Due to the problem in the cost of living, a college in Essex became the first in Britain to implement a four-day work week.
Students at South Essex College will now get the same amount of hours of in-person instruction from Monday through Thursday, with Fridays no longer being a class day.
The institution, which educates children from the age of 14 to college-bound teenagers and adults, will now urge its students to perform “independent study” while professors catch up on administrative work and grading.
Parents are outraged by the decision, claiming it would just transfer the college’s energy expenditures to private houses.
Over 12,000 students and 1,000 staff members from campuses in Basildon, Southend, and Thurrock would be impacted by the move.
‘I believe it is disgraceful that parents are asked to pay extra on their energy bill since students will now use electricity at home on Fridays,’ one parent of a second-year student at the Basildon campus told the Southend Echo.
“When my son gave me the news when he got home, I could not believe it.”
A member of social media shared her opinions about the development there: Gas and electric providers should be forced to reduce their costs if this is the case.
There are already enough factors affecting our children’s education; gas and electricity prices shouldn’t have an influence on their education. What the hell is wrong with this world?
Another user claimed that the modification was made only to let instructors work a four-day week.
Just have to put on additional clothing, as we will all have to, she remarked. Get sick of hearing your bloody instructors whine all the time.
However, the institution has insisted that the scheduling shift won’t harm students.
‘The college regularly looks at how we can enhance the delivery of our services,’ a college spokeswoman told MailOnline. As a result, we have schedules spread throughout four days of the week, which has several advantages.
“It will provide instructors dedicated time to finish grading and administrative tasks, using the advantages we have discovered over the last few of years.” Additionally, this will enable students to engage in independent study as they get ready for graduate school or the workforce.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that college is different from school in that independent study time has always been built into every calendar, with supervised studying taking place three or four days a week.
It is true that we have looked at methods to cut costs without harming staff or students due to cost constraints on utilities and other aspects of operating the institution.
Since no study time would be lost and no sessions are scheduled for Fridays, this move won’t hurt pupils. Instead, this day will include the required solo study time for each subject.
The decision, according to the spokesperson, “makes the most of the advantages we have learned from the last couple of years” and offers instructors “dedicated time” to “finish marking and admin.”
A-Levels, BTECs, apprenticeships, and further education degrees are all taught at South Essex College, whose graduates include TV presenter Ross Kemp and EastEnders actress Maisie Smith.
The UK’s school authorities were reportedly mulling shorter school weeks last month in order to pay for teacher pay increases and rising energy costs.
According to Dr. Robin Bevan, headmaster of Southend High School for Boys in Essex, “it’ll become a realistic scenario sooner rather than later” in the absence of long overdue above-inflation investment in school financing.
The Association of Colleges reports that numerous institutions, including South Essex, have had yearly energy cost hikes of over £1 million, with some of these colleges apparently seeing “four-fold rises.”
“Colleges are looking at their finances and investigating every possible option to deal with unprecedented financial constraints caused by skyrocketing inflation and spiralling energy prices while sustaining a high-quality education for students,” the Association’s chief executive told the journal.