The debate on the school day in Spain. Thoughts and data after more than three decades of an inconclusive debate

Abstract

This article analyses the debate on the continuous and split school day in primary schools. The empirical and methodological basis of this work is the author's participation in numerous parents' assemblies and as a speaker at events organised by parents' federations, trade unions and regional education departments. In the case of teachers, there is a clear incentive to finish their work at an early hour. In the case of parents, the particular interests of each family seem to have prevailed, depending on factors such as whether one parent is a housewife or the parents' working hours. The continuous school day is more common in the state sector than in the private one. The risks that this change may entail in terms of the disappearance of school canteens, extracurricular activities, the possible flight of some families to a private or subsidised private school where the split school day is the norm, the evolution of the fatigue curve of pupils in one or the other school day model, and the fact that pupils have more homework in the continuous school day have not been duly taken into account. Although not conclusive, the available data show that performance is lower in the continuous school day than in the split school day.