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‘Eduvacations’ campaign gains families’ support
Sunday, 01 Dec, 2009
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Schools should allow children to take ‘eduvacations’ during term time provided the holidays are of educational value.
Family travel website Take The Family has initiated a campaign to make the current entitlement of 10 days off during term time a legal right.
Parents would have to demonstrate that holidays take during school time have significant educational aspects by submitting a form to show how the trip will tie in with their child’s current learning stage, whilst avoiding critical periods.
They would also be required to encourage their children to keep a diary of their trip.
Time off during the school term is currently offered only at the discretion of head teachers and parents who flout the rule risk incurring a fine of £100.
Almost 65,000 pupils a day missed school in the 2008/09 academic year, according to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Family holidays taken in term-time were the second most common reason for absence after illness.
A poll of almost 450 families by the website found that 92% of parents actively support the idea of holidays with some kind of learning aspect, while only 8% thought that children’s learning should be limited to the classroom.
Of those in favour of ‘eduvacations’, roughly half believed that holidays are the ideal learning experience, while the other half believe that only some holidays should be educational, with others devoted to fun and relaxation.
The website’s editor and mother of two Rhonda Carrier said: “We believe that schools should actively encourage parents to take their kids to places they’re studying as part of the National Curriculum.
“I’m lucky enough to have a forward-thinking school where the cultural benefits of holidays and of visiting family abroad are recognised.
“Indeed, who’s to say that seeing the world will not actually both improve grades later on as well as producing more well-rounded, balanced and broad-minded individuals?
“The support of so many teachers and parents for our campaign shows that there’s a real need for the government to adopt a more holistic approach towards our children’s education. It shouldn’t all be about targets and assessments.”
Daniel Raven-Ellison, geography educator at the Geography Collective and a Take the Family writer, added: “You can have teaching without learning and holidays that are more educational than being at school.
“It’s about time the public debate about holidays stops being monopolised by target-hungry ‘Education Welfare Officers’ so we can start a serious conversation about how we can tap the potential of holidays for learning.
“Clearly, visiting new people, places and environments offers more potential for learning than the confines of a classroom, and the current reductionist approach to term-time holidays does nothing to support learning in term-time holidays, the vast majority of which are authorised.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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