Teaching union chief Daniel Kebede urges school retrofits and exam changes after summer heatwave closures

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, says schools should consider changing start and finish times, reordering holidays and moving exams out of the summer. He also wants the government to launch a mass retrofitting programme for school buildings.

Kebede, who leads the UK's biggest education union, made the case in an interview with the Guardian. His argument: schools were built "for a different climate" and are not equipped for the heat now hitting them.

What happened this summer

At least 760,000 schoolchildren in England and Wales missed lessons because of school closures during the June heatwave. Pupils lost more than 15 million hours of lesson time.

Classroom temperatures topped 40°C, according to Kebede. Teachers told the Guardian that temperature records were broken and that pupil behaviour and attention deteriorated fast.

One primary school teacher described the scene: "Everyone was lying or sitting on the floor with their water bottles, sweating, moaning and feeling tired, [complaining of] headaches and nausea. The adults barely coped and most of the children were calling for their mummies and daddies. There was no learning, just surviving the best we could."

Kebede said union members contacted him in distress throughout the summer. "The last time I felt that level of panic in the profession was during the Covid pandemic," he said. "They felt there was a real risk and danger to themselves and to their pupils."

The proposals

Kebede called for "a really serious discussion about how we make sure there is the continuity of education in this changed climate." His list of options:

• Moving the school year around, or lengthening the summer holiday. "In hot countries they tend to have a longer summer holiday," he said.
• An earlier start and earlier finish to the school day.
• Holding exams outside "the hottest part of the year."

These are ideas for debate, not a costed plan. Kebede is a union leader making a pitch, not a government announcing policy.

Who bears the cost

Kebede warned that the damage lands hardest on poorer families. Pupils sent home from closed schools often go back to flats that are unsuitable for hot weather, he said, and parents or guardians cannot always work remotely or take time off.

He also warned that without upgrades, schools in wealthier areas will have more ways to protect pupils from the heat than schools elsewhere.

The heat was not confined to Britain. Wildfires and extreme temperatures hit countries across Europe this summer. Student protesters in France have taken to the streets, and one of their key demands is action to make classrooms bearable in extreme heat.

The open questions

A national retrofit programme means taxpayer money, and the price of retrofitting schools across the country is the obvious question. Moving exam seasons or lengthening holidays would also reshape family life, childcare and working patterns for millions of households, not just school timetables.

The deadline is next summer. Kebede wants schools better prepared before what he described as "El Niño-charged temperatures" arrive. Whether the government takes up any of his proposals, and at what cost, remains to be seen.