Ask anyone whether attending school is good for children, and few will disagree. Check whether there is a correlation between school attendance and performance, and we all expect to find a positive outcome. Our children benefit from being at school, there should be no doubt about that. Yet, every so often a child may benefit from something else too: grandma's 85th birthday celebration, a family wedding, a long weekend with family or friends who live afar, or - dare I say it - a trip to London or Paris. Is any of this going to negatively affect the child's future prospects? I would argue it isn't. Quite the opposite in fact.
Until just over two years ago, scenarios as described above were generally accepted, and 'watched over' by School Heads who had the authority to make common sense decisions about requests for absence (taking into account parents' reasoning, as well as the child's general attendance levels and educational progress made). A system that to all intents and purposes worked well. Or did it? 'Not so' decided then Education Secretary Michael Gove, and from one day to the next, all UK Heads of Schools were given a clear message: absence during school time is no longer permitted, no matter what the reason for the request, and only a handful of exceptions would still apply. In a nutshell, your child can still attend granny's funeral, but please don't ask for time off when she celebrates her 85th...
Why the sudden mandate? Gove believed there was a large group of parents systematically taking their kids out of school for prolonged periods of time, for example allowing them to benefit from cheaper, term time holidays, and this had to be dealt with. Not that odd an argument per se. Leaving aside the question of the actual size of this group of 'truant parents' (Gove's research used was flimsy, to put it mildly), two important questions remain: 1. are these 'truant parents' really going to be stopped by a 'no absence or pay a penalty' message from their schools (the large number of penalties handed out to such parents since this came into force suggests it doesn't) and 2. why apply the broad brush approach, and rule out even the most reasonable requests for the odd day off? It very much seemed that the 'good ones' were made to suffer because of a few 'bad ones'.
Because let us be absolutely clear: the vast majority of parents totally agree that their children should attend school as much as possible, and that taking them out for a week, just so they can have a 'cheap holiday', is wrong in principle. But there are occasions where keeping them out for the odd day is the right thing to do. We've already mentioned granny's 85th, but there are many more. For example, many of us now live far away from family and friends, and seeing them may involve a very long journey. Is taking a Friday off, once or twice a year, just so as a family you can make the journey to see the kids' cousins, going to scar your children's academic future? Of course it isn't. Family time together, increasingly hard in today's environment where mum and dad may both be working full time, is something the whole family will benefit from, and dare I say it, possibly a touch more important once every so often than that extra day at school.
And some families, for example those working in tourism, or farming, may struggle taking out time when everyone else is on holiday. In the past, such families were allowed a degree of discretion when it came to when they could go away for a week or so. Not any more! Here in the West Country alone, this affects tens of thousands of families, yours truly included.
Most of the debate around this topic, and thankfully there has been quite a bit of late, has concentrated on families 'taking the kids out for a cheap holiday', and indeed the Prime Minister himself has weighed in on the argument by stating 'We won't change the rules to allow people to bunk off school'. Yet as much as I would agree that this is something in need of dealing with, this '0 tolerance' approach is not the way to do it, and it ignores the problem all diligent parents (read: most parents) now have when they are looking for just one or two days absence, for usually very valid reasons.
I am arguing this point as much as a parent (half of our kids' family lives abroad, and we are now encouraged to lie - 'throw a sickie please' - when we make our once a year family trip there), as I am reasoning this as owners of six holiday cottages. Where until two years ago we welcomed many family groups for a weekend stay in Spring or Autumn, often extended families with 3 or more generations having some real quality time together, this market has virtually dried up, with a reduction in weekend bookings since 2013 of no less than 50%! Travelling upwards of 3 hours (times two!) for a stay of less than 48 hours is just not attractive enough for many to make the effort.
And we are not alone. A recent study by the University of Plymouth has found that two thirds of tourism businesses in the South West of England have seen a drop in income resulting directly from what is now known as the 'Gove Effect'. These are not just accommodation providers, but all tourism related businesses, suffering the same effect: if people don't come, they don't visit attractions, eat out, or buy in the shops. Cost to the West Country economy is estimated at £87 million a year.
The irony of all of this, if irony is the appropriate word under these rather serious circumstances, is that holiday businesses (many are small operators, working to very small margins) are going to HAVE TO make their peak season breaks even more expensive, as demand in these weeks means that this is the only place where they can compensate somewhat for the losses made in off-season.
So what is the tourism industry proposing? In short, a return to common sense, moving away from the 'sledgehammer to crack a nut approach'. But there are other proposals too: spreading the peak weeks through regions (as Europe does), meaning demand is spread more (remember, in tourism, supply is usually fixed!), encouraging schools to 'bundle' their Inset Days into a full week (as some schools in Wales already do) and encourage educational breaks, given travel is often highly educational in itself. Here at Mazzard Farm, we encourage people to make the most of their Inset Days, as that does offer scope for out of season shortbreaks without the rush.
So as a nation, we have a choice here: see a major chunk of our treasured UK tourism industry go out of business, or give them a fair opportunity to compete? And allowing us all to go and visit Granny when both you and her still enjoy it. Or do we - as Gove would prefer so it seems - think it is okay to have to wait until her funeral?
Ruud Jansen Venneboer
Mazzard Farm holiday cottages
Devon
www.mazzardfarm.com
