Diverse models of school scheduling are being implemented in education, as independent schools aim to increase engagement and improve learning. Backed by their community boards, some independent schools have rejected 50-minute lessons for longer and fewer classes, or whole-day blocks learning one subject.
At William Clarke College in north-western Sydney, the high school restructured its timetable this year into three 105-minute lessons daily and subjects taught in one semester instead of throughout the year.
Headmaster Scott Marsh (pictured) says longer lessons allow students to learn and understand the concepts, and apply them, in the same session.
“For so many young people, you get to the end of a traditional 50-minute periods and they’re about to get it, then the bell goes,” he says. “They then move onto something different and they have the same experience – I think I get it – then the bell goes. A longer period of time allows them to learn something, try it out and then reflect on what they’ve learned. What we’re trying to do is really going deeply into what you’re doing.”
The new system was introduced with a fresh approach to the curriculum, to allow students to develop self-directed learning. The change has freed up the curriculum and introduced more time for student elective choices spanning oceanography, automotive, cosmetology and robotics. “We have been surprised at how well the students have adapted to it, they actually prefer it,” Dr Marsh says.
Academic research into timetabling is mixed. International studies have found positive outcomes when longer lessons are used in maths, but other studies found little evidence of a long-term impact on achievement overall, according to a review from Evidence for Learning.
At Kooralbyn International School, on the Gold Coast, the school has used a mixture of block timetabling, traditional shorter lessons, and whole-day sessions for about two decades. After Covid-19 disrupted timetables through 2020 and 2021, the school returned to block timetabling of subjects that can benefit from longer time periods such as art, music, sport or science. It also runs shorter, more regular lessons for subjects that require ongoing reinforcement, including maths and languages. There are all-day intensives in subjects such as English, science and humanities and social sciences.
Kooralbyn International School Principal Geoff Mills says teachers determined what teaching method was best suited to each subject area. “We’ve got plenty of years of experience figuring out which ones work,” he says. Students at the school – renowned for its elite sporting alumni including athlete Cathy Freeman, golfers Adam Scott and Jason Day, and field Olympian Dan McCarron – also undertake a full-day mastery program of their choice on Fridays.
“We’ve got four days to fit in what other schools are fitting in five. We have to use every single minute. Assemblies are very short, we don’t have sport like other schools, we’re not a religious school. We say to our kids, ‘You have to work really hard Monday to Thursday, but then you get to do this awesome thing Friday’. It works for us. They come here knowing this is what we do.”