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Abstract
Many countries have considered extending their school days to improve students' outcomes, promote equity or support parents to combine work and family lives. Given the impact of such reforms, identifying conditions for their successful implementation is an important concern. This working paper reviews the available evidence and synthesises common lessons from six European and Latin American countries that extended and reorganised their school days. Each case study describes the reform's context and goals, design and implementation, and resource implications. The paper highlights that lengthening the school day might be an efficient strategy for some schools and systems, but not for others, depending on policy goals and alternatives. To reap any potential benefits, reforms need to consider the quality and articulation of the activities taking place and related adjustments to school resources. As the paper suggests, school-day extensions provide an opportunity to rethink schools as places not just for learning, but for holistic student development, engagement and support.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank delegates of the OECD Group of National Experts on School Resources for their feedback on the working paper. The country case studies, in particular, benefited greatly from the review of national delegates and ministry officials. These are Bernhard Chabera (Austria), Javier Guevara and Alberto Sthioul (Chile), Juan Camilo Aponte, Mónica Marcela Arboleda, Angélica del Pilar Osorio Gonzalez, Luz Helena Trujillo, Natalia Trujillo Gomez and Natalia Velasco (Colombia), Jon Jespersen, Cecilie Kynemund and Hjalte Meilvang (Denmark), Pedro Abrantes (Portugal) and Gimena Castelao, Melissa Hernández and Cecilia Oreiro (Uruguay). Gratitude is also due to colleagues in national authorities for providing data as input to the case studies. Juan Pablo Valenzuela and José Luis Sánchez provided invaluable feedback on the analysis and suggestions for improvement. The authors also wish to thank Sonja Hall from the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD for her review of the document. The authors are furthermore indebted to the colleagues and external experts whose country review reports, published as part of the OECD School Resources Review, provided the starting point for the case studies in this paper. The paper benefited from the support, guidance and feedback of Deborah Nusche, Paulo Santiago and Andreas Schleicher. The authors gratefully acknowledge the editorial support provided by Daiana Torres Lima...