Extending the academic year by a month would relieve pressure and allow for “more contact” between teachers and students.

That’s according to columnist and teacher Jennifer Horgan, who was speaking to Lunchtime Live following her call to reduce the amount of time students spend on summer holidays.

“What I would love to see is a slower school day where students have study periods, but they're not bringing home hours of homework,” she said.

“Students have study periods when teachers have time to plan.

“We just ease ourselves and have a nicely paced relaxed atmosphere.”

Organisation

Dearbhal, a secondary school teacher, said running the school term for an extra month would “create problems organisationally.”

“The teachers superintending the State exams – there’s thousands of teachers employed in schools to do that as well as thousands more teachers and SNAs who work in special centres,” she said.

“This means that unless we completely change our exam superintending systems, it would be impossible to run schools in line with the State exams.

“Secondary school teachers got 11 weeks holidays in the summer and correcting exams takes three and a half weeks.”

4 children watch the sunset on summer holidays in Devon, UK (Roy Riley / Alamy Stock Photo)

Students

Dearbhal said students who are part of the “very pressured system” deserve the time to relax in the summer.

“They really need the free time to relax and hang out with their friends,” she said.

Dearbhal acknowledged that there are students who rely on school as a safe space during the academic year, and the 11-week summer break may be “quite problematic.”

“I think that rather than extending the school year for another month, the Government [could] get extra funding into summer camps so that more students could attend them in the summer.”

‘A bit embarrassing’

Dominic, a farmer from Laois, said international people he has met are “always amazed by how much holidays our children have here for the summer.”

“The problem we have come across with our lot is that they're forgetting stuff by the time they're going back to school,” he said.

“My wife is Australian, and it was six weeks over there.

“When my mother-in-law comes – she was a schoolteacher in Australia – her opinion of the education system over here is that it’s a bit embarrassing.”

Chairs were placed on the desks in an empty classroom at the Freiherr-vom-Stein School in Gütersloh. Photo: David Inderlied/dpa

‘Why is it on teachers?’

Marsha, a schoolteacher from Dublin, said the school holidays are not too long, as marking examinations is necessary extra money for teachers.

“It does not bridge the gap between what I earn and what my friends exactly the same age as me earn,” she said.

Marsha said assisting children who cannot afford summer camps during the summer should be the responsibility of the State and not the educators.

“I do agree about the inequalities that are caused between young people who can't afford to go and these summer camps.

“But why is that on teachers? Why is that on schools? Why aren't there vouchers for students to have extra contact time during the summer to bring up those skills and to go to Irish colleges?

“Why is it not a priority for the Government? Why is that something that teachers are again being asked to solve?”

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