Is it time to adopt a four day school week?

Most schools and workplaces across the world operate according to a five day working week. Certainly there are exceptions to this schedule - retail outlets, hospitals, and service industries certainly don`t just shut for the weekend - but for the most part the Monday through Friday timetable is adhered to.

The seven day week is in many ways an arbitrary construction. Our system of years is determined by the time taken by the earth to revolve round the sun, and months are supposed to accord to the time between full moons - the seven day week however is completely man made, and ungrounded by any natural phenomenon. Its origins can be traced back more than 4,000 years, to the time of the Babylonians, who believed there were seven planets in the solar system, revering the number for this reason, and incorporating it into their calendar.

This seven day `planetary-week` made its way to Egypt, Greece, and then to Rome, where it was assimilated by a Jewish calendar that also had its own seven day week. By the third century BC the entire Roman Empire, and therefore much of Britain, Spain, Gaul (modern day France), Macedonia, Anatolia (much of modern Turkey) and Northern Africa was using the seven day week.

The weekend is a relatively modern invention, coming out of the industrial revolution. In 19th century Europe and America Sunday was a holy day, and most labourers were granted a day off, working for the remaining six days. Perhaps too many people used their free time to overindulge, because many factories suffered from low productivity on Monday mornings. The concept of `Keeping Saint Monday` was when workers declined to show up for work on Monday, a practice that became increasingly common, much to the consternation of Employers. To counteract this periodic mass-absenteeism, factory owners decided to make Saturday a half day, permitting workers to spend their Friday wages on Saturday, recover from their excesses on Sunday, and arrive sober on Monday.

This system was apparently successful, and eventually workers were permitted the whole of Saturday off. In England a comprehensive school programme only began to develop in the early 19th century. The Elementary Education Act of 1870 established the framework of education for all children between the ages of five and twelve in England and Wales. This roughly accorded with the five day week for workers - and so the five day week for schoolchildren was established.

Is it time for a change to this system though? Teachers at Forest Gate Community School in East London seem to think so. They have cut their week down to four and a half days, a move instigated by the Head after he read a number of reports disclosing high stress levels and teacher burnout.

This school achieved this without reducing any class time for their pupils - all they needed was a little creative readjustment to the timetable. Two pastoral periods were excised from Friday`s schedule, and four fifty minute lessons were added to he remaining weekdays. The headmaster Simon Elliott has attested that the vast majority of both teachers and pupils are happy with the change, saying:

`If you look at the amount of work teachers do, they do more than similar professions and the workload is very high. I wanted to try and alleviate that pressure at a structural level.`

He claims the adjustments have led to happier teachers who are more energetic - while pupils, who often found their attentions levels flagging on Friday afternoons, are now attaining higher grades, and are able to spend more time on extra curricular activities. The school is considering moving to a four day week.

The Thinktank Autonomy is proposing all schools adopt a four day week, pointing out how more than 1,600 schools in the US now enjoy a three day weekend. Of course with most parents working Monday through to Friday, childcare issues could prevent this new system being rolled out on a large scale any time soon. These are all signs however that the veracity of the traditional five day school week is being called into question.