Education Minister opposes rescheduling of school summer holiday
National Board of Education director wants new pacing of school year
Although temperature records for the summer are being reached only now, and the school year is beginning already this week in some parts of Finland, Minister of Education Sari Sarkomaa (Nat. Coalition Party) is not in favour of proposals to move the school summer holiday forward.
"The weather changes every year, but the basic starting point in pacing school work and holidays is that it should support the best kind of learning", Sarkomaa says.
At present, schools in Finland close for the summer in early June and resume in mid-August, and there have been calls to change the scheduling of the break so as to better coincide with parents' summer holidays.
"The burden of school work reaches its highest point in May. If work in the spring were still continued, it would add to the problems and challenges in how teachers and pupils can cope", Sarkomaa ponders. She also mentions a report drafted at the Ministry of Education a couple of years ago.
"The children need a holiday after a heavy spring."
A proposal to move the summer holiday forward was made a few years ago by Kirsi Lindroos, Director-General of the National Board of Education. She is sticking to her view, and says that the whole school year should be re-arranged so that there are breaks already in the spring, which would allow the school year to continue later into the summer.
"The early summer could be utilised as an active learning environment, and on the other hand, school pupils could stay at their summer jobs still in August. In other parts of Europe, August is often part of the summer holiday."
Lindroos also mentions family policy reasons: parents' holidays usually begin at about Midsummer in late June.
Sarkomaa does not see any reason to change the school holiday or to alter legislation.
"It is nevertheless good that there is discussion on the matter from time to time. The question is a rather large entity, also involving the schedule for applications to upper level institutions, and family support measures during summer holidays", Sarkomaa points out.
When she served as chairwoman of the Finnish Parents' Association, Sarkomaa met with diverse holiday needs. "If people in the class were asked, there would probably be as many opinions as there are people giving answers."
In her view, the present regulations concerning working time at school are flexible enough to allow the autumn holiday and other days off to be grouped together according to local need.
This year, the most common day for the start of school is Tuesday next week. However, the exact date can vary by as much as ten days, with some schools starting already today, and others staying closed until August 17th.
The municipality of Posio in the southeast of Finnish Lapland decided to start the school year early this year, after a discussion on the matter with teachers and upper grade pupils.
Thanks to the early start, other holidays during the year are longer in Posio than they were before.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 7.8.2007 - TODAY |
 Education Minister opposes rescheduling of school summer holiday |
|
