Schools will be asked to ensure their week is at least 32.5 hours long by September 2023. The Schools White Paper, published in full on Monday (March 28), details how school weeks should run for at least 32-and-a-half hours, from for example 8.45am to 3.15pm Monday to Friday.
While most school weeks across primary and secondary schools in England cover this length of time, the Department for Education said there are some “discrepancies” which could see a pupil who receives 20 minutes’ less teaching time per day lose out on around two weeks of schooling per year. As one of several measures set out in the White Paper, the DfE said the change aimed to build upon the Government’s Levelling Up mission for schools, which aims for 90 per cent of pupils leaving primary school to have reached expected standards in numeracy and literacy.
On Tuesday, the long-awaited Special Educational Needs and Disability (Send) Review will also be published. “The Send and alternative provision green paper will build on education support and change the culture and practice in mainstream schools to be more inclusive, helping the workforce to adapt to every pupil’s needs,” the DfE said.
The Labour Party’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said that the proposals amounted to telling most schools to “carry on as normal”. She said that after two years of “pandemic chaos” the plan would leave parents, teachers and pupils “wondering where the ambition for children’s futures is”.
“For almost eight in 10 schools, the Education Secretary’s big idea is to carry on as normal,” she said. “Hundreds of thousands of primary children live in an area with no ‘good’ schools, the gap in learning between the most and least well-off pupils has widened during Covid, four in 10 young people leave education without the skills they need and young people are experiencing a mental health crisis. Yet the government has no answers,” Ms Phillipson said.
Labour pointed out that 75 per cent of schools had days that met the average length of between six hours 15 minutes and six hours 35 minutes. Headteachers have also said they are “unconvinced” of the benefits of a minimum expectation for the length of the school week.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We are unconvinced by the benefits of introducing a minimum expectation on the length of the school week of 32.5 hours.” He said that the vast majority of schools already met this expectation or came “very close” to meeting it, and that it was important to understand the factors that might lead to a shorter week in some schools.
“For example, it may be the case in some rural schools that start and finish times are affected by transport arrangements,” he said. “Adding time on to the school week may sound straightforward, but there are many issues which need to be considered in individual schools, and we would encourage the government not to rush any changes.”
“We look forward to seeing the full details of the schools white paper and the SEND and alternative provision green paper,” he added. And Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “We hope that during the year before these proposals are implemented, there can be a review of the evidence supporting this plan.”
“Simply adding five or ten minutes to a day is unlikely to bring much, if any, benefit. The government says it will be guided by evidence – they need to meet that undertaking,” he said.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said that the education sector was “crying out” for a Schools White Paper and Send Green Paper that addressed “the huge challenges that battered and bruised schools face to support all their pupils during and beyond a pandemic”.
“The expectation of a 32.5 hour week for pupils is a classic example of Government trying to hit a target but missing the point,” he said. “The vast majority of schools’ days are of this length or a little more or less. We are looking for much more sophisticated change.”
“Where is the multifaceted recovery plan? What should happen in the extra 10-15 mins some pupils will now spend in school? How will pupil wellbeing and education staff workloads be improved to ensure their time together is as impactful as both want and deserve?” he added.
“Children, parents and those that teach and support them need more from a government policy platform than easy headlines like this.”
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has said the Schools White Paper aims to ensure that the education system works “for every child wherever they are” and sets an “ambitious target” for schools. Speaking on Sky News, he said: “I hope we can complete the journey, which is what my White Paper does, of a family of schools.
“All the evidence suggests that schools that work together in a family of schools that’s tightly managed, really well supported, strong – and I underline strong – high-performing multi-academy trust, deliver better outcomes for the children. I’m very fond of talking about my background of being the 11-year-old who couldn’t speak a word of English but with parents who had the wherewithal to push me, and look where I am today.
“I want the system to work for every child wherever they are, at the right place and the right time, even with those whose parents who don’t have the wherewithal, or who have no parents, that’s what the White Paper will do. It’s a real ambitious target to make sure every school in our country is high-performing in that family of schools working together.”
