The case for a 4-day school week

Education policy is in a malleable state. Across Canada, governments are addressing the use of cell phones in classrooms, with policies emerging both nationally and provincially. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Education has updated its evaluation policy for the 2024-25 academic year, bringing back midterm and final exams for Grades 7-12. It has established an Education Transformation Branch, suggesting a focus on reform and innovation. On top of all that, Education Accord NL, introduced in January 2024, offers a comprehensive plan to improve outcomes for students, teachers, and families. 

All of these shifts underscore a broader openness to reevaluating traditional structures within education. With so many pressing issues, there’s never been a more dire time. From classroom violence and classroom supports, to teacher recruitment and retention — this moment is pivotal for proposals aimed at driving meaningful change and restructuring key aspects of our education system.

There’s one policy, though, that could help facilitate the broader transition: a four-day school week.

Under this model, students would attend classes four days a week, with the fifth day functioning as a “support day” for teachers to undertake the plethora of tasks essential to the smooth operation of classrooms: correcting, lesson planning, lesson updating, professional learning, collaboration, student conferencing (if a student requests a meeting with a teacher, or vice versa), data analysis, parent communication, Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and accommodation planning, and more. Bottom line: the current work-week structure doesn’t allow teachers enough time to manage required tasks effectively.

During the support day, students would have the opportunity to study, ask questions related to their learning, participate in project-based learning, engage in peer-tutoring, work part-time, volunteer, and perhaps most importantly better manage their mental health. A key aspect of mental well-being is ensuring young people get adequate sleep and exercise. The four-day instructional week is not about decreasing teacher or student workload — it’s about effectively managing the required work and balancing everyone’s mental health and well-being.

Parents of younger students may obviously have concerns with the concept of the four-day model, since securing child care is challenging for many, logistically and financially. These are valid concerns, but should not be viewed as a reason to dismiss the idea outright. Instead, these challenges are an opportunity to shift into a different way of living and working in Newfoundland and Labrador. Structural changes need our collective, creative attention.

What does the research say?

Hundreds of school systems in the U.S. have already adopted a four-day week, with a majority of parents and teachers supporting the switch. In Canada, the small town of Granum, Alta. switched to a four-day week in 2023. Gulf Islands School District in B.C. made the same change in 2004.

There is limited data available to truly know the impact of a four-day school week; it’s a burgeoning phenomenon, yet to be ubiquitously established and studied. The Journalist’s Resource (a U.S. publication) reported last July that U.S. states which implemented the four-day school week saw significant increases in teacher recruitment, improved staff morale, and fewer instances of fighting and bullying at high schools. The latter issue is of particular importance to Newfoundland and Labrador, as it has been reported that the province is experiencing higher levels of school violence, with police being called to schools 276 times during the 2023-2024 academic year. Newfoundland and Labrador is also facing challenges with teacher recruitment and retention.

If Newfoundland and Labrador became the first province to offer a four-day instructional week for all public schools, new teachers graduating from education programs across the country would be drawn to the revolutionary change. It’s also likely that experienced teachers in other provinces would consider moving their families to a system that would be a clear improvement from what is being offered in the majority of Canada.

The research involving U.S. districts that implemented a four-day school week where the amount of hours were also reduced (the fifth day was removed without adding time to the other four) indicates students made less progress in reading. However, the amount of peer-reviewed data is limited, and “[t]he impact of a four-day school week differs depending on a range of factors, including the number of hours per week a school operates, how the school structures its daily schedule and the race and ethnicity of students.”

Knowing that the amount of instructional hours will have an effect on how students learn, it is imperative that any changes to Newfoundland and Labrador’s school system be made with careful consideration for what works best in this province. The same article mentions that rural students had no reported decline in reading with a change to a four-day week. That bodes well for a significant portion of Newfoundland and Labrador’s students.

In the private sector, most four-day work week formats will increase the length of the work day, and offer three days off. Microsoft Japan reported a 40 per cent increase in productivity as a result of a four-day work week. Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand trust management company, tried a four-day workweek in 2018 (one of the largest trials at the time), which resulted in improved work-life balance, reduced stress levels, and sustained productivity. The company then made it a permanent policy. At present, several companies around the world have established a four-day work week. A search engine has even been developed to help job seekers find employment in their sector with a company that offers some form of a shortened week.

An updated schedule

In St. John’s metro area, several high schools use some iteration of a semesterised schedule that operates on a four-day cycle. 


It might be possible, for example, to add one period to the end of each day, or to add one period before lunch. In this revised schedule, the school day would end at 4:15 p.m. and students would have Fridays off. Under this model, the amount of instructional hours would not change, as the four periods from Friday are still added to the schedule. Teachers would have the necessary time to complete all the required work that can’t be done while instructing and assisting students during class time (which in turn will also enhance each lesson).

This revised schedule is presented solely as an example to demonstrate how a longer school day could preserve instructional time while allowing for a four-day week. It is not intended as a one-size-fits-all solution. Each school community would need to consider its own context, priorities, and constraints in determining what adjustments, if any, might work best.

A unique approach for a unique province

Prior to this school year, NL Schools (previously the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District) offered a pilot program for standards-based grading (SBG) for teachers willing to try it in their courses. This pilot encouraged teachers to grade curriculum-based objectives, provide targeted feedback, and allow students to improve their performance without penalties for early struggles. British Columbia rapidly implemented a similar model that uses a proficiency scale for grading K-9, resulting in widespread criticism as well as increased teacher workloads and resistance from educators. In making the change, B.C. demonstrated it wanted to be perceived as a province at the forefront of educational transformation. But in rushing its policy, and neglecting to provide support to ease the transition, it seems to have prioritized the appearance of change from above, rather than real change happening on the ground.

The new evaluation policy in NL for this school year signaled an end to the SBG pilot program. Newfoundland and Labrador opted not to fully adopt SBG province-wide. Instead, the province has strategically blended select elements of SBG, such as student conferencing, with traditional grading practices underscoring a careful, balanced, and localized approach aligned with the specific needs of its students and teachers. Copying one of the larger provinces is not how Newfoundland and Labrador’s education system is currently making decisions.

The benefits of the four-day instructional week would go a long way in improving the education system in Newfoundland and Labrador, enhancing the experience of students and teachers. Students deserve the best possible experience as they progress through the school system, and it’s necessary to address the system’s current problems in order to ensure a positive future. After enduring the pandemic, is a societal shift more easily imagined than it was five years ago? Is Newfoundland and Labrador willing to shine as a unique province, not to be different for the sake of it but because the current conditions necessitate it?

The four-day work week, however it looks and in whatever iteration is attractive for Newfoundland and Labrador education stakeholders, would be an adjustment. Students and teachers would likely experience improved mental health, and the four-day instructional week would allow several of the underlying challenges in education to be gradually resolved, thus creating an opportunity to fine-tune instruction for world-class education in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Newfoundland and Labrador has an opportunity to lead the way in modernizing the school system, and to lead Canada in an approach that would improve teaching, learning, and quality of life for all. This province has a history of independence—so let’s do what’s best for us. The current resource constraints demand creative solutions. It’s time to move forward with the courage to seriously consider dynamic solutions, and the gumption to implement them. A four-day instructional week is a viable reality. Its benefits will foster genuine systemic growth, and create the conditions for individuals to thrive.