You work. Your partner works. Your little one starts school. Suddenly, there is a problem.
Who is going to take your child to school and who is going to collect them?
You and your partner both need to be at work before the school day begins. Your workdays end after the school day finishes. Unmatched to the traditional working day, should the 9am to 3pm school day to move with the times?
Earlier this year trials to modernise the school day got underway in New South Wales. Premier Dominic Perrottet says the government is looking at better ways of doing things.
“The school hours of 9am to 3pm, that was set up at a very different time in life,” Mr Perrottet said in February. “The world of the 1950s is very different from the world we live in today.”
What could a modernised school day look like?
Many parents are carers find balancing work and life challenging. Often you juggle commitments — for work and lifestyle. Extra people (family members or a nanny) may help raise your children. Your child might enrol in full-time child care or after-school care. The regular management of a family schedule is causing a lot of family stress.
Isn’t there a better way?
Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia’s leading parenting experts and author of 21 Days to a Happier Family, says there are no easy answers.
“Can young children cope with a longer day at school? Maybe,” Dr Coulson says. “In relation to the number of hours a child should be learning… it depends. Is the learning stimulating? Or is it learning by rote? Are the children playing and excited? Or are they being controlled and drilled? If the learning is play-based and if the experience is developmentally appropriate, then of course they can cope. But there are costs to extending the school day without massively changing the way we think about education.”
Clinical neuropsychologist Dr Ash Nayate has been working with families for more than 15 years.
“Expanding the school day can however, in and of itself, potentially increase stress for children,” she warns. “It can reduce the opportunity they have to be at home with their family, reduce their motivation for learning and tire them out.”
This brings with it the associated behavioural issues that come from being fatigued. Dr Nayate says this is happening in the United States and in many Asian countries where the school day is extended.
“Children face increased performance pressure, and as a result, experience wellbeing difficulties.”
In NSW, some of the trials have included a 7am start with students finishing at 1pm.
At independent Catholic boys’ school Edmund Rice College, the school day starts at 8am and finishes at 2:05pm. Principal Stephen Gough told news.com.au that the change, which was made in 2013, allows the school to maximise the day and learning opportunities.
“Every educator knows some of your best learning happens earlier in the day,” he told the publication.
What do other countries do?
Finland possesses one of the most progressive and successful education systems in the world. It values play, curiosity and autonomy. Interestingly, teachers and students do not experience a longer school day. In fact, the average school day in Finland is only five hours long. Further, testing is qualitative (focusing on the overall development of the student) rather than quantitative; there is minimal homework to complete at the end of the school day; and teachers are highly trained through a mandatory master’s degree.
It is the only country where students have both a high reading proficiency as well as high life satisfaction.
Conversely, Korean students are typically in school from 9am to 5pm (or 7:30am to 6pm for some adolescents), with huge amounts of study to be done afterwards and often additional classes to attend at night. For many families, education is the main driver of social mobility, for the children and their family. The pressure to succeed is on from an early age, with graduation from a top university the ultimate marker.
While Finland is often considered a non-competitive system of education, South Korea is described as ‘very stressful, authoritarian, brutally competitive and meritocratic’.
How children learn
In determining whether extending school hours is possible, the most important question of all has to be whether young children are actually able to cope with a longer day.
Clare Crew, child development consultant and founder of Thrive Education and Wellness says young children learn through play, movement and human interaction.
“Six hours a day in the classroom where the emphasis is on academics is plenty,” Ms Crew says. “If a mix of learning is available, there might be more scope for an extended day, but this would require an approach to teaching not often modelled or supported by our system.”
She says as it is, such little brains and bodies are not yet ready for the equivalent of an office working day.
“We need to focus on what is best for children, not what is best for the workplace.”
Dr Nayate agrees.
“The younger the child, the more play-based learning is crucial,” she says. “Kids need to be in unstructured environments so they can learn creativity, problem solving skills and social skills among other things.”
She says the highly structured classroom setting doesn’t confer the same benefits as outdoor unstructured play.
In Dr Nayate’s opinion, a longer school day should be avoided. As Albert Einstein said, ‘Play is the highest form of study’.”
School hours and stress
There are those who find it difficult to adhere to school commitments, struggling consistently to meet the conflicting demands of their child’s day and their own work. The stress faced by families does not diminish just because school hours are changed. What is the knock-on effect?
“Chronic stress impacts on our immune system and makes us more susceptible to illness,” Dr Nayate says, highlighting a field of study called psychoneuroimmunology.
“It can leave adults and children more susceptible to anxiety, depression, substance abuse, disordered eating and sleep disturbances. We’re more likely to perceive the world as negative or hostile. In addition, our brains often don’t function as well when we’re stressed, we have trouble thinking clearly and we’re more impulsive in words and actions. We can also be irritable or grumpy, which can affect the way we relate and respond to others.”
Finding a balance between the needs of school and work cannot be underestimated.
Finding the balance
“Keeping the day as it is, to be in line with meeting children’s holistic development, ensuring ample places are available in quality before- and after-school care, and securing a greater flexibility from workplaces with regard to our most precious resource of the future, our children, is the way forward,” Clare Crew says.
“Let’s not replace wellbeing with convenience. In my mind, the crux of the issue is the workplace. We need more employers and companies to come on board, offering flexible working hours to parents. When there’s less of a work-life divide, most employees will feel supported and bring their best version of themselves to a job, which can only be better for all concerned in any event.”
Making the school day easier
- Share the drop-offs and pick-ups with your partner. Doing this automatically halves your ‘school hours vs work hours’ issue.
- Collaborate with another family: Make an arrangement with another family to share school pick-ups/drop-offs – on one day one parent does school pick-up/homework time/dinner, and on another day the other parent returns the favour.
- Consult with your employer: See if you can go flexi-time so that you can arrive/leave your job later. Discuss and agree on a work arrangement that allows you to meet your job responsibilities while also being present as a parent.
- Sign up to after-school activities: See what after-school classes are available at school that your child might like to attend. Is there an art class or gym class that takes place at school that does not require your presence, allowing you to collect your child later?
- Investigate after-school care options: Many schools offer this service, which allows children to play in a relaxed environment with their peers while you finish work. Government support for many of these services makes them reasonably affordable for families.
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