Study in Spain: Are the summer holidays in the country too long?
In Spain, the educational process is organized taking into account the long summer holidays, similar to the length of school holidays in Germany, France and Denmark. However, such a long break can negatively affect the students’ academic performance, according to the head of the IMF business school Carlos Martinez. The European educational portal Eurydice published similar information.
Many northern European countries have summer holidays of about six weeks. In some of them, the short holiday period is compensated by long Christmas and Easter holidays. In France, for example, students have 62 days off per year, not counting weekends.
Martinez says that more and more education organisations in Spain are calling for shorter summer holidays. The national organisation Concapa, which represents Catholic families, says that long holidays lead to pupils forgetting their studies. This also affects parents, who cannot take such a long holiday. At best, families send their children to summer camps, but most children are left unsupervised.
Ceapa, an organisation representing parents of school-aged children, is also calling for a debate on the length of school holidays. They are pushing for a shorter summer holiday and longer holidays during the school year.
Spanish schoolchildren and their parents are spending too much time on holiday, according to information provided by travel portal Expedia. On average, Spaniards take 30 days off, while in Ireland this period does not exceed 22 days, and in Japan – only 11 days. However, the study also found that working hours in Spain are longer than in most European countries.
According to Martinez, Spain leads the list of countries with the most public holidays. He cites a report by the National Commission on Rationalisation of Working Time, which states that Spain has 10 national holidays, with each region and city having its own. Given this, it is not surprising that children in Spain spend more time on holiday than their peers in other countries.
