Opinion

Newton Emerson: Frequent school disruption spells chaos for working parents

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television.

Storm damage in Belfast, after Hurricane Ophelia battered the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph
Storm damage in Belfast, after Hurricane Ophelia battered the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Storm damage in Belfast, after Hurricane Ophelia battered the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph

It is not the fault of schools that they were closed for two days this week but other term-time disruption is a different matter.

My two primary-aged children will now experience four interrupted weeks of schooling in a row.

They missed two full days last week due to staff training. All schools are entitled to take five such days per year, plus a further five for “school development”, the official purpose of which - according to the Department of Education - is to “give teachers time to work on school development matters.”

Next week, the school will close at lunchtime for four days to facilitate parent-teacher interviews.

‘Parents night’ is a thing of the past - interviews must now be fitted into normal classroom hours. The school has previously apologised for this, explaining that teaching unions insist on it.

The following week is half term, with no classes at all.

After that we have a clear run to Christmas, so it could be a lot worse.

Thanks to elections and bank holidays there were only three uninterrupted weeks last term, between Easter and summer.

I am also fortunate to have no child in Primary 1, where ‘phasing in’ means staggered part-time attendance throughout September. Our youngest child has just started nursery, where this practice seems to have originated, but we gave up on the phasing in timetable and kept him in playgroup for an extra month instead. There appears to be no firm evidence that phasing in is necessary or even beneficial - especially for a Primary 1 child already phased in to nursery the year before. My wife and I were concerned that our youngest, having come straight from full-time playgroup, would only be ‘phased out’ by a chaotic September schedule.

Another creeping closure practice seems to be affecting Fridays. When a major holiday occurs, like Christmas or Easter, the preceding Friday in many schools is often a half day as well, apparently as some kind of pre-celebration.

Personally, I have little trouble managing this - I am in the unusual position of being self-employed, working from home and having in-laws who live yards from the school gates.

Few of the other parents and grandparents at the school can be as fortunate. In this one small school alone, hundreds of carefully negotiated arrangements with managers, day-care centres and paid childminders are thrown up in the air on a near-weekly basis. Where people are concerned about antagonising their employers, nuisance must turn to genuine fear. Parents often complain about the length of the summer holiday but at least that closure is consistent and predictable, enabling straightforward plans.

How are you meant to tell your boss you suddenly need another half-day off because your kids’ school is having that Friday feeling?

It is worth noting that this attitude is not always reciprocated.

Parents are required by law to ensure their children receive a full-time education. An absence rate above 15 per cent can land you in court.

Missing a night’s homework is taken very seriously by primary schools, although there is no more evidence of the need for homework at this age than there is for phasing in. Homework is not required by law or regulation but enrolment involves agreeing to a school’s homework policy, creating a form of contract. Break it at your peril.

Economists often cite education as the classic case of producer capture - a public service run for the convenience of its staff.

That would be an unfair accusation in Northern Ireland, where the focus of the system is still first and foremost on the child.

However, it is fair to say that little consideration is given to parents, particularly working parents, regardless of how much disruption is caused to a child’s family life. Why else would so many random closures be scattered across the already-short academic year, entirely at the convenience of schools and teachers?

As a minimum improvement, the ten training and development days should be taken in as much of a block as possible, either directly before or after a major holiday. Phasing in should be scrapped, parent interviews should be held across one full day and Fridays should be the same length as every other day.

But how will schools ever learn to take the needs of parents seriously, when the Department of Education shuts everything down for two days just to cover its backside for mishandling the weather?

newton@irishnews.com