Education Quandary
'Why should we pay a full term's school fees when, for most of it, our son is on study leave?'
By Hilary Wince
Published: 10 May 2007
Hilary's advice
Because, dear reader, you have contracted to do so. And while most private school parents, anxious about getting their 13-year-old into the right school, tend not to think ahead to when he will be a hulking great 17-year-old, sent home to lurk around the house and fail to revise for his A-levels, no doubt it was all there in the small print, should you have bothered to look.
Private schools defend their position on the grounds that students need time to study alone (questionable) and that they still need to mow their acres and pay their teachers whether anyone is there or not (yes, but still...).
However, study leave has got longer as the exam period has become increasingly drawn-out and more schools pick and mix exams from different boards. And the bottom line is that, in a busy summer term, schools are more than happy to off-load their GCSE and A-level classes because that is one less thing to worry about.
But since David Miliband, the former schools minister so memorably dubbed study leave "video game leave" three years ago, and research has come out showing that GCSE students do better when they have supervised revision than when left to their own devices, quite a few schools have moved to either abolish it, or to mix and match it with sessions of time-tabled revision.
This latter seems a successful option, since it combines the advantages of independent learning with revision guidance from teachers, but whether it could be made to work in your son's boarding school situation seems unlikely.
Readers' advice
My heart bleeds for you, not getting full value from private education and a boarding school to boot! Why did you have children? Your child is at home and your main concern is that you are not getting your money's worth! Shame on you.
Name Supplied, York
Those parents who find the summer public examination term "not value for money" should be told that the school will gladly waive the last term's fees if they will make independent arrangements for their child to take the examinations. This will entail making the appropriate payments per subject, plus payment for invigilation (which teachers do as part of their job), and payment for supervised revision (which teachers do as part of their job).
These parents will also have the responsibility of seeing that the child is actually there for each paper, in good health and spirits, and if there is any query about results, will have to tackle the exam board by themselves. The parents', "outrageous situation" could have been avoided if all they wanted was teaching, board and lodging - a local sixth-form college and a babysitter would have sufficed.
Doraine Potts, Cheltenham
I think A-level students should have time to revise on their own. Yes, you have to be organised, and get up, and not spend all day on MSN, but I would not want to be forced to be at school as too many students would just mess about.
Claire Dubell, (A-level student) Essex
Next Week's Quandary
Dear Hilary,
My daughter's English teacher says it is almost impossible to switch today's pupils on to Shakespeare, and nothing works in the classroom. She says the only thing that she has seen light them up is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet. She is a good and inspirational teacher who is being honest, but surely her assessment is wrong?
Send your letters or quandaries to Hilary Wilce, to arrive no later than Monday 14 May to 'The Independent', Education Desk, Independent House, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS; or fax: 020-7005 2143; or e-mail: h.wilce@ btinternet.com. Please include your postal address. Readers whose letters are printed will receive a Berol cartridge pen
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