education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, an inset day (an

abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

of in-service training day; alternatively INSET day) is a school day on which teaching sessions are not conducted and students do not attend school, but teachers are required to attend for training or to complete administrative tasks. Inset days allow teachers to catch up on work (such as marking exams or report cards), train on new technology, or learn new methods of teaching. Inset days are common in

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

countries, predominantly the United Kingdom and Canada, and also Ireland. An inset day may also be known as a PD day (professional development day; alternatively pro-D day), PA day (professional activity day), Ped Day (pedagogical day), TD day (teacher development day), teacher training day, teacher's workshop, workshop day, Baker day, staff development day, school development day, or inservice day.

History

In the UK, inset days were introduced in 1988 by Kenneth Baker, then the

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

, as part of a series of reforms that included the introduction of the

National Curriculum for England The National Curriculum for England is the statutory standard of school subjects, lesson content, and attainment levels for primary and secondary schools in England. It is compulsory for local authority-maintained schools, but also often followed b ...

. Baker introduced the requirement for teachers to attend training in addition to the 190 days previously required, leading to the name Baker days.

Attendance

United Kingdom

In the UK, teachers in state schools are required to undertake five inset days in addition to the 190 teaching days children are required to be in school. The days are determined by the

local education authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...

, although

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction * Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality * Free (''gratis''), free of charge * Gratis versus libre, the difference betw ...

schools have the freedom to set their own dates.

Canada

In Canada, the number of inset days varies between each province and individual

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

. The

Canadian territories Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, N ...

are not known to have inset days.

Australia

In Australia it is either known as school development days or staff development days where teaching staff prepare for the school term and it usually is the first day of school term. This could involve professional learning or doing administrative tasks.

Criticism

Parents have to arrange childcare or schedules to account for inset days. This can cause disruptions and burdens on parents who do not have easy access to childcare and flexible schedules. Teachers who are parents themselves may have greater problems than other working parents since they are unable to take inset days off to look after their own children when an inset day is scheduled at their children's school. In Canada, some

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

s and businesses offer "PA day camps" to help parents make alternative plans. It has been suggested that inset days lead to greater

truancy Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorized, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will and usually does not refer to legitimate excused absences, such as ones related to medic ...

, especially when they are scheduled near the end of the school year for teachers to mark report cards and final exams, as students may believe their marks and attendance after those inset days no longer matter.

References

{{Reflist Teacher training programs Education in England Education in Northern Ireland Education in Wales