I recently read a few articles that explored the pros and cons of the four day school week. The articles mentioned districts (primarily back east) that planned to move to a four day week in order to save on expenses and to address dwindling enrollment. However, these articles focused considerable space on the backlash against this move. The usual adult focused arguments were made - parental work schedules, etc. However, one article actually focused on how this move could impact students (students are rarely mentioned in educational reform hullabaloos).
This predictable critique against the four day week suggested that in this new configuration students would suffer due to a decrease in instructional time. This criticism has a few flaws. Most notably, it assumes all instructional time has value. At least this criticism focuses on the needs of students. These worn out critiques anchor education to the past and impede innovative practices from taking root in schooling.
The illusion of instructional time reflects outdated notions of learning in school. For those outside of education, instructional time represents the amount of time a student receives instruction (in person or virtually). In theory, instructional time is constructive. Ideally it builds students' understanding of various topics and their practice of discrete skills within subjects. Unfortunately instructional time and seat time have merged and become conflated. Seat time represents the amount of time an individual student is present at school (this is one way schools make money). In too many schools, instructional time has little meaning for learners and does little to shape an individual construction of knowledge and skills.
We all want to believe that instructional time has meaning and value. However, education has to move beyond its outdated definitions and generalized ideas towards practices that better meet the needs of students. One thing the pandemic laid bare is that school has little meaning for many students. For some students, school is nothing more than seat time. Other students have grown frustrated with the lack of actual teaching in their class. They go from outdated textbooks to worksheets to fill out to YouTube videos their teacher assigned. These students crave knowledge but the education factory does not provide what they need. If we change how we view and define ‘instructional time’ we can start to bring meaning back into our classrooms and schools.
One way to think about instructional time is to equate it with nutrition (apologies to any nutritionists for this overly simplified discussion). Instructional time is like carbohydrates and fats in our diet. Some carbs and some fats are better for us than others. Roasted fingerling potatoes have a different impact nutritionally than a bag of potato chips. The fat from an avocado differs from the fat in lard. Saying all instruction time is good for you is just like telling someone that all carbs are good for you. Our nutrition benefits when we take a more nuanced look at ingredients and nutrients. Education isn’t that different.
We can improve learning if we take a more nuanced approach to skill development and the delivery of information for students. People who reject educational alternatives and innovation based on generalized and often outdated ideas are no different than someone who pushes nutritional practices based on the food pyramid from 1950.
Hats off to the superintendent in one of those articles who stated his district would implement the four day week (because they had to financially) and adapt or adjust their practice as necessary to support student learning. And that if they noticed a negative impact on the students after a specific window of time they would scrap the idea.
Now Do.Think.Learn has operated under a four day school almost since its inception. We feel that by distilling our class time down to the essentials and removing the BS from our day, we get plenty done each day. Over the last few years we have adjusted our school hours but the four day school week remains. We firmly believe that less is more, but nuance and flexibility also help.