IN LIGHT of the Ateneo community’s discussions about a reduced school week, The GUIDON’s Research Staff conducted two surveys on the proposal for a five-day school week to replace the current six-day school week. In contrast to previous surveys conducted by the Sanggunian in A.Y. 2017-2018 which showed a “lukewarm” and “uninterested” response from students, the follow-up survey results revealed that both students and faculty members are now in favor of the proposal’s implementation. 

While The GUIDON’s first survey was disseminated through social media only, another supplementary survey was distributed via email from October to November 2019. The supplementary survey aimed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the preferences of University employees by allowing professors and staff to respond as well. 

The online surveys aimed to determine students and University employees’ stance on the proposal and provide stakeholders with more insights on the matter. In total, the two surveys garnered 970 responses.

The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Josefina D. Hofileña, PhD said that the preferences of the Loyola Schools (LS) community stated in The GUIDON’s follow-up surveys can affect the current proposal because it contrasts previous findings. Revisions to the proposal, if any, will be led by the Sanggunian and the administration in the coming months. 

Majority in favor 

When asked about the Sanggunian survey, Hofileña confirmed Vilches’ previous statement on past survey respondents being against the proposal mainly because they were not willing to go to school only for extra-curricular activities. 

Vilches also claimed that the Sanggunian was asked to conduct a survey on the matter, but the administration did not receive further updates because the feedback of the proposal only received around 20 respondents at that time. 

Following this, The GUIDON aimed to reach a wider range of responses. The first  survey received 688 responses from students and alumni, while the second had 282 responses from LS students, faculty members, administration, and alumni. In both surveys, students comprised the bulk of the respondents. 

Both surveys asked about respondents’ take on the implications of the proposal, which included longer class hours, 10:30 PM dismissals, and a free activity day. 

Most respondents were in favor of the five-day school week with as many as 81% of the first survey’s respondents in favor of a reduced week. Meanwhile, 44 of the 64 professors strongly agreed on the necessity of a day without academic classes. 

“An activity day gives [the] faculty time [for] research-related activities,” a School of Social Sciences professor answered. 

However, even though the majority of participants favored the reduced school week, the first survey revealed that over 78% of the respondents were not willing to have classes until 10:30 PM. Additionally, 531 of the 688 participants agreed that the reduced school week can affect students’ ability to absorb lectures. 

Gaps and limits

University Registrar Joaquin Agtarap, MBA, the original drafter of the reduced school week proposal alongside Hofileña, noted that The GUIDON’s first and second survey failed to ask students about whether they are in favor of having a separate day just for extra-curricular activities. According to him, this information is significant because past survey respondents were not willing to go to school for non-academic activities only. 

Hofileña also explained that the implementation of the new curriculum has implications on the proposal. She said that the “full impact” of the new curriculum has not taken effect as of today, which will add strain to the lack of classrooms in the future. 

Agtarap shared this sentiment, noting that as juniors and seniors are currently under the “lighter” curriculum, while freshmen and sophomores are likewise on the “new, heavier” curriculum. According to him, the lack of classrooms will be more pronounced once the new curriculum is fully implemented. 

With questions of feasibility of a reduced school week, Hofileña noted that further data regarding the number of courses and students are still being gathered after the implementation of the new curriculum, as the increased number of units has implications on the number of classrooms needed. 

Giving in  

Changes in the curriculum and classrooms aside, Agtarap said that if the proposal gets approved “people are going to have to give in” to the possibility of having to attend class earlier in the morning or later in the evening despite their apprehensions about this change. 

Hofileña also emphasized the importance of compromise and acceptance when it comes to class time slots: “To a certain extent, there has to be openness [from] both sides, the students and the faculty [members], to have schedules that may not all be [during] prime time.” 

As for the student concerns on absorbing lessons differently, Sanggunian President Quiel Quiwa said that it is “part of a cultural shift” that students should learn to adapt to. 

He also stated that the Sanggunian is currently working on another revised proposal for the five-day school week with the help of Ateneo Loyola Schools Faculty Association because they felt that the proposal of the Office of the Registrar (OR) was “not moving forward.”

To craft this proposal, the Sanggunian received initial data about the number of classrooms, classes, and subjects from the OVPLS and the OR. Quiwa claimed that they aim to present their proposal to the Loyola Schools community by the end of the second semester. 

“This way, we could already consider both the inputs of students and faculty, instead of just having an admin-led proposal,” he said.