Five days in schools. Is it legal for elementary school students to study on Saturdays from the very beginning of the school year? Changes in educational legislation

The question of the need to introduce a five-day period in schools is becoming more and more acute every year. This is due to the fact that one day off for schoolchildren is simply not enough. In 2018, a new law may come into force, according to which schools will switch to a five-day work week. However, in any case, the heads of educational institutions retain the right to decide independently, individually, whether to use this procedure or not. It is worth noting that the decision is made before the start of the academic year and is valid until the end of it. That is, it is impossible to allow a situation where the first two quarters at the school have a five-day period, and the rest of the time there is a six-day period. Two days off, according to most parents and teachers, will only benefit the students, because there will be enough time to thoroughly prepare for the new week and to help around the house.

Briefly about the main

It should be noted that no one canceled the study. If a particular school has a six-day school week, this does not mean that you need to strike and disagree. The conditions are the same for everyone, and in the future, no one will replace the necessary knowledge base for children if time is wasted. However, the five-day period is quite real in Russian schools.

It means that there are several legal grounds, relying on which, you can arrange two days off a week. Either way, it's pretty subjective. After all, some parents want their child to be in school more, and, accordingly, to receive a lot of knowledge.

The situation in the country

The reality is that most schools in Russia currently use a six-day school week. This is due to the fact that the transition to a five-day period requires changes in the entire structure of the educational institution. However, the region is different from region to region. There are several areas that have already switched to a two-holiday system. Every year this is discussed at different levels of government: from teachers at school to the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. So far, no consensus has been reached on the most effective system.

It is worth noting that five days at school across the country is valid for Children at this age are not able to memorize all the educational material for six days in a row, so it was decided to add them an extra day off per week. The transfer of all schoolchildren to the new system is not an easy procedure, because many educational institutions are overcrowded. In this regard, it is not possible to create an optimal schedule.

Pros and cons of five days at school

Many parents wonder: why is a six-day week worse than a five-day one? Of course, each system has its own advantages and disadvantages. First, let's talk about the shortened school week. The advantages include:

• better health of schoolchildren;
• parents save on food for the child and transport;
• getting ready for the new week is much easier;
• instead of classes on Saturday, you can go on an excursion;
• those children who, for various reasons, are lagging behind, can eliminate the difference in two days off.

However, the five-day school has its drawbacks. Of these, the following disadvantages stand out:

• to complete the program, one or two lessons are added every day;
• for some schoolchildren, after two days off, it is more difficult to tune in to the school week.

Six days

The debate about the need to introduce a five-day school week is ongoing. We have considered its advantages, now we need to talk about the advantages of the six-day period. Most school leaders are in favor of keeping the old rules. The fact is that the schedule in this case is much easier to make. In addition, in theory, students will receive more knowledge during the week.

Sometimes school directors decide that students who study on such a system need more rest, and give holidays a few days earlier. However, in practice this approach is difficult to meet.

The process of transferring schools to the five-day period is also delayed because it is easier for teachers under the old system to go through the entire program, since enough time is given. Students receive more information on subjects and study them in more depth.

More about five days

Five days in Russian schools is not yet very common, and mainly because of the arguments that we considered in the previous section. However, how solid are they? In fact, this sixth does not bring such great privileges. After all, schoolchildren will not notice the addition of one or two lessons a day, but they will have an extra day off.

Here the question is the desire of each student and his parents. For an incomplete week, you can endure more knowledge than for one in which one day off is laid. Excellent students who strive to learn a lot of new information, and so achieve their goal. And those children who want to skip classes or do nothing in them behave the same way under any system.

As they say, learning is light, and ignorance is darkness. This proverb has a deep meaning. If you wish, you can take out such a baggage of knowledge from the walls of the school that will help you easily enter a higher educational institution and prove yourself there from the best side.

An attempt by the Government

Not so long ago it was announced that a very interesting issue was being discussed in the State Duma. The bottom line was that the Just Russia party proposed to make the five-day week mandatory for all schools. Unfortunately, the majority of deputies rejected this idea so as not to cause resentment on the part of different segments of the population.

The law on five days at school did not come into force, and the procedure remained the same. Everyone needs to decide for themselves what is in priority: to study in good faith five days a week, or to create the appearance of a desire to study for six days? However, you need to work on yourself in order to enjoy the learning process. We hope that over time this issue will be clarified and a final decision will be made.

Possibility of choice

Currently, the management of each educational institution has the right to independently decide which system to introduce into the school. Of course, in most cases, the choice stops at a six-day period, but there are exceptions, and recently there have been much more of them. Parents also need to make a decision, and before that, they need to consider all possible options.

You can choose a place of study, based on the availability of a five-day school, or stop at the most convenient location of the educational institution. No one can say exactly what will be right. Therefore, we modestly step aside, giving the right to each parent to choose the best option for their child.

The desire of most parents

As you know, our country has come close to the introduction of the five-day period in schools, but has not taken the last step. Still, no one began to change the established system, although it was worth a try. Even doctors from the Ministry of Health have found that schoolchildren's health is better if they rest two days a week.

Recently, the number of appeals to the Government, which contain a request to introduce a five-day period, has increased. Logically, the state will have to spend less money on education. In any case, students need to be explained that despite the system of education, it is worth studying in good faith and making every effort.

Dear brothers and sisters!
We would like to inform you that we have received an answer to our request to the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation regarding the observance of the Sabbath day for children from Adventist families, signed by the Deputy Minister of Education. You can use this document to solve related problems. We ask you to notify all the ministers of your church organization about this.
Sincerely, Stolyar V.D., Goncharov O.Yu.

Dear Vasily Dmitrievich!

In connection with your appeal to the Presidential Administration Russian Federation on the issue of teaching schoolchildren whose parents (legal representatives) are believing Adventist Christians within the six-day school week and the impossibility of switching to other curricula, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia reports.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees everyone freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or jointly with others any religion or not to profess any, freely choose, have and disseminate religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them.

At the same time, the norms of international law establish that the state, in the exercise of any functions that it assumes in the field of education and training, respects the right of parents to ensure conditions for education and training that are consistent with their own religious and philosophical convictions (Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1952), Article 5 of the UN Convention against Discrimination in Education (adopted in 1960, entered into force in 1962).

The provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the norms of international law in the field of education and the exercise of the rights to freedom of conscience and religion were developed in the Law of the Russian Federation "On Education" (hereinafter referred to as the Law).

The law establishes that students of all educational institutions have the right to receive education in accordance with federal state educational standards, to study within these standards according to individual curricula, to an accelerated course of study, to receive additional (including paid) educational services, to participate in the management of an educational institution, to respect one's human dignity, to freedom of conscience, information, to freely express one's own opinions and beliefs (paragraph 4 of Article 50) .

In accordance with the Law, parents (legal representatives) of minor children, until the latter receive general education, have the right to choose the forms of education, educational institutions, protect the legal rights and interests of the child, and take part in the management of the educational institution. Parents (legal representatives) have the right to give the child primary general, basic general, secondary (complete) general education in the family. A child who is educated in a family has the right, at any stage of education, with his positive attestation, by decision of his parents (legal representatives), to continue his education in an educational institution (Article 52).

In addition, citizens who have received education in non-accredited educational institutions, in the form of family education and self-education, have the right to attestation in the form of external studies in accredited educational institutions of the appropriate type (paragraph 3 of Article 50).

The law establishes that an educational institution is independent in the implementation of the educational process, the selection and placement of personnel, the conduct of scientific, financial, economic and other activities, the current control of the progress of students of an educational institution in accordance with its charter and the requirements of the Law (Article 32).

At the same time, issues related to the choice of the assessment system, the form, procedure and frequency of intermediate certification, including the grounds for the expulsion of students, pupils should be reflected in the charter of the educational institution and internal regulations (Article 13).

Exclusion from an educational institution of a student who has reached the age of fifteen is allowed by decision of the governing body of the educational institution for repeated gross violations of the charter of the educational institution, only with the consent of the parents (legal representatives) of the minor and the commission on minors and the protection of their rights (paragraph 7 of article 19 ).

At the same time, “Hygienic requirements for the conditions of education in educational institutions. SanPiN 2.4.2.1178-02 ”(hereinafter referred to as the requirements of SanPiN), approved by the Decree of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation dated November 25, 2002 No. 44, it was established that the educational process for students in grades 2-11 can be organized both in the 5- both full-time and 6-day academic weeks, depending on the level of educational programs implemented by educational institutions.

In accordance with paragraph 2.9.17 of the requirements of SanPiN, the lesson schedule is built taking into account the course of the daily and weekly curve of the mental performance of students, given in the hygienic requirements for the lesson schedule attached to SanPiN. The specified hygienic requirements determine that the distribution of the study load during the week is built in such a way that its largest volume falls on Tuesday and (or) Wednesday. Items that require a lot of time for home preparation should not be grouped on the same day. When scheduling lessons, it is recommended to use a table in which the difficulty of each subject is ranked in points.

The requirements of SanPiN established that the schedule is considered to be drawn up incorrectly if the highest number of points per day falls on the last days of the week or when it is the same on all days of the week.

At the same time, educational institutions are obliged, observing the requirements of SanPiN, as well as taking into account the rights of parents (legal representatives) and their priority in raising their children (Article 63 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation), take into account the wishes of parents (legal representatives), including when compiling class schedules on the last days of the week (including Saturdays).

If it is impossible to satisfy the wishes of parents (legal representatives) by an educational institution, the latter may apply to the local governments of municipal districts and urban districts in the field of education, whose powers the Law refers to the organization of the provision of public and free primary general, basic general, secondary (complete) general education in basic general education programs, in order to ensure the right for children to receive education in other educational institutions, the educational process of which is organized in the mode of a 5-day school week.

Taking into account the right of everyone to freedom of conscience and religion, “observance of the Sabbath” cannot be interpreted as a gross violation of the charter of an educational institution, if the parents (legal representatives) have taken all necessary and timely measures to coordinate with the educational institution an individual educational plan for the child.

Thus, the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of education and other regulatory acts of the Russian Federation provide for the opportunity for parents (legal representatives) to ensure the right to education of minor children, regardless of religion, nationality or race.

In Russia, the five-day period in schools in the period 2017-2018 can become a full-fledged replacement for the weekly six-day schedule of the educational process. Quite possible. At the same time, the leadership of the educational institution will have the right to decide independently whether to introduce such a system into its program, planned in advance for a whole year, or not. The issue of five days in schools is being actively discussed in society and there are even several petitions to the president on this issue. Well, now let's talk about everything in order.

The discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of a five-day and six-day work week in educational institutions is not new. This is a sore subject, the solution of which does not lie in someone's political will and is not based solely on signed decrees. When choosing a training format for a particular educational institution, many factors are taken into account:

• type of educational institution (for example, for schools of I and II levels, it is easier to introduce a five-day period);
• profile (with an in-depth study of certain subjects, the number of hours in parallel can increase significantly, which also creates certain obstacles to the introduction of a 5-day period);
• the presence of a second shift (training in two shifts does not allow students to deliver 7-8 lessons);
• the number of subject teachers (problems of keeping the school timetable are directly related to the number of teaching staff).

And these are only the most obvious factors influencing the choice of the format of education in a particular school. Of course, most children and parents do not want to think about it, because they do not face these problems in everyday life. Let's take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of the two proposed options for organizing the educational process.

Pros and cons of six days

Although many see only disadvantages in working Saturdays, such a system has a number of significant advantages, namely:

1. Balanced distribution of teaching load. The ability to take 4-5 lessons on the 6th day of the week allows you to more correctly distribute subjects on the remaining days, as close as possible to the existing requirements.
2. The opportunity to conduct additional lessons and circle work for middle-level students in the 7th lesson (with the five-day option, these are often postponed to a later time).
3. Optimal workload for teachers. Yes, there are rules here too. Which today are very often violated in schools and gymnasiums, which undoubtedly leads to a decrease in the quality of teacher preparation for lessons and a decrease in the effectiveness of their work.
4. The start of the working day is a little later than in schools with a 5-day week, which gives students the opportunity to sleep better and school staff to get to work.
5. A wider range of circles and sections, which is due to less busy classrooms and the ability to conduct classes on Saturdays.

Before moving on to the negative side of this format of education, it is worth clarifying that not all children in schools with a 6-day week study on Saturdays. Often for parents, this fact becomes an unpleasant surprise in grades 7-8, because, if possible, students in grades 1-6 study in such schools 5 days a week, and Saturday is introduced when the number of subjects increases. As a rule, such a need arises in classes with a profile study of certain subjects, for which often 2 times more hours are allocated.

Among the main disadvantages are:

1. Problems with school attendance on a "working holiday". If the subject is studied once a week and the lesson falls on Saturday, expect trouble (ideally, of course, this should not be in the schedule).
2. psychological factor. Both children and parents and teachers are not enthusiastic about having to get up in the morning when other family members have a day off.
3. No official holidays. So, holidays falling on Saturday in many organizations are automatically transferred to Monday. But no! If you have a Saturday working day, then that's it - you have already rested!
4. Fatigue of children due to the greater load. And here it is worth remembering that psychologically unprepared and physically weak students of elementary school, as well as children in the period of adaptation to the transition to secondary school, do not study on Saturdays! And a student in grades 7-11 (and his parents) must make a conscious choice in favor of a specialized school.
5. Some restrictions on family plans that a child's 6-day study imposes. Perhaps this factor is the most significant to date.

Remember, the child's attitude to studies and school as a whole is formed, including passing through the prism of the parents' attitude to school!

Pros and cons of five days

Without a doubt, the most important plus that is visible to the naked eye is two weekends in a row! Everyone is glad and happy. Mom does not need to get up in the morning, you can plan a trip out of town or even a short trip. But what will we get as a result?

1. Get up for school at least half an hour earlier.
2. The child will be at school longer (7-8 lessons).
3. If you want a circle - please, lesson 8-9 is at your service (if, of course, there are teachers who want to sit at school until that time).
4. You will have to prepare every day, respectively, more homework.
5. As already mentioned, it is extremely problematic to fit in-depth study of more than 1 subject into a 5-day week (unless sacrificing the teaching of other disciplines).

But what if your goal is a quality competitive education for your child? It's simple, Saturday will still be working, because you simply won't have any other time for tutors and additional ones.

The bill that was rejected

Not so long ago, representatives of the political force "Fair Russia" submitted a bill to the State Duma, which refers to the need to switch schools to a five-day work week for students in grades 1-9.

In the explanatory note, as a rationale for such a decision, the deputies referred to physical and psychological overwork, which doctors and psychologists are increasingly diagnosing in school-age children.

But, in the State Duma, the bill did not get the required number of votes, and the question is not at all that the deputies do not understand the desire of children and their parents to sleep on Saturday and forget about school at least for two days. There are more than enough reasons to postpone the general transition to a 5-day week. To those listed earlier, it is worth adding the problem of families in which Saturday is a working day for parents, and there are also quite a lot of such families in Russia. Whether uncontrolled sitting in front of a monitor will improve the performance and health of the younger generation is a rhetorical question.

That is why the deputies decided that this issue requires a deeper study and there will be no cardinal changes in the educational process in the 2017-2018 academic year. Perhaps this question will come up again by the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, and who knows what the decision will be after considering all the pros and cons of abandoning the six-day period.

Liberty. Independence. Choice

Today, everything remains as it was before. The management of schools, gymnasiums and lyceums reserves the right to choose the work schedule, taking into account the specifics of educational institutions.

A small postscript for those who are worried about the workload of their child. The schedule of training in a real physical and mathematical lyceum (we will omit the details). 5 days in 4 pairs (paired lessons until 15:30), Saturday - consultations on specialized subjects and additional for Olympiads (almost a full-time working day), plus every weekend - homework test in one of the core subjects, which is issued on Friday and handed over needed on Monday morning. Such a schedule does not prevent the child from attending a music school, taking part in creative competitions, olympiads and taking places defending himself in the Small Academy of Sciences.

Is the result visible? Yes! She is still studying in the 11th grade, but she already has invitations to the budget to the best universities in the country. And the choice of an educational institution was in no way influenced by whether Saturday would be a working day, because we chose knowledge, prestige and perspective.

Russian schools will gradually abandon lessons on Saturday, but the transition to a five-day week will not affect the tenth and eleventh grades. This is just one of the news that concerns millions of students and their parents, and which came today during and after the All-Russian Parents' Meeting. On the eve of the Day of Knowledge, it was held by the Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva. She received questions, including via video link from the regions; someone for the sake of communication came to Moscow himself.

Alexandra Usenko has eight children - two of her own and six adopted. Her children are in elementary, middle school, and some are already in high school. Simultaneously. I came to the All-Russian Parents' Meeting from Krasnodar on purpose - to hear firsthand about the upcoming changes. The moderator of the meeting, Yana Churikova, herself voiced the question that is in the parent top: how will the Unified State Exam change?

“What changes are planned in the procedure for conducting the exam in the next three years?” - asked the moderator of the All-Russian Parents' Meeting Yana Churikova.

“I want to say right away what will happen this year: physics, chemistry, biology - test tasks with ready-made answers will be removed, that is, this is a completely different approach. For the first time this year there will be an oral part - the Russian language and literature,” the Minister of Education explained.

If the experience is recognized as successful, they will think about graduating classes. After all, there was so much talk about the advantages of the old, non-test system, when a student presented his answer personally to the teacher.

Question: “Now a lot of really good workbooks have been developed, but parents have to buy them with their own money, and this is not cheap. Is it still possible for the school to provide workbooks, and not just textbooks?”

“If the school itself includes a notebook in the educational list, then it must provide it, that is, in this case, voluntarism is not allowed,” Olga Vasilyeva explained.

The regions also participated in the meeting. Parents and teachers from Yakutia, Irkutsk, Astrakhan asked their questions via video broadcast. There are 10 subjects in total. Representatives of North Ossetia expressed their concern: the rates of speech therapists are being reduced in their schools. And today's children have a lot of speech problems.

“The school itself decides on the staffing table whether it will have a speech therapist on the staffing table. Most often it doesn't. What exists today and what can help us in solving this problem: today there are nine and a half thousand counseling centers in the country where such assistance is provided,” the minister said.

They also talked about quality control of education - it will be checked in the fourth and ninth grades throughout the country. And that it is necessary to minimize differences in programs: when moving from one region to another, students often encounter completely new curricula.

And during the videoconference with the Irkutsk region, there was a wish to help with school meals for socially vulnerable families.

Question: “Can the state at least co-finance breakfasts and lunches in the school cafeteria?”

“There is food for children from large families, orphans, children from single-parent families who find themselves in difficult conditions, from Monday to Friday in our Moscow region. Here, in order for you to understand me correctly, a great burden falls on the regions. Each region, including yours, the Irkutsk region, must make these decisions independently,” Olga Vasilyeva explained.

The Minister of Education, who took office on August 19, now has increased attention. It is important for everyone - teachers, parents, even the students themselves - to understand: what kind of transformations lie ahead? So, parents raised the topic of labor education in schools several times. Now schoolchildren are more taking notes, and before that they themselves cooked, and planed, and sewed, and drilled.

Question: “In my Soviet school past, there were such things as, firstly, a labor lesson, which smoothly flowed into a training and production complex for high school students. Those skills that I received at one time, for example, I have the qualification of a seamstress-mechanic, my husband is an electrician, why don’t children work with their hands?

“Now this subject that we loved so much and called “labor”, and which gave us the very skills that we carried through our lives, is “technology”. It will be launched in 2017. Everything related to “do it with your hands” and what really needs to be done with your hands, because not only high technologies are the future, where buttons, buttons, buttons, it’s wonderful, but we must be able to do it with our hands and teach him everything,” the minister replied.

The All-Russian Parents' Meeting went on for about two hours. About the same time as regular class meetings in schools last. Acquaintance with the Minister of Education took place, ahead of the new academic year, which, by the way, will come the day after tomorrow.

Drawing up new educational programs... Not so long ago, another issue was put on the agenda, which touched upon the schedule of schools. Now they can choose for themselves a convenient mode of operation - in Russia there are educational institutions that work on a quarterly, semester and modular system, conducting lessons for five or six days.

It is the last point that will be discussed in our article. Psychologists and educators do not get tired of arguing about which schedule is the most convenient. The issue of the five-day period is also discussed in the Ministry of Education. The deputies even suggested canceling the six-day period so as not to overburden the children and save parents from getting ready on Saturday mornings, when they really want to sleep after a hard week of work. Let's discuss the pros and cons of different education systems, and also find out if the five-day period will become mandatory for Russian schools!

Changes in educational legislation

Several years ago, deputies from St. Petersburg proposed amending the Law of the Russian Federation "On Education" - in the part that concerned the weekly schedule of classes. According to parliamentarians, all primary school students should be transferred to a five-day week to guarantee the kids a good rest. The main argument is that with a six-day period, parents and children have very little time left to spend a joint weekend.

Perhaps the five-day period will allow children to spend more time with their families.

The initiative was backed up by research findings showing that a five-day schedule results in more academic achievement for children than a six-day schedule. During the discussion of this initiative, a lot of controversy arose, as the deputies insisted on the need to reduce the number of lessons. The five-day period was not to be introduced by simply transferring classes from Saturday to other days. According to the sanitary rules referred to by the deputies, primary school students cannot study for more than 23 hours a week.

Opponents of this initiative put forward arguments in response:

• the country has specialized schools with in-depth study of foreign languages ​​or other subjects that traditionally have a more intensive educational process. By sending their children to such schools, parents know that they will have to study with a load that exceeds the usual standard. To reduce the number of school days for such schools means to make the process of in-depth study of subjects impossible;
• Another important point is the regional schools of the Federation. For example, it is the six-day period that makes it possible for schools in Tatarstan or Bashkiria to include the study of the national language, literature and culture in the program;
• one cannot blame the intensity of the workload of schoolchildren and the deterioration in their health indicators exclusively during the six-day period. For several generations, schoolchildren have been spoiling their eyesight by constantly sitting at computers instead of outdoor games. An extra day of rest can lead to the fact that instead of sections, games in the yard and communication with parents, the child will play more games and communicate on social networks;
• the transition to a five-day regimen may be marked by a reduction in school hours, which will increase the amount of homework. In this case, the burden on the child may even increase! Only now the student will not methodically analyze topics at school under the supervision of a teacher, but will cram them at home.

As a result, no changes were made to the educational standard. The leadership of each school was given the right to independently determine how the organization of the learning process will take place - in a five-day or six-day mode. The main thing is to comply with the load standard for primary classes:

• During the four years of elementary school, students must complete at least 2,904 hours in the classroom and no more than 3,210 hours;
• up to 1350 hours are allotted for extracurricular work.

In the 2016/2017 academic year, the issue of the five-day period was raised again. On the eve of the next Day of Knowledge, the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation spoke about the fact that Russian schools will gradually switch to a five-day period. Moreover, it was noted that this transition will not affect only high school students who need to prepare more intensively for the USE.

The need to switch to a shorter school week is due to the huge number of petitions from parents. However, experts from the Ministry of Education note that mothers and fathers often do not understand how difficult it is to change the usual approach to learning even in a single school - not to mention the whole country! It is not enough to just issue a decree, because the need to study for six days, including Saturday, is often dictated by necessity.

The lessons that need to be taught according to the program for students from grades 6 to 11 do not fit into the framework of five days. In addition, it is necessary to take into account a huge number of requirements dictated by pedagogy and psychology. They are not so easy to comply with without being able to use an extra day of study - especially if the school is specialized. Here are some examples:

• mathematics, physics and foreign languages ​​cannot be put on the first or last lesson;
• disciplines that require perseverance cannot be assigned in the schedule after a physical education lesson;
• when compiling the maximum load for schoolchildren of a certain age, it is necessary to take into account the coefficients of complexity of subjects that determine the schedule for the day;
• the subject teacher (ideally) should lead no more than three lessons in a row, after which he should have a break;
• if the discipline is on the schedule more than once a week, then the lessons on it should have at least one day interval.

At the same time, it is worth remembering that a school is not just grades 1, 2, 3 ... 11, but whole parallels. And for them, you need to make a convenient schedule, taking into account the total workload of a teacher who conducts lessons in several classes according to different programs.

Number of study days in 2018/2019

So far, the Ministry of Education has not issued any documents that would dictate the need for Russian schools to switch to a five-day period. This issue, as before, was left to the school authorities to decide. Representatives of the main educational department of the country remind parents that there is no need to write petitions to the ministry or regional educational departments. But you can contact the school administration with this question. However, it is already too late to resolve this issue for the 2018/2019 academic year - in the summer, the head teachers for academic work are already starting to work on the schedule.

If parents have a desire to switch to a five-day week, it is worthwhile to collect the signatures of the parent team in advance and discuss this possibility with the director. In some schools in the country, parents and teaching staff have already come to a common denominator. For example, several hundred schools in Moscow and St. Petersburg over the past two years have made the transition to a five-day school for elementary and secondary schools, while meeting the sanitary standards. Today in St. Petersburg, only 66 schools out of more than 700 study only on a six-day basis.

In the Altai Territory, the department responsible for education and youth policy recommended school leaders to switch to a five-day course. However, the final decision rested with the directors. 96% of students spoke in favor of a reduced study schedule, and as a result, most of the schools decided to gradually transfer grades 1-4 and 5-7 to the five-day period. Approximately 50% of schools will switch to the new regime in the 2018/2019 academic year.

Younger students will have more opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities and field trips, while grades 8-9 and 10-11 will continue to work for six days as they have exams ahead of them. But in the Khabarovsk Territory, they decided that schools need a six-day period, and in order to preserve the mental and physical health of students, it is worth abandoning teaching in two shifts. The new regional standard has been introduced since 2017, and they intend to implement a full transition to study in one shift until 2024.

Which is better, five or six days?

Of course, the question of how children will learn better should not be decided on the spur of the moment. Let's give arguments "for" and "against" for each of the graphs.

Positive and negative aspects of the six-day period

The clear advantages of the six-day period include:

• the possibility of a competent and even distribution of the teaching load, as well as a smaller number of lessons per day;
• students will have to spend less time at school, so in the evening they will have the opportunity to do their homework, and then take a walk or visit a section;
• the amount of homework the next day will be feasible;
• on Saturday, the schedule usually puts no more than 4 lessons, so students quickly come from class;
• in schools, this day is often a “free form” day, and many children like to be able to show up in front of their classmates in beautiful and fashionable clothes, rather than in a standard suit;
• gymnasiums, lyceums, and special schools can give students much more material, having the Sabbath day in reserve. Studying in such institutions increases the competitiveness of future ones.

However, there is a couple of fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey:

• the psychological aspect - it is expressed in the well-established rejection of schoolchildren to study on a "day off";
• frequent absenteeism of Saturday lessons, and often with the permission of the parents who planned a shopping trip or country work;
• conflicts that arise between teachers and representatives of religious movements that impose a ban on any Shabbat activities;
• in fact, all days with this approach are busy with study, since the lessons for the next week will have to be done on Sunday;
• teachers spend their only day off checking the accumulated notebooks with assignments and tests.

Pros and cons of five days

First, here are the arguments in favor of a five-day training:

• an additional day off can be spent with the family;
• parents do not need to get up on Saturday morning, collect the child for school and take him to the lessons in order to take him home in a couple of hours;
• you can plan joint trips to relatives, exhibitions, concerts and performances on Saturday;
• children have the opportunity to attend repeaters or sections on Saturday so as not to occupy evening hours on weekdays;
• an extra day of rest gives more time to recover from strenuous work. In addition, on Saturday you can do all the lessons and rest on Sunday;
• psychologists note that today, when children and parents spend more time in the virtual space than in the real one, the five-day period is a chance to strengthen the institution of the family.

Unfortunately, the five-day plan also has its drawbacks:

• it is possible that an extra day of rest will not tear parents and children away from gadgets, but will only provide them with an additional day for video games, Internet surfing and entertainment.
• if the school teaches children according to special programs, they will have to assign 7-8 lessons a day to cover all topics and subjects. However, this will lead to a contradiction - a five-day week means 23 hours of study per week, and a six-day week makes it possible to study 26 hours, that is, there is a risk of curtailment of training programs. For example, in many physical and mathematical lyceums in Moscow, grades 10-11 have 8 lessons per week with six days. In this case, it is simply impossible to go to five days of study! But in such schools gifted children study, who love the sciences they have chosen, go to world competitions and