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Thread: On Sunday @Tes reported the DfE is 'considering lengthening the school day' to help 'catch-up' lost learning. I set out to find to see if this sort of thing had ever happened before - and if it actually works... https://www.tes.com/news/dfe-considers-lengthening-school-day-help-catch
The first thing I found was a bizarre situation in Argentina in 1971 when the govt ordered half of all primary schools in Buenos Aires to open for 2 hours longer than the other half. Did it have any impact? I asked Professor Juan José Llach ( @llachjuan) who studied this in 2009.
The findings: not that much really. “The additional contents given in the extra two hours per day were poor – reinforcing content already given in the morning or traditional handicrafts. It [did not] give students the opportunity to widen their knowledge or perspectives."
This meant that, although graduation was higher in the double shift primary schools, the learning benefit of this was very low with no better income or employment outcomes in later life or knowledge of a second language – despite this being a subject taken at school.
The key takeaway from this? Quality not quantity matters.
Then I found a study in Indonesia where the school year was made 6 months longer in 1978. The impact? Grade repetition declined & attainment increased. But with 6 months more teaching is hardly replicable now.
Then I found a study in Indonesia where the school year was made 6 months longer in 1978. The impact? Grade repetition declined & attainment increased. But with 6 months more teaching is hardly replicable now.
Going further back in time I found a study by Professor Steve Pischke from @LSEEcon that analysed a situation in West Germany in 1966/67 where pupils lost a total of 26 weeks of school over two years. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/94259.pdf
To make up for this "the curriculum was compressed and sped up during this period [and] the content not meant to be significantly reduced,” he told me.
The impact? Test scores did suffer and there was more grade repetition. This sounds bad. But...
The impact? Test scores did suffer and there was more grade repetition. This sounds bad. But...
Within two years test scores evened out - and more notably the future life impacts on these pupils was negligible: “One of the main contributions of my study is to look at later outcomes in the labour market and I find no effects in terms of earnings or employment."
Then I found a more recent study in America that analysed the impact a longer school day had on primary literacy ability. The results found pupils just below the average score to require the extra study did improve with the extra learning - but those at the very bottom did not
Which in fact ran the risk of learning gaps getting bigger - not an ideal outcome, especially if replicated now. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED591819.pdf
What about research into wellbeing, socialisation & other non-academic benefits of longer school days? It seems very little exists.
What about research into wellbeing, socialisation & other non-academic benefits of longer school days? It seems very little exists.
What about the impact on teachers of longer days? Well, a paper I found said: “Extended school time is likely to affect teachers in terms of the quality of teaching they provide, job satisfaction [and] their wellbeing. Rarely have these outcomes been examined empirically." 
While none of these studies offer a direct comparison to now they show the idea 'catching-up' means 'more school = more learning' is not clear & when this has happened before the benefits have not been as great as we'd imagine & the impacts not as severe. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-covid-catch-up-longer-school-days-impact-teachers-pupils-research
