Mary McCarthy: Three months off school is outrageous. Here's what we could learn from other EU countries

Irish Independent

17 hours ago

It leaves too much up to family circumstances.
And for primary-school kids, in Ireland we are overdue subsidised summer camps that run past lunchtime.
Now that I live in Belgium, I see how children's summer experiences vary so vastly back home. For some it's a fun blur of Irish college, sailing camp, holiday homes out west or trips to Portugal. And then some kids go nowhere.
The CSO found in May one in five adults cannot afford to take their children away for a week-long holiday – and it's worse for renters and single parents.
In every country, lower-income families are on the back foot, with parallel lives for the well-off and the struggling. But allowing teens a quarter of the year to roam free intensifies the unfairness.
Ireland has 167 days of secondary school; most EU countries do between 180 and 190.
We don't do fewer teaching hours, but as my kids get older I understand how school is more than academics. It needs to teach you how to apply yourself, that you can relax when you have done the work; how to be an asset to your community; to understand how the world works; and the confidence to claim your place in it.
With an extra, say, three weeks of school in Ireland at secondary to bring us more in line with the EU norm of primary and secondary schools, this would allow more buffer to develop our kids holistically.
For example, the extra three weeks of school my 16-year-old got this year has meant more PE – three times a week instead of the once a week he got in Ireland, with extra skills like how to change a bike tyre or a fuse.
All of the school years do volunteer work once a month, like cleaning the park. Classes are longer, with flexitime for homework and help available if stuck.
My cleaner in Brussels has teenagers, and every second year in June they go on exciting school trips abroad – to Malta and Switzerland, countries he has never been to, or expects to ever go to. You must pay €500, but he pays in instalments from September.
Having two months of holidays for my secondary-school children instead of three has taken the pressure off. There is time for a camp (if they agree); for a holiday; for babysitting work; and lounging around.
The camps their pals did were out of my price range and I felt guilty at the inevitable screen time
Last year in Ireland the three months went on for ever. The camps their pals did were out of my price range and I felt guilty at the inevitable screen time.
There are so many teens in Ireland sitting around on social media because they are too old to attend the GAA Cúl Camp and too young to become a camp leader there. Which is assuming they even like sports. Again, we leave so much up to chance.
A well-off pal tells me: 'Duh, Irish college is the unofficial school for June.'
But fewer than one in five go.
The Department of Rural and Community Development told me 27,583 attended Irish college last year. With 425,433 kids enrolled in secondary schools, assuming it is mainly first and second year that go, that means around 19pc go.
Included in that number was the 431 who went to Irish college on the Deis Gaeltachta scheme. This year there was extra funding in the budget and the department expects the 800 allocated scholarships to be used. This is excellent, but still translates as just three or four pupils from each of the 235 secondary Deis schools. An improvement but still largely one summer for the rich secondary kids, another for the rest.
And while the increasing numbers going to the school summer provision in July, aimed at those with additional needs and at-risk kids, is another achievement, still just 59,338 took part last year, the vast majority are primary pupils.
A teacher friend says the holidays are sacred and we need schools for exams. And yes, there's a retention crisis, but how do other countries manage?
We must remain open-minded as our world changes. AI will help with workload and when AI starts correcting the state exams, they will mark them in a jiffy.
What is also making me nice and relaxed this summer is the wide availability of full-day, subsidised summer camps.
Your local area, or commune, organises them and they cost around €50. You can pay for private camps that offer a wider selection, but they are still reasonably priced.
My 12-year-old tells me I have more time to play table tennis with him – I'm more fun than last summer
I miss our wonderful libraries in Ireland and the Park Run, but it's a weight off to know I can get my work done no hassle. My 12-year-old tells me I have more time to play table tennis with him – I'm more fun than last summer.
Next week, my eight-year-old is happy to go to a football camp that runs from 8am to 6pm, if needed, with a hot meal thrown in. Same price as a 10am to 2pm camp in Ireland.
I can't believe my luck. It is like they assume parents work here. Imagine that.