A few days ago (#81) I talked about how shorter school holidays would be one way of improving improving kids educational experience. There is another small change which in my view could make a big difference. At the moment teachers in France are expected to do around 20 hours a week of classroom teaching, in addition to that it is estimated that they spend another 15 to 20 hrs a week on non classroom based activities, preparation of lessons, marking of tests, meeting parents, etc. A lot of the non-classroom based activities are done from home. I believe that requiring that teachers be present at school for 35 hrs a week (9AM to 4PM for example) would enhance the interaction between students and teachers which after all is the best point to learn. When not teaching, the teachers would be available to discuss assignments, lessons or further work with their students. This would make for a more interesting two way relationship and could reduce the time spent on marking essays and homework. Most teachers have a good idea of the level of their students and don't need graded papers to know what kind of feedback to give.
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