A Scots headteacher says the whole school term needs to be overhauled to cope with the impact of coronavirus.
Rod Grant is headteacher at the Clifton Hall School in Edinburgh and says there is a solution to help children catch up on what they have missed - but it needs to be a radical change in how the school year pans out,
Mr Grant says children need to catch up after months of lockdown and home learning, but insists summer school is not the answer.
The educator branded virtual learning a "hideously poor substitute" for the real thing, and argued that keeping schools open for 'summer school' would be equally damaging, reports Edinburgh Live.
Instead, the headteacher suggested a new roll out of term dates, which would see schools open every month in the year - but holidays would be more evenly spread out.
Mr Grant says he hopes the pandemic will offer the opportunity to revise the educational system.
He said: "After a year of living with a pandemic and all the restrictions that has entailed, I worry that so much has been written about ‘lost learning’ in children’s educational journeys.
"The idea that lost learning can somehow be made up by extra-long days and reduced holidays is a ridiculous one.
"Children, who have suffered the most isolated year of their lives, are now told, almost daily, that they are behind, that their future incomes will be impacted, that they are in some way in danger of becoming a lost generation.
"All at a time when we are most concerned about mental health and the challenges that have come from being locked away for extended periods.
"The answer is not suddenly to instigate summer schools and enter into some draconian contract where we work children harder and longer. That would be entirely counter-productive. Indeed, it could be construed as punishment."
Mr Grant says, for him, the school calendar is the "biggest priority", and says he hopes to implement his ideas at his own school, Clifton Hall.
Describing the system, he said: "My suggestion is seven phases of teaching and learning, with no holiday period longer than 5 weeks and no shorter than 2.
"Each ‘phase’ would be no longer than 7 weeks and no shorter than 4. Such a revised set of dates would create a more sustained and human approach to learners learning and teachers teaching.
"So, how might this look in practice?
"Phase 1: Mid July to Mid-August (25 teaching days)
"Phase 2: Early September to Mid-October (30 teaching days)
"Phase 3: Early November to Mid-December (35 teaching days)
"Phase 4: Early January to Mid-February (35 teaching days)
"Phase 5: Early March to Mid-April (30 teaching days)
"Phase 6: Early May to End of May (20 teaching days)
"Phase 7: Early June to End of June (20 teaching days)
"This calendar provides 185 teaching days (5 more than is currently the case in my school) with an opportunity for 5 in-service days.
"It means no long summer holiday where children ‘forget’ what they have learned and it is more sustainable in creating a high-impact, high energy teaching and learning experience.
"More frequent, but shorter, holidays allow for important downtime, thereby reducing those mind-wrecking 10-week teaching terms."
