DfE review of longer day warns about teaching capacity

But increasing hours for 16-19 education is seen as more ‘feasible’, according to new document

4th November 2021, 6:17pm

A Department for Education review has warned that extending the school day for Covid catch-up would mean overcoming “significant” issues such as finding more teaching capacity and bringing in new accountability measures.

It also says that the change would require legislation and mean tackling “contractual constraints”.

Increasing teaching hours in post-16 education is more “feasible” than lengthening the school day, it has concluded.

It suggests that an extension to the school day could help children catch up on lessons following the move to remote learning during the pandemic.

But the government’s review of time spent in schools and colleges suggests that a “targeted approach” is required as Covid has affected pupils differently.

Extending the school day has been at the centre of controversy since the resignation of former recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins.

He had wanted this to form part of a major £15 billion recovery programme from the Covid pandemic and resigned when it wasn’t included in the £1.4 billion plans announced by the DfE earlier this year.

At the time, the department vowed to carry out a review on the length of the school day to inform the government’s comprehensive spending review.

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Yesterday MPs had questioned when the review would be published and education secretary Nadhim Zahawi promised to the Commons Education Select Committee that it would happen before the end of the year.

The document, which has been published tonight, is five pages long.

The review of time spent in school, and whether a longer school day could help pupils catch up from learning loss caused by the pandemic, found that the pre-pandemic length of the school day on average was six-and-a-half hours.

Three-quarters of schools had a day lasting between 6 hours and 15 minutes, and 6 hours and 35 minutes.

“However, some schools have a day that is well below the average (8 per cent of primaries and 5 per cent of secondaries have a school day that lasted 6 hours and 10 minutes or shorter), or well above the average (2 per cent of primaries and 22 per cent of secondaries have a school day longer than 6 hours 50 minutes),” the review says.

On Monday, education secretary Mr Zahawi said he would like to see all schools move towards being open for six-and-a-half hours a day.

The review finds that “evidence on the role of instruction time in reducing the attainment gap is mixed”, adding “there are some studies indicating that high performers are the ones who benefit the most from extended hours”.

“Any universal change to the length of the school day would involve significant delivery considerations, particularly how to realise the additional teaching capacity required in order to facilitate delivery within existing legislative, contractual and workforce supply constraints,” it says.

“The challenge of ensuring that any additional time is not only delivered, but also used well, would require legislation and accountability measures sufficient to ensure quality.”

The review finds that pupils in Year 5 spend more time in school in England compared with other participating countries in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

And for pupils in Year 9, they spend “broadly the median” amount of time in school compared with other countries in the TIMSS study.

But pupils studying for GCSEs spend slightly less time in school than international peers.

“Based on OECD data, average teaching hours for key stage 4 pupils (those in Years 10 and 11) in England are 26.8 per week,” the review says.

“For these older pupils, this is slightly below the OECD average of 27.5 for pupils of a similar age. Many other OECD countries stipulate minimum learning hours in regulations.”

The recent budget allocated £800 million to extend 16-19 education by 40 hours over the academic year.

The review finds that countries identified as having “high-performing technical education systems” have a relatively high number of hours in education and training compared with England, equivalent to around 1,000 hours per year.

Providers of 16-19 education are expected to offer an average of 600 hours per year of teaching to students on full-time programmes.

“As teaching hours currently delivered in 16-19 are lower than pre-16, delivering an increase in hours is much more feasible, particularly as the legislative and accountability frameworks to do so are already in place,” the review says.

When he appeared before the education committee yesterday, Mr Zahawi was asked whether he planned to lengthen the school day.

He defended the plans announced so far that have committed close to £5 billion to Covid catch-up.

Mr Zahawi told MPs: “Let me deliver that £5 billion, continue to evaluate, come back to your committee and show you, I hope, how well we’ve done, because the evidence suggests that actually targeting and extending the day for 16- to 19-year-olds, which we’re doing, is the right thing.”