It’s easy for parents to worry about the long summer holidays, because what will the children do during this time? For young parents, it means time lost for cycling with friends, or setting up a makeshift camp in the garden, a unique and fun picnic filled with buttered bread, delicious fruit and the contents of the snack drawer. These days, the summer holidays can bring a lot of pressure, including paying expensive childcare, relying on grandparents for support – and sometimes squeezing in expensive holidays.
While in some countries children may not have a school day in July and August, this is because their holidays are tied to particular local seasons. The length of the summer holidays is often attributed to the fact that schoolchildren were expected to work in the fields during their breaks, but the weather always plays a role. Summer holidays provided a respite from the heat of Victorian classrooms – and since many schools are still set in old, poorly equipped buildings, they continue to do so. Many people believe that extended summer holidays are bad for working families and can even affect children’s further education and mental health.
For many people, the shorter the school holidays and the more time children actually spend in school, the higher the quality of education in that country. While there are outliers such as Estonia and Canada, overall the top performing countries do show a correlation between children’s education and school holidays.
The long summer holidays can provide valuable time, especially for younger children, for learning through play and shared family experiences. Children benefit from being with their parents, having time to be free, and having time to travel, explore, and do things that they cannot actually do in the classroom.
