School reducing to 4 days- Opinions?

Personally I'd be all for it. But if they do that they should reduce the working week to 4 days aswell. Not really very fair on parents who work 5 days and can't get childcare sorted.

Thank god we are giving everyone under 23 free buses though🥲

The 4 day working week was already introduced to some companies in Scotland. If that could be the norm I think reducing hours in school could also work for many families. I think this also should make flexible working conditions more available.

However if parents are still expected to work 5 days a week or take a work overload to compensate for that 5th day, parents and more likely women, are going to struggle.

It sounds good on paper but it’s a terrible idea, especially if the rest of the UK are attending school over 5 days. The cuts that are being made to councils are by the Scottish government as the ring fence their money for other projects & expect councils to function each year with less & the education system in Scotland continued to get worse every year and the attainment gap here is awful. This government is also allowing Glasgow council to put up council tax 5% in April and don’t forget we will now be paying 2% more income tax from April too than the rest of the uk… potentially for less services now?? Absolutely disgusting x

This would really impact working parents, in most part probably mothers, who’d have to either reduce their working hours or find alternative arrangements.
In theory this would be great but I can’t see how parents can, in practical terms, reduce their income by 20% given the struggle that many face as it is.

It looks good when you see it on paper but unfortunately it's a stupid idea because it's only going to impact parents who actually work full time

This is my Local Authority ☹️ I think five days a week in school is too much for most children (but essential for some with additional needs who need routine and familiarity of course). However, like others have said this will only work if workplaces do 4 day weeks. Mostly, it’ll impact lower-earning workers whose earnings are based on hours of manual labour done as opposed to those in higher-paying corporate/office style jobs who have a workload that they can spread over 4 days instead of five or can work flexibility to earn the same amount over less days.

Selfishly I would be mostly fine and think that would be good for me and my school kids (teacher), we already do 4.5 days so the extra half day wouldn’t be too different. It would be okay when I have my kids too as I would be able to be home with them on that day.

However, I know many people would not be okay to take an extra day off and rely on school, they would lose pay and people are already struggling. Kids at risk could be more at risk as that’s less time in a safe place. They’d have to change the curriculum as you couldn’t fit 5 days learning into 4 with the same outcomes. That’s not at the forefront for most people but would eventually cause stress for everyone. I’m guessing some schools would provide care in the form of a holiday club etc that you’d have to pay but not everyone could do that.
I think it’s an odd way to propose saving money and wouldn’t work out cost-effective in the long run.

As a teacher I'd be intrigued to see how it works but there would have to be some kind of childcare available for kids whose parents are still working 5 days. In theory it sounds great but I'm struggling to see it working.