Schools with longer hours see small attainment boost

New research from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has found there is ‘small yet positive’ association between a longer school day and educational attainment.

The previous government set a non-statutory expectation that schools would have a school week of at least 32.5 hours from this September. Using a new Department for Education (DfE) data collection from schools on the length of their school week, EPI researchers found that in the 2023/24 academic year the vast majority of schools - four fifths of primary schools and three quarters of secondary schools - were already meeting this target.

The researchers found schools rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and those in London tended to have longer school weeks: ‘Outstanding’ schools have school weeks that are between 10 and 20 minutes longer, and pupils attending secondary schools in London have over half an hour extra time in school a week, when compared to the typical school. Meanwhile Free Schools had longer weeks than other types of school - on average almost an additional hour (primary) and over an hour (secondary) of school time per week compared with the average school. The report speculates this may be due to the greater flexibility free schools have over their school days, but recommends further research into how they are able to deliver this.

The researchers then linked the day length data to other data available in the National Pupil Database, in order to explore the relationship between time in school and attainment outcomes at the end of primary and secondary school. In primary schools an additional hour of school a week was associated with improvements in Key Stage 2 scaled scores of 0.053 and 0.066 for maths and reading, respectively. Meanwhile an additional hour of weekly secondary school time is associated with a 0.17 grade improvement in one GCSE subject.  At secondary, an additional hour had a substantially larger association with attainment in language subjects. An additional hour of school a week is associated with a 0.063 grade improvement in language GCSEs, much larger than the estimated 0.018 grade improvement in English, 0.014 in maths, 0.016 in science, and 0.017 in humanities GCSEs.

The report concludes by noting that it only considers the amount of time spent in school, not the activities that take place during that time, so they are not in a position to judge which activities or timetable are most closely linked to improved attainment. The authors suggest further consideration should be given to what activities take place in any extra time, and to whether the additional cost of increasing school time could be better used on other interventions which are known to improve attainment. 

Commenting on the report, Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said: ‘Most schools were delivering a 32.5 hour week even before this was a non-statutory expectation, and those that were not were typically only short of this mark by a matter of minutes. Although there is some evidence to suggest that an extended week can be beneficial in certain circumstances, there are a number of questions about how this would be resourced and what it would look like in practice. The government rollout of free breakfast clubs in primary schools may offer a solution, but it is crucial that this policy is funded and staffed appropriately.’

The government has not yet indicated if it will retain the current 32.5 hour guidance, but a DfE spokesperson said: ‘Every hour in the classroom helps break down barriers to opportunity for young people and paves the way for their future success. Ensuring children have the best possible chance to thrive at school is a top priority for this government.’

Full report: https://tinyurl.com/yp32fy7a

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