My opinions here were aroused by this news article on plans to keep a register of holidays taken within term-time.
I can’t stress enough how wrong I think this is.
For a start, the law states that a child must be provided with a suitable and age appropriate education. It does NOT state that a child must attend school, full, part or otherwise, that is why parents have free choice to homeschool, should they wish. This in mind, it begs the question, why do schools (and the government) have the right to prevent term-time holidaying? (and keep registers thereof)
If it’s a parent’s choice how and where to educate their child it is also a parent’s right to take them out of school if they can prove that they are providing alternative education. Wouldn’t you agree that a holiday particularly of a cultural nature is a rich learning experience for any child? It could be argued (and I would) that even the beachiest holiday can incorporate educational excursions to historic buildings, museums etc..
Our education system is all or nothing in it’s current form. Either you take full responsibility as a parent and homeschool or you are forced to hand over all responsibility to the state system.
Here’s a thought.
What about an ‘Education Partnership’ a system where teachers, pupils and parents work together. Pupils should have a larger say in the curriculum - child led learning could be practised quite easily if we weren’t so obsessed with examining our children, what if our ‘teachers’ were more akin to learning facilitators, flexible and prepared to facilitate the learning of any subject regardless of curriculum. This would have four major advantages as I see it.
1. Children will be far more engaged when they have a say in what they learn.
2. Teachers will not become stale, teaching the same curriculum over and over again. They aren’t teaching kids about the world and skills anymore, they are training them to pass exams.
3. We will end up with a hugely diverse set of future workers who will have a much larger variety of skills, strengths and interests.
4. We wouldn’t have to worry about term-time holidaying, because the kids wouldn’t be ‘missing’ anything. What they are ‘missing’ at the moment is the vital bits of information required to pass exams. A looser curriculum and a vastly reduced exam calendar and the problem is solved. Holidaying would be seen as a major advantage to their education, think, the possibility of experiencing different cultures, practising foreign languages and customs, the opportunities are endless and far beyond what can be offered in the confines of the classroom.
Parents need to be involved and take more responsibility to assist in the education process by visiting museums, galleries, and other appropriate activities that tie in with the current learning in school. Some parents will argue they don’t have time, to them I would say, if you don’t have time, don’t have kids, you just can’t do them justice. Harsh, I know.
Why can’t we encourage term time holidaying? Why can’t we incorporate that into the classroom. Jonathan visited Africa? Great, let him do a show and tell, let us share what he has learned. Let us open our minds to the possibilities, instead of building systems that hinder everyone.
The education system is our education system, we pay for it and it’s our kids it is serving. If we want to change it, we can.
Thoughts welcome…
Photo by flickr user Robem
11 Responses to “Term-Time Holidaying & The Education System”
I think the problem is that (as the system stands now) if you hand over the responsibility for educating your children to the school system then you have to play by their rules. I can see how it could get frustrating for teachers when they have to repeat everything they have told the rest of the class for the sake of the few who took cheap jollidays during term time.
The education system you describe sounds rather like Montessori style education, very child led, very flexible. Would be fantastic really if it were done that way but the cynic in me says that it would be no good - the system wouldn’t turn out sufficiently unthinking, obedient little workers that way.
Incidentally, on the subject of Education, have you watched Sir Ken Robinson talking about creativity and the education system at TED? Here’s the link http://tinyurl.com/g3t7z it’s worth watching.
Firstly, thanks for the link, I have bookmarked to watch later
you rightly mention. Parents under my system would have to prove the educational benefit to the term-time leave.
On your first point my view would be that our education system is not here to suit teachers (digging myself a hole here?!) it’s here to cater for the children, although I do understand your point. I would also wonder how much repetition there would be when not every detail of information needs to be remembered by every child for the sake of exams. The basic skills will always be important, thereafter, I believe that education from travel can match and exceed what would be learned in the classroom, and I should mention that I am predominantly talking about primay school although I think this would be relevant for secondary school too, on a lesser level. Remember, I don’t include the package ‘jollidays’
I have read a lot about homechooling, montessori, private school and steiner methods and I think we can take aspects of each to improve on our current state system which is very outdated. The system we have now was set up during a time when Britain and the workforce required a band of obedient little workers to man the factory lines, this was when Britain was famous for manufacturing. Now, however Britain’s requirement for factory workers has vastly diminished due to the (almost) death of the manufacturing industry. and we require entrepreneurs, doctors, IT specialists, innovators, nurses, trades people, our current system is not producing the variety of skilled workers the country requires and I believe this is due to the ‘one size fits all’ mentality of our education system.
Actually, I agree with you, the system is supposed to be for the kids not the adults, trouble is the adults are (from waht I’ve seen) not aware of that fact (sigh) My MIL and her eldest daughter are both teachers and to be honest I don’t think either of them like kids much
I have agreed to differ with them for the sake of peace (what with me being a rebel and teaching Aprilia at home!) but their attitudes are scary, very much “I made this lesson plan the first year I taught this subject and I intend to get my money’s worth out of it”
But anyway, when yoy qualify you’re gonna change all that and restore my faith in teachers now aren’t you
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“Parents need to be involved and take more responsibility to assist in the education process by visiting museums, galleries, and other appropriate activities that tie in with the current learning in school. Some parents will argue they don’t have time, to them I would say, if you don’t have time, don’t have kids, you just can’t do them justice. Harsh, I know.”
I REALLY, REALLY appreciate folks who have the courage to speak honestly. Thank you. This entire argument comes back to the family unit, doesn’t it? Schools can’t be fixed until families are fixed.
Parents need to be involved and take more responsibility to assist in the education process by visiting museums, galleries, and other appropriate activities that tie in with the current learning in school. Some parents will argue they don’t have time, to them I would say, if you don’t have time, don’t have kids, you just can’t do them justice. Harsh, I know.
And what happens to the kids of those people who have kids anyway despite your advice? What happens to the kids of parents who are disabled and unable to take them around to museums, galleries, and other appropriate activities? Are schools to be set up only to tend to the children of responsible parents? Personally, as a taxpayer, I want all kids to be educated, not just the ones lucky enough to have good parents.
Plus, how nicely do you think life works out? I recently read a book by a woman whose husband suffered a major head injury as the result of an accident. They had two kids. This woman’s life was flat out for some years:
1. Her husband could no longer work. So she was working full time to supply the family income.
2. Her husband couldn’t do any housework. So she was running the house.
3. Her husband couldn’t take care of the children. So she was doing all the childwork.
4. Her husband needed help with his therapy. He also had a variety of behavioural problems that just took up time (like following her around the house and then standing in doorways and stopping her from going by).
People have bad times in their lives. Should this couple never have had kids because of the possibility that one of them might have an accident? Or should you only have kids if you are part of an extended family that can step in all the time? Not just harsh, but bloody harsh I’d say. In fact, I’d go further and say cruel.
Thank you for your points Tracy. I’ll try to tackle each in turn.
Firstly I believe every child deserves and has the right to an education regardless of their background and I have never said anything to the contrary. What I did say is that parents need to be more involved.
Many disabled parents are perfectly capable of escorting their children on the activities I mentioned, which, for the record, were just examples.
I happen to know that life does not always work out the way we would wish. I was brought up in a one parent family for the most of my childhood, my mum worked three jobs and we lived on the bread line becoming homeless more than once. I also have crohn’s disease so I understand what it’s like not to be able to do all you want with your child/ren.
I think you take it to the extreme when you suggest that I am saying people shouldn’t have kids for fear of what might happen, and in my post I was specifically talking about those parents who aren’t willing to sacrifice their time, no mention of illness, accident or other.
For the record, not one of my relatives lives within 400 miles of me, my husband and I manage on one main wage, I care for Erin full-time, I do a part-time job and I’m studying at college, so let’s just say I know what it’s like trying to juggle life and all the demands, yet I still think I’m right in saying that parents have a duty to their children to spend time nurturing and teaching, I didn’t say how much time because that will vary from family to family.
If you put together a system where “parents *need* to be more involved”[emphasis mine] then you’re being harsh to those kids who have parents who can’t be involved and also to those kids who have parents who aren’t willing to be involved.
The kids of those parents who aren’t willing to be involved are in no sense of the word responsible for their parents’ irresponsibility. Yet, if they don’t learn they are likely to have bad outcomes in their own lives. For example, every survey I have read of literacy in prisons show far greater rates of illiteracy amongst prisoners than amongst the general population. As a taxpayer, I want the education system to serve everyone including those whose parents are incapable or irresponsible. An education system where “parents need to be more involved” is a failed education system in my opinion.
When I talked about disabled parents, I specified parents who couldn’t take their kids round to all those activities because of their disability. Saying that most parents with disabilities can take their kids around doesn’t answer my point.
I’m glad you agree that fear of illness or accident should not be enough to put parents off having kids. So what do you think should happen to those kids who have parents who, due to illness or accident just don’t have the time to be involved in their kids’ education? If you advocate an education system where “parents need to be involved” you’re sending those kids up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
I think perhaps the way you have read, or indeed, the way I have written that particular paragraph is causing some crossed wires. To clarify;
There was no special emphasis on ‘need’ in that paragraph which is why I didn’t put it in bold or italics. My ideal system does not rely so heavily on parent participation that it would fail without it. Most parents already do many of things I mentioned to facilitate learning as well as other things like reading, playing games, researching on the internet, help with homework etc etc… I was merely saying that as a general rule parents should make the effort to be involved with their child’s education by being aware of what they are studying and helping to facilitate that learning, which is pretty much what is expected of us now, and I would argue that the parents who do take the time are the one’s that are giving their kids an extra shove in the right direction.
On your point about disabled parents, parents who are so physically or mentally disabled that they are unable to visit a gallery or museum would be entitled to support to help look after their children. Of course the examples I made were just that and there are many other ways that support can be provided with learning.
On your final point about accident and illness, no system can be prepared for every possible outcome, however, perhaps we could direct some of the resources to ensure these children get all the opportunities they deserve.
I believe in equal opportunities for all children and my post wasn’t meant to segregate anyone other than those parents who are too bone idle to invest in their children. As I mentioned I have lived on what would be classed as the lower rungs of the social ladder, on the ‘Free School Meals’ that figure so heavily in governement stats, so the last thing I want is a class tiered education (although that’s what we have with private schools).
I want to become a teacher myself, and although I think our education system has some strong areas, I believe there could be lots of improvements which was supposed to be the main theme in my article.
As a parent myself I think my involvement in Erin’s education is crucial and I hope it will make all the difference in the end.
I think the point that you have highlighted is that there are children out there with parents and I’m mostly thinking about parents who are alcohol/drug dependant (there will be others, ME sufferers?) who should benefit from a larger chunk of the resources to afford them the opportunity to do the activities I suggested, perhaps a weekend learning club once every two weeks which can incorporate excursions etc… This could be a workable idea. Your thoughts?
my daughter has 94.26% attendance. Just under the attendance needed for authorisation to go on holiday. She never has been on holiday as i cant afford it. We have the chance to go abroad for 2 weeks in june as a relative is paying but the skool said no. I cant believe it has she has never been away in term time before. Could you please tell what would happen if i just take her as the holiday is paid for. thank you.
I’m not really sure, anyonelse have any experience in this situation?