10-hour school day on the way to boost grades (and Saturday mornings too!)



Children could go to school for ten hours a day and on Saturday mornings under a radical shake-up of secondary education.

Education Minister Michael Gove wants school days to run from 7.30am to 5.30pm to improve pupils’ performance and enable them to study vocational courses alongside core academic subjects.



He also wants sites to open on Saturdays and to increase terms by two weeks, to a total of 40 weeks a year.

Changes: Education Secretary Michael Gove said the measures would not be compulsory, but strongly advised

It would mean youngsters gaining more than an extra year of teaching over a five-year period.



Longer days in the state system would bring them in line with many private schools, giving disadvantaged youngsters more time in class to catch up with more privileged peers.



They would also be popular with working parents who struggle to fit 3pm school finishing times in with their jobs.

Mr Gove said the measures – which would mirror exemplary Far Eastern schools such as in Singapore – would not be compulsory but strongly advised.



The teachers’ union criticised the plans, arguing that staff already have a punishing workload and that children need time to rest.



Mr Gove unveiled the plans yesterday alongside the findings of an independent review into vocational education.

Critical: Professor Alison Wolf's review attacked the 'immoral' pressures of school league tables

Led by Professor Alison Wolf, it found a third of non-academic GCSE-equivalent courses are pointless or even harm career prospects. One, the certificate in Personal Effectiveness, taught pupils, among other things, how to claim benefits.



Mr Gove said youngsters aged 14 to 16 should focus on core subjects of his English Baccalaureate – English, maths, a science, a humanity and a foreign language.



He said vocational courses should be taught alongside the core and occupy up to 20 per cent of the school timetable.



If schools can manage to get all their pupils up to scratch during a short school day then they should stick to it, he said. But if pupils are failing to pass maths and English GCSEs, as more than half do, they must lengthen the school day.



Mr Gove said it was up to individual schools to decide whether to adopt the measures, but added: ‘I personally believe that people should be learning for longer.



‘Lots of schools have found having an extended school day – sometimes weekend education, or longer terms – helps.’



Mr Gove said he would not prescribe the longer hours, but has ‘lifted the bureaucratic requirement on schools to give us notice about varying the school day’.



‘The opportunity is now there for schools to offer students more,’ he said.

Academies, ‘free’ schools and faith schools are able to vary their hours, provided they teach for a minimum of 190 days a year. Comprehensives must seek permission from their local authority.



Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of education union ATL, criticised the plans. She said: ‘Longer hours in school do not neatly equate into higher achievement by pupils.



‘The reasons why some fail to achieve as well as they could are complex and varied. Being born into a disadvantaged family is the most significant.



‘Young people need to spend time with families and friends and to organise their own activities, or rest.



‘Teachers in the English state schools already work an average of 50 hours a week – 18 of them teaching and the rest marking and preparing students’ work, in parents’ meetings, staff meetings, and training. They need a life outside school too.’



Professor Wolf’s review attacked as ‘immoral’ the pressures of school league tables which have caused a move away from a core curriculum.



She said it was ‘absolutely scandalous’ that half of all 16-year-olds are leaving school without good GCSEs – a C grade or higher – in English and maths.

