School Hours

HC Deb 15 March 1993 vol 221 cc29-30W

Mr. Simon Coombs

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many hours per week secondary school students are required to work in Britain; and what are the equivalent figures for the United States of America, France, Germany and Japan.

Mr. Forth

The readily available information on teaching hours per week and the length of the school year are shown in the table.

Secondary schools
	Teaching hours per week	Length of school year
England1	24	38 weeks
Wales2	24	38 weeks
Scotland3	27.5	38 to 40 weeks
Northern Ireland4	22.5	37 weeks
France5	24	33 weeks
Germany6	36	40 weeks
Japan	30	35 weeks minimum
USA7	26	35 weeks

¹Suggested minimum weekly hours.

²Average teaching time per week.

³Timetabled week in education authority schools.

⁴Minimum teaching hours.

⁵Represents 21 hours core curriculum time plus three hours of sport.

⁶Represents an average miminum and may vary according to the providing authorities (Länder).

⁷Average minimum number of hours in class over a five day week.