Students May Be in School on Weekends

Education Minister Michelle Courchesne wants to define the school year in a whole new way as of next fall. Currently students must attend school for 180 to 200 days over the year, but if Courchesne's proposal passes we will be counting hours, instead of days. Students at the secondary level, for example, would attend school between 900 and 1,000 hours each year. Protections for weekends and statutory holidays would also be abolished, allowing schools to organize educational activities during periods which until now have been set aside for family and extra-curricular involvement.

Proposed Changes Could See School Kids in Desks on Saturdays and Sundays

"I certainly don't envision it at the elementary level," said Courchesne in response to concerns that proposed changes to the school calendar will see young students in the classroom on weekends. The ministry's goal is to focus on professional and technical training, like work-study programs, she claimed. They see schools being free to offer practical activities on weekends. "But it's really a matter of keeping students in school, targeting those at risk of dropping out," affirmed Courchesne earlier this week.

School on Weekends, Days Off During the Week?

But removing the protected status of weekends and statutory holidays does leave open the possibility for schools, school boards or even the ministry of education to later introduce programs that could create required weekend classes - which raises the question of how days of rest would be handled.

Could students attend school seven days on seven? And if so, would they later take off time during the week? This possibility alone creates complications for working parents who need to arrange child care for younger students. Students participating in extracurricular activities or travelling between homes due to custody arrangements would most certainly be affected, as would older students who have part-time jobs.

Balancing Beneficial Programs with Need for Days of Rest

The proposal doesn't seem to address the students' need for days off, so in theory a school could have students attend classes every day in order to shorten the teaching year. Unlike lunch hours, there is no specific regulation that protects a student's right to a certain number of days off in a given period, because the protected status of weekends and holidays guarantees at least two days of rest each week. Abolishing this protection leaves students with no guaranteed days of rest.

Furthermore, Quebec education law defines a minimum number of hours to the school week, but no maximums. If school years are to be calculated by the hour instead of the day, we could begin to see days of varying lengths, much longer days, or slightly shorter days and a considerably shorter summer vacation (again, a period not defined in the law.)

Since research into summer learning loss suggests that students who are away from school for a period of weeks experience a regression in acquired knowledge and skills, a new school calendar that addresses the phenomenon of "summer slide" might well be a good idea. However, major changes like this ought to be debated democratically, and due consideration should be given to the impact of any change that significantly changes the school calendar.

While it is not likely that many schools would be motivated to make drastic changes, there may be one or two that opt to experiment. With no protected days and a new definition of the school year based on hours, there is a great deal of room for unexpected new arrangements.

Relying on Teacher Contracts to Protect the Standard School Week

A spokesperson for Courchesne's office claims the proposed changes to the calendar were prompted by requests that have come up during consultations around the province - but the announcement was met with surprise from educators, administrators and parents, who according to a report in Le Soleil, feel nobody at all was consulted. Spokesperson Tamara Davis responded that the changes were also proposed some time ago by the Conseil supérieur de l'éducation, but was unable to refer the press to any documentation to support the statement.

Davis says the school week will still be Monday to Friday, and kids will still have statutory holidays and pedagogical days at home. "There is no need to address these issues in the educational law because they are written into the collective convention of the teachers." She concludes, "Nothing will be changed."

Of course union contracts are meant to protect teachers, not students. And the government is in the process of negotiating new contracts with the teachers unions - contracts that, perhaps, will no longer deal with weekends, holidays or pedagogical days in quite the same way . . .

Sources:

"Calendrier scolaire: Courchesne remet les pendules à l'heure" Daphnée Dion-Viens (Le Soleil)

"La FCSQ perplexe à propos du calendrier scolaire" Canadian Press

"Pas d'école le samedi pour les bouts de chou" Louis Lafortune (Le Droit)