Four Day Week

Have been looking at a discussion which friend Bowie started on the topic of a staggered four day week (staggered so that the norm is for everyone to work four days but for those days to be distributed over all days of the week). It is an interesting notion that has been expressed in reverse by the likes of the Three Day Weekend Party (they exist and are only semi-joking). It is potentially attractive to those for whom rest and recreation as an important part of a civilized life. It may also be supported by those wanting more flexibility and productivity in the workforce. It is worth noting that these sort of changes may just happen over time rather than be imposed by government.

I am happy to steer away from any technical discussion of the economics of this issue (something best left to others). But I will say that such a thing may have interesting implications for cultural life. Society is segregated into shifts with the majority in the Monday-to-Friday daytime shift and with a minority in other working patterns. Those with funny hours find themselves deprived of chances to participate fully in society because they are working while the rest of us are partying. The staggered four day week (any staggered week in fact) could change this by replacing the majority shift with many more different but overlapping shifts. This may then also have ecomomic impacts in terms of distribution of customers over the course of a week for the hospitality industry. What do others reckon?

On a personal note...

The rest of this post is unusually personal and introspective for me. It may be helpful for those who never seem to know what I do despite me telling them on numerous occasions.

What would the implications of a four-day week be for me? It would be attractive if it was secure. Four days worth of work would provide a sufficient income while three days off would provide sufficient time for all the other things in life. One day for recreation... one for rest... one for personal development and contribution to the community.

At present I have much more spare time than that in the average week. My clerical work only gives me a few days work a week (it is effectively a job-share scenario - something that I think is becoming more common). The spare time is nice and I honestly have no difficulty at all in filling it with whatever (it can be difficult sometimes however to account to others what I have done). The job and company are nice but more hours would be better simply for the sake of a better income. Some may suggest that I get a second job to take care of that. But then I consider the added complications of two jobs (different commutes and different work practices and different paper work to fill in) and get scared off. I am far too attached to continuity for my own good. Changes will occasionally be acted upon me and I quickly assimilate them into an otherwise similar continuity.

But what ever happened to the teaching? I have recently completed (successfully) the part-time course to add primary teaching to my secondary teaching qualification. Bully for me. But the last teaching round I undertook left me reeling. Put it this way - how can I possibly make a group of twenty or so autonomous persons (of whatever age) do what I want them to do rather than what they want to do? Sure there are refinements in method that can be useful but I also feel there is a knack and it one that I lack. I have always had that problem but have always dismissed it with reference to the circumstances. A bunch of mid-teens at an under-funded state school in a disadvantaged area will naturally give the emergency teacher an awful time. But what if it also happens with a nice bunch of sweet preps in the relatively controlled conditions of a supervised teaching round? For a long time now I had been assuming or hoping that my issues with teaching were particular rather than universal. I now think differently.

There is more to this than just one problematic teaching round. It seems to have drawn attention to an issue that was always there. Then there have also been the stresses associated with a correspondence course. And the content of some of the course work which can be a tad wanky. And the fact that the teaching profession seems to be the biggest political football with parents and pressure groups and governments all wanting it to compensate for wider societal issues. And the holidays may be long but then your work follows you home every day. And then there is the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) that seems to exist only to charge fees and impose an additional layer of assessment onto new teachers. I think I want a simpler life than all that. And even if I do decide to go back into it I will be very selective in what I apply for.

None of this matters particularly. I have never been obsessed with any particular profession. As a child I never even had an answer to the question of what I want to be as an adult. Teaching was just something that seemed consonant with my skill-set and something I regarded as important. Now I think that answering customer phone calls and processing purchase orders is just fine thanks. It's just a pity I spent such a long time to come to this conclusion. Take me back to the intersection marked 1996!