator-conference-about-longer-school-days-and-shorter-holidays-in-the-far-east/" rel="nofollow">turns out to be factually wrong</a>.Nileshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03060945134872813307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-52861822667554093282013-04-19T10:30:56.184+01:002013-04-19T10:30:56.184+01:00I suggest you read the TES article I link to.I suggest you read the TES article I link to.Jonathan Calderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-44880811539547132022013-04-19T10:02:45.668+01:002013-04-19T10:02:45.668+01:00Which is all very well and good, but doesn't e...Which is all very well and good, but doesn't explain why the school holidays are when they are and as long as they are!<br /><br />There is of course a difference between English and Scottish schools in that the Scottish schools have their holidays about 3 weeks earlier. This coincides with their earlier August bank holiday and begs the question whether there is a relationship between the last week of the vacation and the August Bank holiday, in which case did English schools have earlier holidays when we too had our August bank holiday at the beginning of the month?<br /><br />Alternatively, and I suspect more likely, isn't the long summer vacation in British schools merely a reflection of the (longer) summer vacation in British universities, less about 3 weeks each end). That itself dates back to the long summer vacation taken across all administrative, judicial and ecclesiastical institutions, which can hardly be put down to farming, since few people in those institutions would stoop so low, and is much more a reflection of 1 - the long period of ordinary time in the church year following Witsun (and especially the feast of St John), the desire to avoid pestilence in urban areas during the warm summer months and to enjoy country pursuits and, probably above all, the bloody minded conservative desire to carry on doing things the way the Roman's did!<br /><br />If this is right doesn't the long summer vacation reflect just the sort of values Gove most admires (our religious heritage, aristocratic traditions and appreciation of the classical world)?<br /><br />One last point. Although he is right to say that other countries have longer school years, it appears that Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea all have exactly the same arrangements for summer holidays, with the exception that Singapore take their holiday in November-January.Simonnoreply@blogger.com