Q&A: Six term school year

Councils are trying to co-ordinate plans

Education Secretary Charles Clarke says he backs moves to change the school year.

He is ready to look at issuing guidelines on the introduction of the so-called six-term year, following complaints that the changes are being brought in in a piecemeal fashion, causing confusion.

BBC News Online looks at what is happening on the ground and what it could all mean for pupils, teachers and parents.

What is the six-term year - don't we have that already?

At the moment, schools in England operate a three-term year, with the terms broken by half-term breaks. An independent commission put forward the idea of standardising the lengths of terms, trimming the summer holidays, fixing the spring break and having a long weekend for Easter.

Under their scheme, there would be a two-week break in autumn, at Christmas and in the spring. Terms after Christmas would each be six weeks' long and the summer break would be about five weeks long.

Were the commission's recommendations taken up?

Yes and no. They were approved by the group representing local authorities or councils, the Local Government Association, and individual councils have been consulting parents and teachers on whether to bring in changes.

After consulting, many councils are preparing to adopt the idea of a fixed-break in spring, but few are preparing to adopt the changes in full. So far, about 30 to 40 councils have decided to fix the spring break in April and have a separate long weekend for Easter when the festival falls outside that break.

When is all this likely to happen?

Most councils are drawing up plans to bring in the changes from September 2005.

What is the present row about?

Teachers' representatives complain that the changes are being brought in in a "piecemeal fashion", which they say could lead to chaos, with some areas bringing it in and some areas not. The councils have been liaising and many have adopted a "We will if you will attitude" with neighbouring authorities to try to restrict upheaval.

Teachers complain there will be big problems for parents who have children in schools run by different councils if the holiday times are different, and for teachers themselves if they teach in an area with different holidays from their own children's schools.

Does the government need to approve any changes?

No. Local education authorities and certain schools have always been responsible for setting terms and holidays for their area.

Is the government in favour of the changes?

Until recently the government kept out of the debate, leaving it to the local councils. But in March Charles Clarke said he supported the changes and wrote to local authorities urging them to go down that route.

Now he says he will look at bringing in guidelines on how the changes should be rolled out.

What do supporters say are the benefits of a six-term year?

The Local Government Association (LGA) believes it would be better to have standard terms from year to year, so that holidays and schoolwork could be more easily planned and says children would be less likely to become over-tired if terms were generally shorter.

And the down-side?

Critics of the wholesale switch to a six-term year complain that a shorter summer holiday would be very unpopular with teachers, as the long holiday helps to attract people to the profession. The LGA says the plans envisage a summer break of at least five weeks.