In many countries, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays. What is the value of long school holidays? What are the arguments in favour of shorter school holidays?
Read the original writing alongside its overall assessment. Open a full review for criterion explanations and sentence-level feedback.
Estimated band7.0
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7.5
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Response 01
226 words
Long summer holidays have traditionally been regarded as a well-deserved break for students and teachers, but they are increasingly coming under scrutiny . While such extended vacations offer several advantages, there are also strong arguments in favour of shorter breaks.
The primary benefit of long school holidays is rest and rejuvenation . After months of academic pressure, both students and educators need time to recover mentally and physically. Extended holidays also allow families to spend quality time together, travel, and engage in enriching activities such as camps or part-time jobs, which contribute to the holistic development of children.
However, critics of long holidays argue that they lead to a “learning loss.” Students, especially younger ones, often forget what they have learned over such a long break, requiring valuable time for revision when they return. This can widen the achievement gap between students who continue learning during the holidays and those who do not. Moreover, working parents frequently struggle to find affordable childcare during this extended period, creating financial and logistical challenges. Shorter, more frequent breaks could provide a better balance, ensuring that students remain academically engaged while still getting adequate rest.
In conclusion, although long summer holidays hold cultural and personal value, they may be outdated in today’s fast-paced educational environment. A restructured school calendar with shorter, spaced-out holidays may better support both learning retention and family needs.
Estimated band7.5
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Response 02
414 words
In many parts of the world, schools at both primary and secondary levels have traditionally closed for extended summer breaks lasting two months or longer. While long school holidays offer various educational and personal benefits for students, there are compelling arguments supporting the move toward shorter and more evenly distributed breaks throughout the year.
To begin with, long school holidays hold significant value for students. First, they promote learners’ well-being. To explain, extended breaks give students sufficient time to recover from academic pressures by allowing them to relax, reduce stress, and engage in physical activities that support their overall health. For example, in countries such as South Korea, many students use the long summer holiday to participate in structured sports programmes, which they cannot commit to during the demanding school year. Additionally, long vacations offer opportunities for family bonding and experiential learning through travel or cultural activities. During these trips, children are exposed to new environments, languages, and traditions, which helps them gain a broader perspective of the world. This hands-on experience not only encourages creativity but also fosters independence and problem-solving skills that cannot be fully developed in a traditional classroom setting.
Despite these benefits, there are strong reasons to argue for shorter and more frequent school holidays. One major concern is the significant learning loss students may experience. It is obvious that students, particularly younger ones, tend to forget essential knowledge after being away from school for too long. As a result, shorter breaks help maintain learning continuity and reduce the need for extensive revision. This is supported by research in the United States showing that students in year-round schooling systems retain academic skills more effectively due to the absence of a long summer gap. Moreover, shorter holidays alleviate difficulties faced by working parents, who often struggle to manage childcare during extended school closures. By dividing the school year into shorter, more frequent breaks, families can plan their schedules more effectively and avoid the stress of arranging long-term childcare. This more evenly spaced school calendar not only provides greater predictability but also significantly reduces the financial burden associated with expensive summer programmes or babysitting services.
In summary, although long school holidays offer valuable benefits in terms of rest, family time, and personal development, shorter breaks may better support continuous learning and ease challenges for families. Therefore, education authorities should carefully evaluate how holiday schedules can best balance students’ need for relaxation with the educational advantages of maintaining regular learning throughout the year.
Estimated band8.0
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Response 03
370 words
Around the world, schools differ in terms of how much time off they give their students for different holidays. Some give very long holidays and others give much shorter ones. This essay will compare the respective merits of these approaches.
In many countries, holidays used to coincide with the harvest, when children were expected to work alongside their families and so work was considered more important than education, but nowadays this is no longer the case even if those same approximate holiday periods are respected. This begs the question of why children are given so much time off school as it may seem like a luxury. In fact, now that children do not have to work, these long holidays can be viewed as rest periods, and given how stressful education can be—particularly in the teenage years—this is very valuable indeed. Holidays also allow children to spend more time with their families and friends. During the school year, they are in class throughout most of each weekday and of course parents also have to work, so these opportunities can be sadly limited, but in the holidays children can bond with their parents more, and they also have time to pursue their hobbies with friends in the neighbourhood.
Whilst all of that is true, there are arguments in favour of shorter holiday periods. Although most parents love spending time with their children, this can become a challenge after a certain number of days. If a parent has to work, then they must find someone to look after their children, and this often costs money. Even when they can take time off, the job of looking after a child all day can prove exhausting and many parents are relieved at the end of the holidays when they can send their children back to school, where teachers are paid to take care of them. It is also true that schools give students structure and of course provide a constant flow of education and activity, stopping them from getting bored or turning to destructive activities, so keeping holidays to a minimum has some benefits from that perspective, too.
In conclusion, there are clear benefits to both long and short holiday periods for schoolchildren.
