Do you agree with homework in Primary

Some parents teach absolutely nothing to their children outside of school, some are lazy and borderline neglectful, so setting a small amount of homework for primary school children is a positive thing in my eyes. Homework steps up massively in secondary school, it’s a big adjustment even if your child has always done homework at primary school, let alone if they have never done homework.

Where is the harm in a child learning a bit extra in their spare time?

I’m a reception teacher. I don’t give homework as such, some of my class this year love writing so they ask for things to do at home (letter formation sheets mostly!) The only thing I send for every child is their reading book. They’re not remotely interesting as they must match the sounds they’ve been taught. At the end of this week weve only learnt satpinmd so the books with those in are limited to just words with those! I can absolutely tell which children read at home and practice. On the whole, unless there is an underlying specific reason, they’re the ones who fly with their reading. So where I don’t agree with arbitrary homework, some things really do help the children!

One thin I’ve always wanted to know is if there is evidence that home work improves outcomes for children.

I don’t agree with home work in primary. Obviously reading is good and having books to go home, but multiple tasks a week like we seem to have I don’t understand.
my primary age children both read a ton, listen to education podcasts and play at home so they constantly learning at home. They are exhausted after school and the last thing they or we need is some brining home work to get done.

I especially hate homework when it is too easy for my children (they often spend ages rewriting spellings they already know) or simply a print out from a teaching website that is pretty boring and mundane.

I don't think young children should have homework beyond being encouraged to read at home.

No. I'm a teacher.

However, I do agree with encouraging reading at home. If that's either a book of choice or one taken home from school (many children don't have access.)

School is extremely full on these days, with little time to play after Foundation stage. Most parents also work and have just a few hours and weekends with their kids before bed. Let them play and spend time as a family without the pressure of homework. In my experience parents often have no idea about the homework anyway!

I dont agree with homework in primary either. Mine have these silly grids and you are supposed to pick an activity to do every week on top of spellings etc. We just do the spellings and reading.

I think both. YANBU (85%)homework is a drain and the parents end up doing most of it anyway. YABU (15%) in years 5 and 6 the school are preparing them for secondary...and my word is there a lot of homework! And if they don't do it, they get detention. I don't agree with it and think they should do away with it all together tbh but I'd rather my children enjoy their lunchtime at school than spend it in a room doing the homework they didn't do.

You are not being unreasonamble in the least
You are absolutely right. Stick to your guns. Education is much broader than 'lessons' and most homework( certainly at primary school) amounts to nothing more than being a time filler.

We never did it. Got up to Y3 with DD and noticed that the teacher never marked it so we gave it up.

I never resumed with younger DS either.

It’s also not the fault of the children or the parents- ‘the system doesn’t work therefore you have to make up the shortfall’ isn’t acceptable, not least because a lot of parents either won’t or can’t!

It’s you that doesn’t understand 🤷‍♀️

I can only assume that you don't understand the document

@Toastiesforever

13/15 means DC1 is consistently getting over 10% of the words wrong. If DC1 is not consistently getting 15/15, and you are refusing to do the spellings that the teacher sets the class, you are BU not to do the spellings homework to learn the words for the tests - especially when the teacher is asking you to. Surely you can manage this every week?

If DC1's writing is messy it will need to tidy up and they may need to work on their pen control and grip. This is best done sitting down at a table and not writing in the car.

Again with DC2 you say maths is improving. It still sounds like practice at home would help her confidence and proficiency. You are BU not to find time to let her do the maths homework she gets from school.

Lots of children help with community events, write on school newspapers, music lessons in school and competitive sport. But you can be pretty sure they're actually doing their homework too (at least the basics such as spelling, maths and hopefully reading).

Totally agree. I'm English but dd1 started school in Greece when she was 6 and I was very impressed by the way they taught maths. It was very logical, unfortunately the Greek system at the time required at least an hour's homework every night - possibly more - though school finished at 1230!

My thoughts on the “work life balance” side of it is that homework is such a tiny bit. For a lot (the majority) of children I know they are doing hours and hours of extra curriculars that the parent has signed them up to. They are rushed from school to ballet / piano / football / coding most or every night so there is little time to decompress at home.. but this isn’t the fault of the 20 mins a week homework.

Now obviously my DC also do extra curriculars in things they really want to do, and I can see a massive benefit in a child who loves karate getting to do their karate every Wednesday. The issue I see it are the children doing too many - and so many children around me are doing 1-2 extras every single day, and then weekends too. It can add 10 + hours a week, so a small amount of homework can really not be the issue. DC1’s best friend misses the majority of parties and play dates on the weekend because they are so packed with activities that there is literally no time. On the face of it these activities are all “fun” ones too but there is no time to just be a child.

I agree with homework at primary, provided it's not ridiculously long. My kids went to a private school and there were always reading, spellings and mental arithmetic in the early years. There were some longer projects towards the end which gave the kids the flexibility to choose topics that interested them.

I think it's good for the kids to be encouraged by their parents at home. Also gives you an opportunity to see potential issues and help your child one on one if needed. I feel standards are higher in other countries where education is more valued and supported.

My 6 yo year 2 is swamped with homework, spell shed, numberbot's, TT rock star,. From year 1 she's had spellings - which have proved a totally pointless exercise as despite getting top score in the test she can't spell them in a sentence or a week later - number bonds sheets, to the point that she now says she HATES maths. Thieres also the holiday project that comes back every holiday that 'must' be completed along with two other pieces (generally after 2 days of nagging and finished by me). This will be the third time in the two years we've have virtually the same project so at least we've been able to use the same expected outfit🙄 Oh yes and the 10 minutes reading a day 'expected' (yes that's what the letter said)
She used to sit and draw at the table over breakfast because she loved it now she has to do times tables to keep up with timed test 😪😥
So no I don't agree with homework - she's no further along than friend,same age, who has to read a book over the weekend -done!

YADNBU!

Homework is horrendous. Who on earth decided that CHILDREN should be indoctrinated into thinking that it's okay to bring work home with you?! What sort of work/life balance is this promoting for the future? Sure, some jobs will require people to do work at home, but I'd say this was the exception, not the norm, and as an adult it's up to you to advocate for yourself if it's too much and affecting your life. Children are unlikely to be able to do that.

The education system in this country is broken. Homework won't fix that.

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It depends on the schools homework policy.

I don't agree with hw, I'm a teacher, but I still had to give out lots to my class because the policy said so... often you'll find parents who complaint the kids don't get hw (?!?!?!) so the school feels pushed to set it.

Just find out what the policy is and take it from there, if it's a school policy it's the head's decision.

As a Primary teacher, I don’t agree with homework beyond regular reading, practising spellings and times tables. However every time we try to remove homework we have heavy pushback from parents who want it right from year 1 and want lots in year 5 and 6. The parents always argue that it helps get children ready for secondary school where they will get detentions if it’s not completed. Our compromise is to make it non- compulsory, we reward children who do it with achievement points but don’t punish those who don’t. We also make it all online so that teacher workload in marking is reduced plus it’s more environmentally friendly than worksheets!

Agree homework in primary isnt necessary. Life’s about more than paper work. I’d be asking why they feel they can’t educate adequately in the set school hours??
Homework for GCSE ok. Nothing below that imo!