The reduction of class hours in dual education schools has become a matter of curiosity and debate. Recently, a circular on “school and lesson time implementation” was sent to all provincial governorships with the signature of the Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin. In the circular, in which it was decided to continue the current advanced time application applied throughout the dormitory in order to benefit more from daylight with the legislation, it was stated that the Secondary Education Institutions Regulation determined that the academic year should not be less than 180 working days. With the circular, lesson hours were reduced from 40 minutes to 35 minutes; Experts found the new application positive for children. Educators also warned about break times and stated that in today’s world, students’ focus on the lesson is 15 minutes.
IS IT TRUE?
Educational Sociologist Prof. Dr. Tunay Kamer stated that there are two reasons for shortening the lesson time and said, “The first is a purely pedagogical approach, and the second is the adjustment of lesson hours in schools that provide dual education. Although shortening the lesson hours is important in terms of attention span, lesson structure and mental rest, from a pedagogical perspective, it depends on the age of the student and the content of the lesson.” and may vary depending on learning goals. D.er“The duration should be 30-35 minutes at primary school level and 40 minutes at secondary school and high school level.” he said.
SHOULD BREAK BE PROLONGED?
Kamer also emphasized that shortening the duration of the lesson will increase the efficiency of the students, and said, “Long lesson periods reduce the motivation and attention of the students. The ideal lesson duration may vary depending on the age of the students, the content of the lesson, and the learning-teaching objectives. In addition to class time, break times are also very important for pedagogical development. When planning lesson times, it is necessary to take into account how long students have the opportunity to rest between lessons. “In some countries in Europe, the break times between classes are 15, 20 minutes,” he said.
WHAT IS PRODUCTIVE TIME?
Psychologist Özge Öztaşçı also pointed out that the most efficient learning time for children is between 20 and 30 minutes and gave the following information: ” Long lesson hours can cause students’ attention to be distracted and their motivation to learn to decrease. Reducing lesson times motivates students positively. “In addition, short and efficient lessons support students’ psychological well-being by reducing their cognitive load.”
MUST BE REVISED
Ali Baykal (Education Specialist)
“I think variable durations should be determined, not standard durations. Lesson durations can be revised depending on the subject, age level, and number of class sizes. Research shows that the attention span of children and young people is limited and usually varies between 20 and 30 minutes.
ONLY 10 MINUTES
Turgay Polat (Education Specialist)
“When you put a student in a classroom for 40 minutes, he is not actually there for 40 minutes. Students only intensively participate in the lesson for 10 minutes in 40 minutes. The curriculum needs to be revised accordingly. If the content is the same, reducing the course hours will not make much sense. The child will again avoid topics that do not interest him. “The end of the classical school is coming, we need futurist approaches.”
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