Impacts of a full-time school program on learning

                      This week will finish the public consultation of the Brazilian government about the new high school. If we look to high school in other countries we'll see that this kind of flexibilization of subjects and eletive subjects have been a reality for many years. We have to remember the initial proposal of the new high school was simply the students choose the subjects according to what he/she is intending to study in the university and technical course for those that don't want to study in the university. This post is a summary of three articles. The first was published with the incomplete title above in 2022 at https://www.scielo.br/j/ee/a/XjMWSdzS59Pky6wL5jdCcBd/. The second was published athttps://www.ourkids.net/pl-en/education-european-countries.php#maincontent. The third was published at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education_in_the_United_States

                     Brazil has undergone a major expansion of education in recent decades, but the quality of the educational system still remains a problem. To improve student learning several efforts are being made, including lengthening the school day. Data from 2018 shows that Brazil has a school day shorter than the average of the OECD countries and shorter than other Latin America countries and the U.S. The Brazilian National Education Plan foresees that, by 2024, 50% of public schools should be full-time. It is not straightforward to assume that longer school hours imply gains in academic performance. For example, the federal program Mais Educação, created in 2007 with the intention of expanding full-time education seems to have been unsuccessful in increasing student performance. The educational production function relates the imputs to the maximum possible learning and is based on the production function in firm theory. Among the various inputs, we have those related to families, peers, and the school, such as teacher quality and available infrastructure (library, classroom size). Among the school's inputs, we have the time the student stays at school (number of hours per school-day, number of school days in the year). Success in learning depends on the amount of time that a person spends learning a given task, given the amount of time needed to learn the task. Altough Carrol's model indicates a positive relationship between instruction time and learning, Levin and Tsang (1987) shows that the mechanical increase in the school day may be an inefficient policy to improve performance of students. The point here is that there is a relationship between time devoted to learning and effort. The theoretical result is that the student will reduce his efforts if the additional instructional time is higher that the equilibrium. However, the additional instruction time may have an effect on student's performance if combined with other changes in learning. Policies that make schools more attractive, making the learning experience more interesting, may eliminate the student's effort reduction. All these variables enter into the educational production function, with possible impacts on learning, in addition to classroom time and the learning environment. There are papers that analyze the impact of these other variables on learning. For example, teacher turnover, school accountability, etc. It is also important to highlight different benefits that the PEI (programa de ensino integral) can generate in the long term. Evidence shows that school performance has an impact on future wages, even controlled for years of schooling. There is also evidence of a positive relationship between test scores and school attainment. And is this positive relationship between test score and school attainment is valid, it is important to mention Lochner (2011) who deals with some of the nonproduction benefits of education, especially on crime and health. Macro evidence also shows higher economic growth for countries with better educational quality.                                                                                                                                                            Secondary education in Poland covers general high school as well as technical schools. Students can choose some of the subjects they will take. The last level of compulsory British education is high school. The curriculum already includes fewer subjects, and the focus is mainly on the classes with which students want to pursue further education in university. Education ends with an exam called GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). After completing primary school in Germany, students can choose from further education in three institutions: 1) Hauptschule - emphasize preparation for a specific profession. After graduation students are enable to practice a craft. 2) Realschule: intended mainly for people who are interested in the economy or a specific job. The curriculum here includes science and foreign languages. 3) Gymnasium: the wide range of subjects aims to prepare students for university. After completing the first level of education, students in Spain go to high school. The first stage of high school in mainly lessons on elementary subjects, a foreign language as well as general vocational education. Students are assessed using points from tests and activity in the classroom. The number of points determines the final assessment at the end of the year. A certificate at this phase enables further education in upper high school or a vocational school. Upper high school or Bachillerato is designed to prepare students to study at university. The main focus here is on lessons related to young people's interests or future career plans.                                             Many high school in the U.S. offer of vocational or university preparation curriculum. Schools that offer vocational programs include a very high level of technical specialization, e.g. auto mechanics or carpentry, with a half-day instruction work program. Many states requires courses in the "core" areas of English, sciences, social studies, and math. Public high schools offer a wide variety of elective courses. Some schools require students to earn a few credits of classes considered electives, common types of electives include: Visual arts (drawing, painting, film studies). Performing arts (choir, drama, band, guitar). Vocational education (woodworking, metalworking, auto repair, agriculture). Information technology (programming, robotics, graphic design, web design, video game design). Business education (accounting, data processing, entrepreneuship, finance, management, marketing).