Government delays 32.5 hour week expectation to 2024
Government guidance on the length of the school week has pushed back the expectation that schools offer a 32.5-hour week to September 2024, rather than this September.
The Department for Education said the deadline had been pushed back to September 2024 in recognition of the pressures facing schools.
Schools minister Nick Gibb said: “Whilst the majority of schools are already delivering this commitment, schools will now have until September 2024 to meet this expectation. We have today published guidance to support them to do this.”
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that is due to the Department for Education's "dithering" that has led to the delay: "The government claims that it has deferred the deadline for schools being expected to meet this non-statutory expectation from September 2023 to September 2024 ‘in recognition of the pressures facing schools’. In truth, they have been forced to introduce this delay as a result of their own dithering, with this guidance publishing a full year later than planned.”
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