Parents will probably like it, teachers will not and pupils will have to lump it after moaning about the loss of their privileges. With attainment in secondaries falling short, Falkirk is breaking tradition by abandoning study leave for all internal exams and prelims and for all S4 pupils. But senior students are to be trusted to get their heads down at exam time and will continue to have time off.
There are practical and administrative reasons why time off is favoured by schools. They say they need the space to run an efficient delivery of the prized external exams industry. In truth, teachers like the time off to plan ahead and deal with the tasks they didn’t have time for. There is a calmer air when half the school is absent.
Evidence for the value of revision time off is scant. But if Easter schools, as we show this week, are a success, there is surely an argument for extending the combination of supervised study and free time activity to the month-long exam period.
