We’re all going on a summer… holiday?

AFTER a year of work, school finished and six hot weeks of freedom lay ahead. Halfway through said six weeks, the question comes to mind: are our school holidays the right length?

The history of the holiday is interesting in itself. ‘Holidays’ first came into being around the ‘Holy Days’ of the Middle-Ages. These were the only proper breaks for peasant workers during the year, becoming anticipated days-off for many.

Then, in the heavy-working industries of the 19th Century, it was deemed that workers needed longer and better breaks. The Bank Holidays Act of 1871 introduced our regular days off, and the weekend was expanded. The corresponding development of steam engines meant many could take quick and pleasant trips to the coast, beginning the culture of having a ‘vacation’ during holidays.

Yet holidays only really became significant in size with the introduction of public schools. It was deemed best to structure the school year around the summer months, giving teachers and students time off, instead of working in the August heat. The story that the break comes from children being needed for the harvest is, unfortunately, untrue (says my internet research).

So do we need six weeks?

One concern is that such a long period of nothingness hurts our educational growth. But shorter holidays aren’t always better for our education: school kids in China are often sent to summer schools or tuition camps. Deprived of proper rest, they report a staggering range of mental health concerns, and their lack of holiday still only has a tenuous claim to higher grades (it seems to be more down to strong teacher-student relationships). By contrast Finland, another of the world’s education achievers, has an 11 week-long holiday and some of the world’s highest grade scores and literacy/ numeracy rates. So it’s doubtful that contracting the summer holiday will help our learning.

Then there is an argument that parents struggle to occupy their kids for over a month. Vacations away are never more than two weeks, and day groups and sports camps are fairly pricey, making looking after children rather difficult.

A shorter period of time would still rest their minds without hurting the parent’s wallet, or so the thinking goes.

But actually, the UK has one of the shortest summer holidays in the world. And such dear summer clubs shouldn’t be an issue.

France, for instance, has cheap summer programmes spanning several weeks, sometimes months. If that network of affordable summer-care was replicated in the UK, there wouldn’t be such a problem.

So what do you think? After all, I’m biased in favour of a longer holiday, so it’d be good to hear you views too. Write in and give your case for a shorter (or longer) summer holiday.

But be quick, there’s only three weeks left.