Stuck at home? Blame the standardised school year

Teaching Matters: If you, already envious of friends and neighbours who are away "in the sun" this week, are reading this article at home in Ireland then you could be a victim of the standardised school year.

You are most likely not part of the very wealthy who can get away with the family this week regardless of cost. Neither are you part of the small minority of the highly organised people who, perhaps as long as a year ago, booked cheap flights and accommodation to make sure that they aren't here this week.

But rather than think about which of those categories into which your jet-setting neighbours fit, why not think for a minute about how this happened? Up to two years ago it was possible for many families to get a break at this time of year. Not everyone went abroad to the sun and indeed many opted to discover parts of our own island. But since Noel Dempsey made a standardised school year part of the last benchmarking deal, the chance of a break this week is now beyond the financial reach of many.

The idea that schools would have the same holidays seems on the surface to be a good idea. Parents wanted children going to different schools to be off at the same time. They complained about the fact that there was never a chance of a break because none of their children's schools closed at the same time. That was a fair enough argument and pointed the way for something to be done.

But now that we've done it, in the way that we have, many parents can't afford the break that having all children off at the same time allows.

What we've done is taken a good idea to extremes.

The reality is that by closing all schools at the same time the price of a short break has gone through the roof. Halloween is now high season, increasing the profits of the holiday and travel industry. Parents are forced to pay July and August prices if they want a break at this time of year.

The small bit of flexibility that existed before the standardised school year was brought in meant that not every school closed at exactly the same time. Almost every school closed for a few days around this time but there was not a particular week that the travel industry could earmark for peak pricing. Under the old system there was a far greater chance of lower holiday prices for those getting ferries, flights and packages.

This week was one of the few chances that families had for a cheap break. Easter and Christmas along with July and August were always fixed and therefore always high season and out of the reach of many. The standardised school year that we brought in has added Halloween to this list.

While I don't advocate that we abandon the idea of a standardised school year completely, I think one way out of the current situation would be to regionalise the break. This is done in many countries where there is not simply one mid-term-break week for all schools. In Germany and France, for example, the break is spread over a number of weeks but each school only closes for one week. The result is that all schools close for the same time but not everyone takes to the planes, trains or roads at exactly the same time.

And for those who wouldn't trust local schools to co-ordinate the breaks at local level we could easily organise to stagger the break over two weeks in this small country. Leinster and Ulster could close during week one and Munster and Connaught could close for the second week. Then it could be reversed next year.

But the major underlying problem is that we are trying to standardise two very different school years - 183 days at primary level and 167 days at post-primary level.

Most second-level schools finish at the start of June to accommodate the State examinations, whereas most primary schools finish at the end of June. This means that many parents who have no examination students will often take a family holiday in June, taking their primary school children out of school for a week or a fortnight. By doing this, many people save themselves a fortune - even if they are in breach of school attendance regulations.

Again a bit of flexibility would help here. Many primary schools used to be able to close before the end of June, thus giving all parents the chance to get away without having to pay high season prices. But standardising the school year took this away as well.

This could all be sorted out if only we allowed primary schools to have the option of a shorter Easter break. This principle is already in operation in relation to the February break.

Second-level schools want a week in February and a two-week break at Easter. This suits their needs and the needs of the education system in relation to the State exams. Primary schools have two days in February with the option to take a week. There is no difficulty with this flexibility as second-level schools are off anyway.

We could do the same at Easter. Primary schools could have a shorter Easter holiday with the option to extend it to two weeks. Second-level schools are off so there would be no problem if some schools did this.

Primary schools that take a short Easter could finish a few days earlier in June when second-level schools are off. Cheaper summer holidays would result.

The idea to co-ordinate holidays was basically a good one - but we have gone overboard. In trying to please everybody we end up pleasing no one. Finally, some advice for those who don't want to be stuck at home this time next year. Book now!

• Valerie Monaghan is principal of Scoil Chiarán, Glasnevin, Dublin