Taught time is the amount of time during which young people receive instruction in school (for a full definition see the 'Glossary and Statistical Tools' section). The total taught time is affected by several factors including the length of the school year, the length of the school week and the number and duration of lessons in the school day. Nevertheless, almost all countries have central recommendations or regulations on the minimum recommended amount of taught time to be provided by schools.
The average duration of the school year during the period of compulsory education in Europe is 185 days with Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Liechtenstein being the longest with 200 days. In Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania, the duration of the school year increases with the age of pupils, starting at only 155 days in Bulgaria and progressively growing to 195 days in secondary education in Lithuania (1).
Across Europe, teaching is generally spread over five days a week, except in France where it is only four days, and in Italy where, in practice, many schools have classes over six days. Some Länder in Germany also have a six-day school week with school on two Saturdays per month.
The duration of school lessons also varies between countries. In the majority of cases, a lesson or school period is between 40 and 55 minutes. The length of a lesson may vary according to the grade or year group with shorter lessons during the first years of primary schooling, as in the case of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Lithuania (for the first grade), Malta and Turkey. In some other countries, the duration of lessons is variable as schools or teachers may decide, and differences may occur depending on the subject or the specific activities.
Due to the variations mentioned above in the duration of the school year, school week and length of lessons, this analysis is based on a comparison of the annual minimum recommendations for taught time by grade expressed in terms of hours.
In many countries, the official recommendations on minimum taught time envisage a shorter intensive learning period at the beginning of primary education (generally for the first two years), then the number of hours steadily increases through the period of compulsory education, with a significant increase in the later stages of secondary level.
Other countries have the same annual taught time for all grades within each level of education. In Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Turkey, the annual taught time remains the same throughout primary and lower secondary education. Nonetheless, the workload does increase between these two levels. In Belgium (French Community) for example, it increases from about 850 hours a year in primary education to 971 a year in lower secondary education. In Spain, the increase is from 875 to 1 050 hours a year.
(1) More information on the School and Academic calendars can be seen at: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/tools_en.php
E D U C A T I O N A L P R O C E S S E S
Figure F1: Recommended minimum annual taught time during full-time compulsory primary and secondary education, 2010/11
ISCED 1 ISCED 2 and 3 included in compulsory full-time education z Flexible time Number of hours distributed between two or more school years
S E C T I O N I – T A U G H T T I M E
Explanatory note
The taught time illustrated in this figure corresponds to the notional minimum workload of pupils and is based on the minimum national recommendations. The information is presented as annual recommended taught time in hours per grade, bearing in mind the number of taught days and weeks per year as well as the number and length of lesson periods. All figures are rounded up to the next complete number. When the data collected from the national steering document is presented in periods (from 35 to 50 minutes), per week or per year, calculations are done in order to obtain standard annual data in hours. Recreational or other breaks of any kind, as well as the time given over to optional lessons, are not taken into account.
Country specific note
Detailed country notes and national specific information can be seen at:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/tools_en.php#taught_time
Finally, in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway, the total taught time for compulsory subjects is not set for individual school years but rather for a stage within an educational level or, alternatively, for the whole period of primary and/or secondary education. This allows schools the flexibility to allocate the number of hours for each school year as they see fit. Furthermore, the recent Scottish Curriculum for Excellence does not prescribe any total annual taught time or taught time per subject and local authorities and schools are themselves responsible for agreeing the time devoted to each subject and school year.