Oda Oline Omdal, advisor in Civita and Right-wing politician, writes in a column that the school holidays should be shorter and uses arguments I am stumped by. A little surprising that Høyre/Civita looks to the USA when it comes to the debate about summer holiday length and school performance. I thought the results from PISA were the main focus and most important reference, and that the countries we deal with the most in most contexts, the European ones, are the most natural basis for comparison. Why do the Conservatives and Civita want to discuss the length of the school holidays? Is it still the theory school that is central – studying and avoiding forgetting, or should we rather focus on learning, using and understanding? Then we can. In that case, it is competence that counts and not memorization. Are the school holidays then the most important focal point? The US scores slightly higher than the average in PISA in reading and science. At the top in all three subjects we find Finland, Estonia (always the best), Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. And the summer holidays in these countries? Finland 10–11 weeks Estonia 12 weeks The Netherlands 6 weeks Germany 6 weeks Austria 9 weeks In Norway the summer holiday is around 8 weeks. Surely this shows that the length of the summer holiday is not necessarily the most important reason for academic performance? The holiday in the USA, which can vary somewhat between the individual regions, is between 9 and 12 weeks. There it is therefore scored above average in reading and science, but not in maths. There is a significant difference in achievement between students in rich and poor schools, and even greater variation within the schools themselves, which points to a complex picture of educational inequality in the United States. In Norway, we have the joint school for most of the pupils, which i.a. must reduce the differences in prerequisites for success based on the student’s social background. This is a good safety net that I think everyone supports. Omdal points to social inequalities and learning loss in the same sentence. Do these two elements really go together? Doesn’t the “learning loss” happen in every single school lesson for many students? Isn’t this where the shoe really hits? That it is the theory-heavy part of everyday school life, which does not engage and communicate with the individual student, which is based on pugging and remembering which fails. That the school/teacher does not know how to “sell the product”? The input from Omdal is yet another example of a focus on elements outside the school for which the school is then indirectly responsible. Blaming the school is neither fair nor problem-solving. Instead, spend more time finding out how children learn best. Tampering with the holiday can have so many consequences, also beyond the school yard, and again there will be steep fronts in a sector that requires support and a long-term secure framework. Does Omdal intend to do more research on the consequences of shorter holiday time for teachers’ motivation and performance? Published 08.07.2024, at 13.14
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Summer vacation and lost learning? – Speech
