An inset day, originally an acronym for IN-SErvice Training day, and sometimes known as a Baker day, is one of a series of five days in most English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 and Northern Irish

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 schools during term time but on which school sessions are not required to be run, and the pupils do not attend school. On the inset day, the staff are required to attend training or complete administration tasks.

History

Inset days were introduced in 1988 under a Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 government, by the minister then responsible, Kenneth Baker as part of series of reforms, including the introduction of the National Curriculum. For this reason, the days are often known as Baker Days.

Attendance

Teachers in state schools are required to undertake 5 inset days in addition to the 190 teaching days they are required to deliver each year.

Controversy

This development of moveable teacher training days is accepted by education bodies to cause additional disruption (see http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/working/education_and_skills/schools/inset_days_2011.aspx) and burdens upon working parents that do not have easy access to flexible alternative third party childcare. Teachers who are parents themselves may have greater problems than other working parents as they are unable to take ad-hoc days off to look after their own children whenever an Inset day is scheduled at their children's school.

Reference INSET Days – A Pleasure Or A Pain? http://www.eparenting.co.uk/education/inset_days.shtml by Alex Freeman a freelance writer specialising in parenting and family topics