Length of summer holidays internationally- BBC article

[Tansie]

ooi here

[Rosa]

Yes but what this very informative article doesn't give the number of holidays over the year. yes my 2 are off from June12- Sept 15 . Then we get 10 days over Christmas . 2 days in feb 4 days at Easter then the odd public holiday. Note if the saints day or whatever is a sat or sun we don't get a monday. That is it. Oh and school lessons start at 8.30 til 4.15. They get 1 hr for lunch and 15 mins mid morning.

[rabbitstew]

Rosa - that's fairly irrelevant to the argument going on in the UK over whether long summer holidays result in children forgetting a lot of what they've been taught, so that it is detrimental to their education. There is a lot of pressure from some quarters for our already relatively short summer holidays to be made even shorter, hence the interest in other countries' SUMMER holidays.

[enderwoman]

I found it interesting to see that countries that came top 20 in PISA tests didn't necessarily have the most lessons per year (hence the need for after school cramming schools?)
I'd be interested if it was the schools or the after school cramming schools which had a bigger effect on SE Asia's dominance in the Pisa tests?

[Davros]

My Irish cousin says there's rumblings about shortening the summer holidays there as it's really difficult for working parents.

[Expatmomma]

We have the same holidays during the year as the UK state schools (3 half terms of 1 week, 2 weeks at Christmas and Easter) but the children have a summer break from 25 June to 5 September.

We also have shorter days (13:00 hrs 3 times a week and 16:30 hrs 2 times a week) and start school at 6.5 years old.

Academically the standards here are above the UK by a considerable margin by the 3rd year of school and university offers from UK universities are considerably lower than those offered to UK based students, suggesting the standards are higher.

I love the fact my children have time over the summer and during the school year to be kids.

I truly don't believe shorter holidays is the way to raise standards in the UK. Quite the opposite.

It is easier for the children hear to maintain motivation and their energy levels over a shorter school year.

[thanksamillion]

I'm just over a month into my DCs 3 month summer. It's a really long time, but most children over the age of 11 here (and some even younger) are working in the fields or out looking after the sheep/cows to free parents up to work in the fields.

[coralanne]

enderwoman My DB doesn't put much store in the PISA test.

Partly because in countries like China, only the very brightest children are still at school when the tests are taken.

China has such a vast population. We tend to forget that there is severe poverty in much of the country and children from rural and poor urban areas have left school by the time they are 11 or 12 and working to help support their families.

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

The PISA results in Western European countries must have some comparative relevance though? Not in relation to holidays, I agree.

We are in our second week of summer hols here. DS (9 yo) goes back mid August. It totally irks me as it's mind numbingly hot and it doesn't feel like a fresh start as i'm not buying new shorts and tee shirts shoes etc for four to six weeks until the weather changes.

Although Hungary and Poland have long summer holidays, my colleagues tell me that the A/W term has hardly any decent breaks. DS doesn't have the 5 on 1 off, either. It depends on religious holidays. If Easter is early summer term can be 14 weeks long without a decent break. He was knackered when that occurred.

His school hours are only 8-12 every day, with an extra 2 hours in the afternoon on Tues & Thurs, but as there are only 9 children in class (rule is a maximum of 16 per class here) the work is quite intensive as the teacher and teaching assistant are constantly driving the kids. He usually has an hour of homework to do on his "off" afternoons.

[ZenGardener]

Japan has about 5 weeks off but the kids are expected to study at home every day and often get up early and go into school all day for club practice. Many kids attend summer school or cram school. In many areas everyone is supposed to get up early and attend exercise sessions in the park. Children having actual free time during the summer holidays is quite frowned upon.

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

Zen that sounds knackering.

I seemed to spend weeks with my brother lounging on the sofa watching "Why don't you?" in my nightie, yet I still managed to make it to Uni and get a pretty decent job.