Inspectors reject rise in teaching hours

SCHOOL inspectors have rebuffed John Patten, the Secretary of State for Education, saying that the length of the school week makes no difference to the standard of work achieved by pupils.

Mr Patten had suggested that more teaching hours would raise standards and asked for a report on how the length of the school week correlated with the quality of pupils' work.

Ofsted, the schools inspectors, said in a report published yesterday that there was no clear relationship between pupil achievement and teaching time. And there was only a 'weak' association between taught time and test and examination results.

The inspectors said schools with a shorter week may not be covering the national curriculum adequately and longer hours would allow for greater coverage of core subjects. However, the quality of education would not necessarily be improved. The evidence 'does not justify increasing the recommended minimum hours of taught time in schools', they said.

The inspectors found that at primary level, schools with more teaching time gave greater attention to reading, English, and mathematics, as well as to links between subjects. In secondary schools, there was more time for a broader curriculum, such as three separate science subjects, or a second foreign language, or promotion of links with industry.

The report said that the total time pupils spent in school each week varied by 4.1 hours in primaries and by 8 hours in secondaries. In the latter, taught time ranged from 22.5 hours to 26.7 for 11- to 16-year-olds.

More than 80 per cent of schools had increased the length of the taught week since the introduction of the national curriculum in 1989.