The Four-Day Work Week in the Five-Day Schooling Context
a white paper
Dr. Paul Richards
6, 5, 4: What is so special about the number 5? The five-day school week has been in place for as long as we can remember public schooling, and in thinking about why five is the magic number, I believe we have lost the plot.
THE CONTEXT
In the past few decades, there has been growing concern for the wellbeing of both students and teachers, as well as a sense of diminishing returns when moving through what many find as an intense and jam packed school week. With extra-curricular activities, hours of homework, extra tutoring, and other endeavors meant to enhance a child’s achievement and growth, or simply to keep their head above water, the system has created a stressed-out, exhausted, and anxious generation of young people.
And then came along the pandemic, which put all these forces into turbo-drive. But schools innovated, and proved that time could be used differently, that we could leverage technology, that we could become more efficient, and that some learning pursuits could be done on one’s own time (i.e. asynchronously). And while nobody would want to return to the restrictive and fearful environment of a global health crisis, the dirty little secret for many coming out of this time is that they wish they could return to certain aspects of their pandemic lives.
THE FORCING FUNCTION
The four-day work week is a forcing function to promote well being (and reduce anxiety and burnout), to drive efficiency (and reduce wasted time), and to find time to do the now-essential learning pursuits that we have yet to find proper time to do (e.g. experiential learning). For years, schools have tried to address the mental health and well being concerns of its students and staff, but with little impact. Schools have tried to create efficient and creative timetables, but have nevertheless wasted countless hours each year in meetings or by keeping students in confined spaces, many passively engaged or distracted. Via advisories, homerooms, or other bespoke carve-outs, schools have tried to promote social and emotional learning (and other soft skills) by fitting it around the hours of core academic seat-time, all the while having a sinking sense that this is not nearly enough time to do this work justice. The four-day work week, done correctly in our schools, will increase both teacher performance and student achievement, promote happiness and connection, and address the classic shortcomings of the traditional schooling approach.
HOW THIS COULD WORK
Each week of the school year would have four traditional days and one non-traditional day. For example, Wednesday could be the day. Attendance on Wednesday would not be required for instructional staff, and be optional for students–it is assumed that older students would use the time for self-study and other pursuits, while younger students would show up for most or all of this day.
The campus would remain open so it could accommodate some or all of the students for a variety of academic, social/emotional, and other adult-led pursuits. Sports, clubs, service, and extra-curricular activities would take place on this day, with supervision. Counselors would be available to meet with students (their work week would be staggered). Speech and language, Occupational therapy, and other supports to learning would take place (supplementing what happens on regular days). Internships, or other arrangements, could take place on this day. Alternative staffing (non-teachers) would be assigned to facilitate learning and to supervise students on these days.
WHAT IT WOULD REQUIRE
The four-day work week is really a misnomer. It is a 4-day work week for instructional staff, and a 5-day school week for students. Time would be reorganized in a number of ways so that the school can accomplish 100% of what it aims to do with its students. This would require reorganizing time on the traditional days (e.g. recapturing some time-on-learning by removing advisory and some other pursuits, and by no longer having early-release days). The school would also make the most of the non-traditional school day, which might be called “[school mascot] Day”.
It would require reframing between 20–30 traditional school days, depending on how many straight five-day weeks a school has in its calendar year. With time recaptured on the traditional days, and even adding a few minutes to the school day, 40–60 hours of seat-time instruction would be lost in the year, in total–not an insurmountable number, considering the use of the 20–30 “[school mascot] Days”.
THE BARRIERS
Schooling has largely gone unchanged since the Victorian era because the barriers to innovation have often been too hard to overcome. These include:
→ Practical considerations: re-organizing time in a way that allows schools to deliver on its mission (and meet learning targets for its students), arranging supervision, staggering staff schedules, and accommodating the needs of working families, are all technical challenges, which simply requires devising a model (with systems and structures) that will work in one’s unique context (aka, a technical solution). It’s a big task, but one that can be accomplished in a straightforward manner with adequate time and effort and intellect.
→ Cultural stigmas: in our lifetimes, mostly all of us have experienced five-day work and school weeks. Though we are committing to meeting 100% of our professional obligations, and expecting to increase our productivity through a shorter week, there nevertheless could be a stigma attached to not being “in the office” or “in the classroom” as much; we might also foist guilt upon ourselves. Teaching is much more a “way of life” than it is punching a clock–with many hours spent planning lessons and grading student work each night or weekend. How would teachers be spending the non-traditional day? By planning and grading (as they always do), by taking care of other needs (personal and professional), and by resting. They will be sharpening the ax, rather than just chopping the same amount of wood with a dull instrument.
→ Lack of rigor. A more enlightened definition of rigor (as opposed to quantity of work) includes the concepts of relevancy, challenge, and purpose. The off-timetable day must be a rigorous learning experience, and not become a low-effort or low-challenge day. Otherwise, it loses political viability, and educationally, does harm. While the day would take the so-called edge off of the five-day week, well being outcomes are not the priority, but rather a proxy benefit to the primary learning objectives.
→ Required content: the International Baccalaureate requires a certain number of hours; some schools have minimum “time on learning” requirements. Solutions to this challenge would be devised through creative time tabling.
→ Elementary: teachers of the youngest learners need the four-day school week as much as their contemporaries who work with older students. But due to their unique learning needs, we know elementary-age students would want and need to be on campus during the non-traditional days. This, again, is a technical challenge that requires only a technical solution.
→ Staffing resources: while some staggering of staff hours can be made to accommodate the needs of the non-traditional day, some additional staff (assistants, others) may nevertheless be required, particularly at the younger grades. This increase should not be significant, and can be budgeted for.
→ Courage: though the aforementioned barriers are significant, the biggest of them all might be courage. It will take strength to take a leap of faith and change how we approach time and schooling.
RESOURCES
Most of the research, especially during the pandemic, has studied the four-day work week. Professor Juliet Schor has been leading the charge; Derek Thompson recently podded about it. New research on a four-day school week varies, though many schools made changes for financial reasons (to accommodate shrinking budgets). As you will see, the research is promising, especially the cases where employee and employer both categorized the change as a “win”, and have permanently switched to a four-day work week.
