**Shortened school hours would be an extra financial burden for families.** - Some might argue for shortened hours to combat stress in both children and teachers. Teaching is a particularly labour intensive and stressful job, with studies showing that primary school teachers work an average of [59.3 hours a week](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27087942). Research suggests that [academic pressure is having a negative effect on the mental health of primary school children](https://www.fenews.co.uk/fevoices/15420-primary-school-children-almost-as-stressed-over-exams-as-gcse-pupils), making it a stressful environment to be in. - However, shortening the school day would put huge extra pressure on families to find affordable childcare. The UK has the [second most expensive childcare system in the world,](https://www.vogue.co.uk/mini-vogue/article/childcare-collectives) and the current school day is already shorter than a 9-5 working day, making balancing work and childcare difficult. This would be made much worse by shortening the day, putting huge financial pressure on families. - To combat stress, more should be done to help teachers with the workload, and school exam culture should be reduced. Ironically, shortening the school day could reduce the amount of downtime that children have in the school day between lessons. Studies show that many academies that chose to reduce hours in the day [chose to cut playtime](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-34183333), which is very [important for child development](https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/sep/17/playtime-child-development-learning-cut-at-peril). Perhaps primary schools should be reformed in other ways for the benefit of teachers and pupils, however drastically shortening the school day is no solution.

**Shorter school days would not suit every child, especially those with learning disabilities** • Around the world, most children attend primary school for an average of 7 hours a day, including time for lunch, breaks, and sport. Some have proposed that [shorter school hours may benefit primary school age children](https://classroom.synonym.com/reasons-school-day-should-shorter-8415398.html), as this would allow them more time for extracurricular activities, play, and sleep. However, I argue that a 4-hour school day would be detrimental to the academic development and wellbeing of many children, especially those with learning disabilities. • Teachers would presumably have to cram the same curriculum (or at least the same standard of education) into a 4-hour day. In order to cover the same material on such reduced hours, teaching and learning would have to be accelerated which may ostracise children who take longer to process or learn information, such as those with learning disabilities like [dyslexia](https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/494) or [dyscalculia](https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/learning-disabilities/according-experts/dyscalculia-early-age). • As a result of shorter school days, children would likely receive more homework, which again may exclude children with learning disabilities whose parents (without specialist knowledge) may not be able to support their learning adequately. Studies have shown that children with learning disabilities (and their parents) experience significantly [higher levels of stress during homework](https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26594362.pdf?casa_token=2bEahZLlhhkAAAAA:AZhi1jSaY1ADbKc6NsqRf2vLc-nSKd95lYSDoDSIK9QU1E9iD59P3Ow-kpCcw_4f2cM8S5DNkJusbO5KNqvxiBIIukoK5lOklz3oNFs7Ihwo7lL72Tg) than their peers without learning disabilities. Many children with learning disabilities experience [low self-esteem and anxiety](https://opus.govst.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=capstones) around schoolwork. With less time to learn and less professional learning support, these issues may intensify.