School Switches To Four Day Week And Teachers And Students Love It

The vast majority of people seem to be in favour of a four-day week, because, well, why wouldn't they be?

But teachers and students at a school district in the US are actually living the four-day week dream for real, and surprise surprise, they're loving it.

27J Schools in Adams County, Colorado, switched to the shorter week at the start of this academic year in a bid to draw better teachers to the area, as salaries there are the lowest in the Denver area.

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27J Schools is the first district in a major metropolitan area to try the shortened week, and with 28 schools and about 18,000 students, it is also the largest district in the country to ever try it.

The system means everyone at the schools gets Monday off, meaning students can use it to enjoy hobbies/do what they want and teachers can spend it preparing for the week ahead/doing what they want.

But before you get all riled up by the thought of children spending less time in school than you did, don't worry, that's not how it works. Tuesday to Friday have all been extended in the district, meaning students still spend the same amount of time in the classroom, just over fewer, longer days. And I don't know about you, but that definitely sounds good to me.

Science teacher, Ally Hyatt, certainly seems to be a fan.

According to NBC, she said: "It was attractive to me because I was essentially working that long of a day in DPS anyway. Here, I could just do it four days week.

"It's been amazing for my personal life, and I love that I have more time to actually plan lessons on Monday and get everything ready for the week."

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27J Schools Superintendent, Dr Chris Fiedler, also said the alternatively structured week had helped them to attract better quality educators.

According to NBC, he said: "We weren't going to compete in the current system. You just can't be dead last in funding, last in starting teacher salaries, last in average teacher pay and expect you'll attract the best folks.

"If you have the money, you should pay your teachers. But for us, it's a significant differentiating factor that makes us really competitive."

However, some parents haven't been big fans of the change, primarily due to issues with sorting out childcare; though, you could argue the solution to this problem is extending the four-day week to the workplace.

After all, there's a fair amount of research that suggests we would all be better off for it.

Topics: Interesting, US News

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey