The continuous working day in schools represents a loss of income for families of around 8,048 million euros per year and an increase in the gender gap, since 66.4% of the time in custody of minors is assumed by women.
These are some of the conclusions of a study on the negative impact of the continuous school day that has been prepared by experts from the Esade Center for Economic Policies after analyzing the INE Living Conditions Survey (ECV) and consulting more than 2,100 teachers from all of Spain.
The study points out that, despite the fact that continuous workdays suppose a tremendous break in family economies, the pandemic has accelerated this modalitywhich is currently the majority in public schools for Infant and Primary education, according to these experts, who also see “very likely” that it will continue to spread in the coming years.
And he adds that epidemiological measures have caused the proportion of centers that have opted for this modality to increase during the pandemic, which has led many others with part or full time to open a debate or reconsider changing to continuous next year.
According to a survey of teachers, 50.9% of the teachers consulted had a morning shift (continuous) in the 2019/2020 academic year (the one of the confinement); during 2020/21, which was the school reopening, this percentage increased to 72.3%; and in the current one it has remained at 71.4% of the total.
Some data that show that all public centers that reduced their working hours due to the exceptional situation derived from the coronavirusthey have maintained it in the year that the students have returned to classes normally, concludes the report.
Split day, more beneficial
According to the Esade study, entitled ‘Continuous school day: how the pandemic is accelerating a regressive social and educational model’, there is no scientific evidence on the relationship between the day model and student performance, but there is spending more time at school has a positive impact in “academic and socio-emotional” terms.
Also that an early lunchas it is done in split or full days, and a subsequent break, “is better adapted to the biorhythms” of schoolchildren and “improves their health and well-being”.
Another aspect that stands out in this work is that the care of children and adolescents is better adjusted to the split daysince the concentration increases until mid-morning, decreases towards midday and improves again to a greater or lesser extent throughout the afternoon.
The continuation widens the inequality
In the family sphere, says Esade, there is a “scientific” certainty that the day continues tomorrow is a key factor to enlarge the gender equality gap, since “the school has a function of custody or care of the student”.
The reason is that if you work part-time, the employment and income of families, especially mothers, suffer, contributing to aggravate the gender gap. Therefore, a long school day makes it possible to increase participation in the labor market.
What day do teachers prefer?
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The teachers are the group that benefits most from a morning shift (continuous), both in terms of well-being and in possibilities of conciliation, according to the experts in the report.
And it is that teachers are mostly in the Esade survey in favor of this time slot in their work and, in that sense, they underline the benefits for students and families (not so much for them) as the reasons to justify this shift .