A call to end early starts in education

Study reveals that traditional student start times are damaging learning and health

A study by researchers from the University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School and the University of Nevada has found that current school and university start times are damaging the learning and health of students.

Drawing on the latest sleep research, the authors conclude students start times should be 08:30+ at age 10; 10:00+ at 16; and 11:00+ at 18. Implementing these start times should protect students from short sleep duration and chronic sleep deprivation, which are linked to poor learning and health problems.

These findings arise from a deeper understanding of circadian rhythms, better known as the body clock, and the genes associated with regulating this daily cycle every 24 hours.

It is during adolescence when the disparity between inherent circadian rhythms and the typical working day come about. Circadian rhythms determine our optimum hours of work and concentration, and in adolescence these shift almost 3 hours later. These genetic changes in sleeping patterns were used to determine start times that are designed to optimize learning and health.

The US Department of Health has also recently published an article in favour of changing the start times for Middle and High Schools.

Corresponding author Paul Kelley (Honorary Clinical Research Associate, Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford) will be presenting Time: the key to really understanding our lives at the British Science Festival on Tuesday 8 September. As the British Science Association’s President of Education this academic year, Kelley will be advising the audience on how our better understanding of our body clock can benefit us all.

The Festival will take place from 7-10 September in Bradford, and provides an opportunity to meet researchers face-to-face and discuss the latest science, technology and engineering.

Space for some events is limited, so book now to reserve your place at www.britishsciencefestival.org.

For media enquiries, please contact:

The press office at the British Science Association

T: +44 (0) 20 7019 4954 |E: press@britishscienceassociation.org

Links to papers:

1 Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439884.2014.942666

2 Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and mortality weekly report, vol 64 no. 30 http://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/32679

Notes for editors

1.      About the British Science Festival

The British Science Festival is one of Europe’s largest science festivals and regularly attracts hundreds of the UK’s top scientists and speakers to discuss the latest developments in science with the public. Over 50,000 visitors attend the talks, discussions and workshops. Registration is free for journalists, and gets you access to hundreds of events. The Festival takes place at a different location each year and was last held in Bradford in 2011. The 2015 Festival will take place from 7 - 10 September hosted by the University of Bradford. The headline sponsor is Siemens. For further information, visit www.britishsciencefestival.org @BritishSciFest #BSF15

2.     About the British Science Association

The British Science Association (BSA) believes that science should be part of – rather than set apart from – society and culture, and is owned by the wider community. Our programmes encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to engage with science, become ambassadors for science, and ultimately to be empowered to challenge and influence British science - whether they work in science or not.

Established in 1831, the BSA is a registered charity that organises major initiatives across the UK, including British Science Week, the annual British Science Festival, regional and local events, the CREST Awards and other programmes for young people in schools and colleges. The BSA also organises specific activities for professional science communicators, including a specialist conference and training. For more information, please visit www.britishscienceassociation.org

3.         About Siemens

Siemens was established in the United Kingdom 170 years ago and now employs 13,760 people in the UK. Last year’s revenues were £3.36 billion. As the world’s largest engineering company, Siemens provides innovative solutions to help tackle the world’s major challenges across the key sectors of energy, industry, infrastructure & cities and healthcare. Siemens has offices and factories throughout the UK, with its headquarters in Frimley, Surrey. The company’s global headquarters is in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.siemens.co.uk

4.         About Taylor & Francis Group

Taylor & Francis Group partners with researchers, scholarly societies, universities and libraries worldwide to bring knowledge to life. As one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, ebooks and reference works our content spans all areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Science, and Technology and Medicine.

From our network of offices in Oxford, New York, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Stockholm, New Delhi and Johannesburg, Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues.

Please include the following when quoting the article:

Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’,

Paul Kelley, Steven W. Lockley, Russell G. Foster & Jonathan Kelley,

Volume 40, Issue 1, Learning, Media and Technology,

published by Routledge

For more information please contact:
Katie Whittington, Marketing Coordinator, Taylor & Francis Group
email: katie.whittington@informa.com

About Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group is one of the world’s leading publishers of academic journals. We are dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly information, drawing on expertise development since first publishing learned journals in 1798. Taylor & Francis now publish over 1,600 scholarly journals in association with over 460 learned societies and scholarly institutions. We operate from a network of 20 global offices, including Philadelphia, Oxford, Melbourne, Stockholm, Beijing, New Delhi, Johannesburg and Singapore.   To learn more about our portfolio, please visit: www.tandfonline.com

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