LONDON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Britain may extend school day hours and cut summer vacation periods as part of proposed education reforms, the country's education minister says.
Minister Michael Gove announced the proposed changes along with plans that would allow school officials to quickly get rid of teachers who are underperforming, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.
Asked in a television interview how teachers might respond to the proposals, Gove said, "If you love your job then there is, I think, absolutely nothing to complain about in making sure you have more of a chance to do it well."
Shorter summer breaks would benefit lower income families, he suggested, as "poorer children from poorer homes lose learning over the long summer holidays."
The government's efforts to improve education standards would include new power to remove underachieving or incompetent teachers, Gove said.
School officials would be allowed to terminate the worst-performing teachers in just a term rather than having to wait a year, he said.
All teachers would be measured against teaching standards every year to ensure performance is being maintained, Gove said, and measures would be introduced to stop poor teachers being "recycled" from school to school.
