Expert supports year-long school calendar
Posted January 30, 2013 11:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – There has been a lot of talk lately about year-round school for kids and while a lot of parents are opposed to the idea, one expert thinks it could become a future fixture.
A UBC education professor feels there are a lot of benefits.
Dr. Marilynne Waithman says it would take years to make such a huge societal shift away from the two month summer but she says it’s worth talking about because a stable schedule and more days in school can be beneficial to your child’s learning.
It’s a change that once made, she adds, is often welcomed by teachers and parents.
“Once the calendar is implemented, it is, I think, very popular with people,” believes Waithman.
She says the ‘balanced calendar’ may help your child retain knowledge that can be lost over a lengthy hiatus.
What about the argument that kids are kids and deserve summers off?
“My experience with it is that families simply reorganize their time together,” Waithman says. “It actually provides a more consistent break for kids and a more consistent break for teachers, and the summer still there, it is just shortened.”
Waithman says right now, there are just a handful of schools in BC on the year-long calendar but she thinks that will change.
