COMMENT: Nine-hour school day not for all
School pupils who are due to take their GCSEs in the coming weeks are under tremendous pressure to succeed.
Gaining decent qualifications is of paramount importance, particularly when you consider today's highly competitive employment market and battle for college places.
So the decision of the Q3 Academy in Great Barr to extend the school day to nine hours raises a number of questions.
The academy has asked Year 11 pupils to attend from 8am to 5pm so they can do extra work in preparation for their exams.
Some youngsters also attended additional classes during the Easter break.
Although on the face of it providing extra tuition would seem to be a positive step by the academy, there are concerns that it has simply added to the stress levels for many pupils.
One parent tells us her daughter arrived home in tears as a result of being forced to stay in school for two extra hours. She said the extra work is making her daughter ill.
The academy's principal says she believes children benefit from the extra studies.
But although she said that those who were struggling would not be forced to stay in class, the one size fits all approach seemingly adopted by the school clearly does not work for everyone.
It is not necessarily the case that all children will gain improved results.
Some prefer to work at their own rate and may be confident of structuring their workload without the requirement of spending more hours in the classroom.
A more cynical take would be that by asking pupils to stay late the academy is doing its utmost to ensure that its position in the school league tables is not placed under threat.
Surely pupils already spend enough time at school to enable them to achieve their qualifications?
The move could also be impractical for parents, who may have to switch their working day around as a result.
The decision will also trigger alarm bells for those concerned about the rise of the academy school system in the UK.
Academies have a degree of autonomy over the length of the school day, so parents will be concerned that the Q3 Academy's decision could be replicated at many other schools.
We have no doubt that providing the option of extra classes for those pupils who need additional study is a good thing.
But it must always be a choice.
