We've just taken the big step of increasing our school hours. As a school offering a dual curriculum (an international curriculum taught in the English language and the Cambodian curriculum), we've always struggled with time, particularly in the international curriculum (the Cambodian public schools are only half days anyway). Trying to fit in a range of learning experiences in different subjects, teaching students for 98% of whom English is a second language not spoken at home, while striving to provide education of an international standard (so that our students will be able to flourish in the inevitably global world they will be part of) is a challenge to say the least.
So we've decided to change our school structure next year, so that we increase the amount of time dedicated to the international curriculum by extending it from a half day to a more usual 2pm finish. In order to still be able to meet the Cambodian curriculum requirements stipulated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, we will open school on Saturday mornings too for extra Khmer lessons.
Overall this means that children will be at school for an extra 4 hours a week.
The next challenge for us will be making sure that the additional time adds to additional learning. A recent report from India found that 'When examined across all students, attendance had either no relationship or a very weak relationship with achievement scores. However, the relationship between attendance and achievement varied significantly by classroom, indicating that students’ achievement differed by which teacher they had for class...The paper’s findings indicate that the teacher is a key factor in determining the relationship between students’ attendance and their achievement. Results support the argument that the quality of teaching may need to precede an emphasis on promoting student attendance and shrinking class size. It is not that these things are unimportant; rather, they may be ineffective and a waste of money if quality teaching is not already present.' (Jami, A., Burton. L., Chapman, D., 2012).
So we've decided to change our school structure next year, so that we increase the amount of time dedicated to the international curriculum by extending it from a half day to a more usual 2pm finish. In order to still be able to meet the Cambodian curriculum requirements stipulated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, we will open school on Saturday mornings too for extra Khmer lessons.
Overall this means that children will be at school for an extra 4 hours a week.
The next challenge for us will be making sure that the additional time adds to additional learning. A recent report from India found that 'When examined across all students, attendance had either no relationship or a very weak relationship with achievement scores. However, the relationship between attendance and achievement varied significantly by classroom, indicating that students’ achievement differed by which teacher they had for class...The paper’s findings indicate that the teacher is a key factor in determining the relationship between students’ attendance and their achievement. Results support the argument that the quality of teaching may need to precede an emphasis on promoting student attendance and shrinking class size. It is not that these things are unimportant; rather, they may be ineffective and a waste of money if quality teaching is not already present.' (Jami, A., Burton. L., Chapman, D., 2012).