Author Description

The organisation and use of school time is one aspect of the more general problem of improving the quality of education and combating school failure. In effect, we now know the extent to which attempts to match the management of school time to children's natural bio-rhythms can have a positive influence on pupils' performance in school and contribute to the general effectiveness of the education system. The reorganisation of school time is a regular subject of studies and reforms in several Member States, with a view to taking more account of time factors which have a favourable influence on children's education. Moreover, the pressure of certain socio-economic phenomena such as the increase in the female participation rate in employment is obliging some countries to make arrangements for the care of children in school both before and after school hours.