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EDUCATION

Zurich snubs plan to let school kids sleep in

Politicians in Zurich have voted against a move that would have seen children start school half an hour later as a way of easing pressure on the city's public transport system in the morning.

Zurich snubs plan to let school kids sleep in
File photo: Dan DeLuca

Supporters of the plan also argued there were clear educational benefits for students if they started the school day later.

But the move, backed by the socialist SP party, was voted down by 107 to 63 votes with opponents lining up to criticize the proposal.

The centre-right FDP party said surveys showed students didn’t want to start school later and argued the proposed move would have cut into after-school sport and leisure activities.

The conservative BDP party also voted against the move, arguing school children need to get used to the sort of hours they will be keeping when they become employees.

The Greens weren’t on board with the plan either, arguing it wouldn’t help ease the squeeze on public transport.

In fact, the move threatened to put more pressure on Zurich’s public transport in the late afternoon, the Greens argued.

The party made the argument despite backers of the plan saying the later start to the school day would be compensated for by a shorter midday break rather than longer hours in the afternoon.

Supporters of the move had hoped to convince opposition parties of the educational benefits for children of starting school half an hour later, with one backer saying it would help “optimize biorhythms”, but the arguments fell on deaf ears.

The decision in Zurich comes in the wake of the failure of a similar initiative in the canton of St Gallen in February. Meanwhile, a survey carried out in Bern in 2015 showed 81 percent of students did not wish to start school later.

By contrast, a high school in Alsdorf in Germany has this year become the first in that country to allow pupils to decide whether to start at 8am or 9am.

The Alsdorf scheme would help combat the problem of “social jet lag” and lead to fewer sleepy students in class, one expert told Swiss daily the Tages Anzeiger.

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EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

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