I knew Gove was a prat but .....

[Westdene Seagull]

.... seriously !!!! Idiot idea ! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23145179

Worryingly Labour even agree !

 

[Kaiser_Soze]

It's a ridiculous idea. Standardising holiday periods across the country makes sense. There is no reason for them to do this. I don't think it is anything that schools have even requested!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

It's a ridiculous idea. Standardising holiday periods across the country makes sense. There is no reason for them to do this. I don't think it is anything that schools have even requested!

Agreed - as of next year I will have three children all in different schools. It's hard enough now to book a family holiday without the threat of being "fined", this will just make it worse.

 

[matt]

Its so the thik kid's can spend more time @ school and less time theeving, smoking crack and genrally running a mock.

OAKMEEDS CLASS OF '86.

 

[beorhthelm]

interesting our country's politics. people call for a certain change for years and when someone suggest that change, some then cry about it being the impending doom of civilisation.

i also like the way that the union claims it will be choas for families. why dont they say what they mean, it will be an unwanted change for their members? why drag in the 1% of parents who have childred at different schools which might have holidays at different time?

 

[The Large One]

My better half can set her school terms for (within reason) whenever she likes.

So she sets them to co-incide with the same school terms as Brighton & Hove LEA.

 

[GreersElbow]

This is just daft, I know we should give schools more power. But half term, and end of term should be a nation wide policy.

 

[Kaiser_Soze]

Its so the thik kid's can spend more time @ school and less time theeving, smoking crack and genrally running a mock.

OAKMEEDS CLASS OF '86.

But that argument doesn't ring true. In a recent teaching standards study, the US were quoted as being better than the UK but they have even longer on holiday then UK students. Essentially, the Tories are trying to turn the country against the public sector. Teachers are copping a lot of flack at the moment from a man that doesn't have a clue!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

interesting our country's politics. people call for a certain change for years and when someone suggest that change, some then cry about it being the impending doom of civilisation.

i also like the way that the union claims it will be choas for families. why dont they say what they mean, it will be an unwanted change for their members? why drag in the 1% of parents who have childred at different schools which might have holidays at different time?

I'm not aware that any significant group as campaigned to allow a free for all on setting term dates

 

[Westdene Seagull]

My better half can set her school terms for (within reason) whenever she likes.

So she sets them to co-incide with the same school terms as Brighton & Hove LEA.

And that's very sensible of her. While I don't have a child at Hove Park I'd expect the maverick Head there to buck any tread to harmonise dates locally - just because he will be able to do so !

 

[Kaiser_Soze]

interesting our country's politics. people call for a certain change for years and when someone suggest that change, some then cry about it being the impending doom of civilisation.

i also like the way that the union claims it will be choas for families. why dont they say what they mean, it will be an unwanted change for their members? why drag in the 1% of parents who have childred at different schools which might have holidays at different time?[/QUOTE]

What about other knock on effects? Usually you get holiday clubs run by local leisure centres or such like. Are we expecting them to run a summer holiday program for perhaps 10 weeks rather than the usual 6 to accommodate the changes by different schools?

As TLO mentions, perhaps the government should give freedom to LEA's (Local Education Authorities) to vary term dates but set them for the WHOLE LEA not individual schools. Would make more sense.

 

[Zebedee]

May be the length of school holidays should be reduced? More time for children in the classroom would do them good. Some of us are lucky if we get 5 weeks hols a year.

 

[Simster]

This is just daft, I know we should give schools more power. But half term, and end of term should be a nation wide policy.

I don't agree with that. I think county councils ought to be able to decide. The problem at the moment is that half term/term dates are syncronised across the country (except in one or two counties, such as Leicestershire) and it means parents pay a fortune for holidays as demand rockets for flights/accomodation in the holiday. If your half term dates were any one of three possible weeks, I'd have thought that would impact the cost of holidays.

Obviously it would need to be set at county council level because people have kids in more than one school.

But this is basic stuff. I can't believe Michael Gove is such a complete tool as to fail to realise this.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

interesting our country's politics. people call for a certain change for years and when someone suggest that change, some then cry about it being the impending doom of civilisation.

i also like the way that the union claims it will be choas for families. why dont they say what they mean, it will be an unwanted change for their members? why drag in the 1% of parents who have childred at different schools which might have holidays at different time?

When and how often have people called for this change?

Plenty of people in education think it would make sense to standardise more holiday times, the floating easter being a particularly difficult issue, for the benefit of students who are preparing for exams and so on.

You have a very perverted and twisted view of the motives of most people in education.

 

[shaolinpunk]

Gove has shown on multiple occasions that he is an utter bellend in a job far too complex for him to cope with

 

[The Large One]

interesting our country's politics. people call for a certain change for years and when someone suggest that change, some then cry about it being the impending doom of civilisation.

i also like the way that the union claims it will be choas for families. why dont they say what they mean, it will be an unwanted change for their members? why drag in the 1% of parents who have childred at different schools which might have holidays at different time?

Because teachers won't be that concerned over the change - it's not them who will 'suffer', at least not in their capacity as a teacher.

It will be families with, for example, children at different schools.

 

[beorhthelm]

I'm not aware that any significant group as campaigned to allow a free for all on setting term dates

i couldnt quote a group, but its certainly something ive heard of before. it will solve the holidy price bubble, help child care, align with other countries holidays, better for education outcomes (apparently kids dont retain knowledge over 6 wk). all of course double edged arguments. Gove didn't invent this idea, someone pushed it and he's let it through.

since acedemies already can adjust their holidays, we can judge from that how many schools will take advantage of this change. as the Head Teacher's leader said, schools will probably follow local authority guideance and there'll be little to no change.

 

[Simster]

interesting our country's politics. people call for a certain change for years and when someone suggest that change, some then cry about it being the impending doom of civilisation.

Because it is poorly thought through nonsense?

i also like the way that the union claims it will be choas for families. why dont they say what they mean, it will be an unwanted change for their members? why drag in the 1% of parents who have childred at different schools which might have holidays at different time?

1%? Er, no. It'll be far more than that for a start, and more still who will be affected for at least one year in a given 5 year period.

 

[shaolinpunk]

i also like the way that the union claims it will be choas for families. why dont they say what they mean, it will be an unwanted change for their members? why drag in the 1% of parents who have childred at different schools which might have holidays at different time?

Can I just check - do you think teachers are overpaid?

 

[ROSM]

I can't believe Michael Gove is such a complete tool as to fail to realise this.

Regrettably evidence suggests he might be. Let's all learn Latin as its good for medicine and law. But let's not bother with Spanish or mandarin or Cantonese despite the way that the trade market is going.

The number of parents with children in different schools must be at the current time c15% and most parents unless they have twins or an only child, are likely to face this issue for at least one year in the 12 or 14 years that their child is in education.