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 | | Tuesday, 9 April, 2002, 17:57 GMT 18:57 UK Town halls back six-term school year  The changes could be in place by 2006 A move to a six-term school year in England is supported by up to 95% of local education authorities (LEAs), their representative body claimed. The Local Government Association (LGA) said a poll of authorities during regional meetings showed all but a handful - notably in the North East - were in favour of the idea. The switch to four six-week and two seven-week terms - with a fortnight's break in October - could be in place by 2006, the LGA predicts. Supporters say a six-term school year will help raise standards because pupils will respond better to shorter terms. They also believe pressure on teachers will be reduced by cutting the autumn term - sometimes as long as seventeen weeks - to two seven weeks terms. Teachers' unions have reacted angrily, saying the debate was irrelevant and that there were more pressing issues in the education world, such as workload and discipline. Standardisation But LGA education chairman Graham Lane said a lot of teachers were concerned about the matter. "A lot of teachers are talking about the long and short terms, others say they don't get the same half-term as their spouse who works in a different school.
"Teachers will still be teaching for 190 days - no more and they will still get the summer break," Mr Lane said. Parents would like the fact that terms began and ended at the same time in different local authority areas, making it easier to plan such things as childcare and family holidays, he added. Secondary Heads Association general secretary John Dunford said he was confident the longer October half-term and the fixing of the April holiday would bring improvements in the pattern of the school year. "It will ease stress amongst teachers and spread the balance of their workload more evenly throughout the year," said Mr Dunford. 'Thundering irrelevance' General secretary of the National Union of Teachers Doug McAvoy said the union viewed the debate as "a thundering irrelevance". "We will provide support to those divisions who see it as an attack on their conditions of service." Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said he wished the LGA would bring the same single-minded determination to other, more important educational issues. "I just don't think the discussion of the six-term year is a particularly relevant one. "It is clear that the government isn't particularly keen on the idea and it will cause parents some difficulty." | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Education stories now:  Links to more Education stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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