Fewer summer vacations in the future for school children? This is the proposal of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe for primary schools. Guislaine David, co-general secretary and spokesperson for the SNUipp-FSU union, answers us.
Reduce the duration of school holidays is again at the center of the debate. Among politicians, the length of summer holidays is questioned each year. Last year, during the presidential elections, the candidate of Europe Ecology the Greens, Yannick Jadot, had put the subject on the table. This time, it was during a public meeting held in Bordeaux on June 9 that the former Prime Minister Edward Philipnow president of the Horizons movement, proposed “a reorganization of the rhythms over the year”, especially during the summer holidays for primary school pupils. Is it possible to shorten the rhythm of school holidays? Guislaine David, co-secretary general and spokesperson for the SNUipp-FSU union, enlightens us.
What are the reasons for reducing the duration of summer holidays?
According to Edouard Philippe, the current schedule of school holidays would favor the reproduction of inequalities. An opinion shared by some specialists such as Éric Charbonnier, an analyst in the OECD’s education directorate, who told the media Point that : “Yes, inequalities are accentuated in the summer, because children do not all have access to the same cultural and economic environments.”
But for Guislaine David, representative of the first teachers’ union in nursery and elementary schools,“school inequalities are not due to school holidays”. According to her, it is rather “the lack of staff in the classes, the non-replacement absent teachers in the first degree, overcrowded classes or even the school rhythms over the day and the week which are very criticized”, she explains before adding: “If we also took more children on vacation, we could perhaps have less inequality.”
“School inequalities are not due to school holidays.”
Can we really shorten the summer holidays?
The school holiday calendar, which includes summer holidays, is not intended to be changed for the time being. Because you have to know that “the school calendar is regulated according to the economy of tourism. We have never thought that it is the rhythm of the child that will set the school calendar. Now, as we know, the rhythm of the child at school, either 7 weeks of class and 2 weeks of vacation, is a rhythm that allows him both to rest and to be efficient when he returns from vacation. This rhythm works on the first part of the school year, during the All Saints holidays and at Christmas, and then, it is not respected from the February holidays. to promote tourist activity in winter, explains the co-secretary of the SNUipp-FSU. The months of July and August are also essential to the tourism economy. So, “Based on the observation, we will never question the summer holidays“she points out.
Moreover, school calendars are set three years in advance. It is therefore not possible to shorten a certain holiday period, “except in the event of a revision of school timetables requested by a minister”, says Guislaine David.
On the side of teachers, “most are not in favor of changing the rhythm of school holidays”, supports the union representative. On the one hand, for climatic reasons. In July and August, in certain regions of France, the high temperatures are sometimes unbearable. Result: many schools would not be able to accommodate students in good conditions. On the other hand, the teachers are adapted to the school rhythm of the pupils and use the time of the short vacations to rest also, but also and above all to work and prepare the school program and the future projects of their class for the rest of the year. year.