PARENTS have called for a change in the law to prevent councils cutting the school week.

The call came after local authorities suggested shortening the time pupils spend in class as part of wider budget cuts.

The primary school week currently amounts to 25 hours during term time, but this is not backed up by legislation and some councils have considered reducing it to 22.5 hours a week.

Iain Ellis, chair of the National Parent Forum of Scotland, warned the move would damage education and should be outlawed.

He said: "Local authorities are making decisions on school budgets and all of them will be looking at ways to reduce costs, including cutting the school week, but this can only have a detrimental impact on learning.

"It could also lead to a further reliance on homework, which is dependent on parents' involvement and sadly, not every child has this support."

Mr Ellis said changing the start and finish times of the school day was also problematic for working parents.

He added: "Finding and paying for additional childcare is not easy and has a bigger impact on families who are already the most disadvantaged.

"Our view is that the Scottish Government should legislate to protect the amount of teaching time that children receive every week."

A number of councils including West Dunbartonshire, Fife and Highland have all looked at a reduction before rejecting the idea, but it is still on the table in Falkirk.

The controversial proposals have also been given reluctant backing from headteachers with a survey of Scottish primary heads finding 60 per cent thought it was an acceptable way to save money to protect other areas of education.

Greg Dempster, general secretary of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, said the "disappointing" proposal would not normally find favour, but the reality of cuts facing councils had to be realised.

He said: "The budget situation means savings must be made."

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union, backed the call from the National Parent Forum of Scotland.

He said: "The EIS is exploring the legal position and will be calling on the Scottish Government to strengthen the law to ensure that all children have an equal right to a quality education, including regarding the length of the school week.

"The EIS will continue to resist strongly any proposals, in any council area, that would cut the school week for pupils."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Local authority schools have a statutory duty to be open for 190 days each year and it is for councils to determine the length and structure of the individual school day, week or year, taking account of local circumstances.

"Clearly, any proposed change to the school week should be subject to consultation involving schools, parents and the wider community."

Currently, there is no fixed daily or weekly timetable applying to all schools. The law does not define the length of the individual school day or week for pupils.

These are matters for the discretion of the education authorities.

Authorities do, however, adhere to a widely accepted norm for the length of the pupil week in primary schools of 25 hours. Teachers work a 35-hour week with the additional hours spent preparing for classes or marking.