What do you think about no Homework?

How do you get good at something if you don't practise it? I can't think of anything at which I have improved with no work. And there is limited time in the classroom for practising and working - as opposed to being shown something for the first time.

The quality of the homework is important, though. And different children need different things from the homework (eg weak at maths: need lots of repetition; strong at maths: need more problem-solving etc).

Sorry RA66, I'm still not convinced. You started by saying that you would introduce this for years 7-9 but you now seem to be implying that homework at any level of secondary school is not worthwhile. How else are you going to teach potential FE/HE students the skills of self-study?

If you do not explain this properly to current and future parents then you will experience the brain-drain as described by cat64 in the sixth posting to this thread. Parents do not take kindly to schools experimenting with their child's future.

Also, as seeker said, homework is a useful bridge between home and school: if a child does all its work and school and consequently never brings its books home then the parents' information is severely curtailed. All we will know is what we glean from:
-the report (once a year, a cut&paste nonsense)
-the parents' evening (again, usually only one per year) and
-what the child tells us (hollow laugh).
As you must know, parental involvement does have a huge impact on the attainment of students (15% IIRC).

Can you please link to this research about the non-usefulness of homework that you keep quoting?

I like those ideas dolly. getting students to choose the project creates ownership of their learning. and it'd be fairer on those with different learning styles - kinaesthetic etc :)

not sure about peer marking though (not too often anyway) as it'd take up too much class time.

what I really don't understand is why some people have a negative outlook on HW right from the start. their kids come home with their first piece of HW and the parents are negative about it "oh dear well never mind let's get it out of the way" or even just saying how horrible it is or telling their kids not to bother . I can understand if parents have trouble with the work themselves, especially subjects like literacy/maths and they are dreading helping, but surely they can understand that if they're overt about their hatred of HW, then their kids will pick up on that and that can't be good?!

is it THAT hard to pretend to be positive about it?

You can give the students responsibility for their own learning by allowing them to choose how best to consolidate the work done in class.

Instead of providing the same homework for all, a range of homework options could be given eg mind mapping/comic strip/Q&A/set a quiz/revision 'poster'/powerpoint presentation/podcast etc and students could choose which type of homework they preferred.

Such homework could even be displayed and peer marked. That way, students could learn different techniques for consolidating work done from each other. You could introduce certain provisos to ensure that everyone covered all the techniques.

I know, I know...I'm getting carried away .

One thing that did jump out at me was the OP's comment that 'If it works I might make it school policy for Years 7 to 9.'

I'll be the first to admit that my school is somewhat hierarchy bound (HT works on the general assumption that his entire staff are workshy, untrustworthy woo merchants who need a Tight Rein & a collective bollocking at least weekly) - but I'd be surprised at a teacher, or even HOD, getting to set the school HW policy, even within a given subject area.

I'd've expected it to require a little more consultation tbh, with the link member of SLG at the very least.

We're moving towards 'Extended Learning Tasks' atm - I teach English, & it's going to be full steam ahead for KS3 in September.

The argument is that it should, if thoughtfully set, provide genuine additional learning - so in some of our pilots, for example, students have built a model set for Macbeth & delivered a presentation on the process & the decisions they've made; or directed & filmed a scene using family members as actors, & producing an annotated 'director's text' & a director's diary; or have independently watched & compared in essay form several film versions.

Obviously, being able to choose the task is brilliant for student engagement.

I teach a lad whose literacy SEN means that he has always seen English = frustration + humiliation. He built a stunning model set, based on an Antony Sher theatre production he'd seen a clip from on video, & gave a confident & assured presentation on how he'd thought the production was great, but the design wasn't gruesome enough, so he'd got his Art teacher to advise him - she'd steered him towards some Chapman brothers dioramas, & he was off.

I've got the end result on a shelf in my teaching room. It's admittedly fairly grisly, but it's going to be a fantastic talking point when I do Macbeth again next year. & for this particular student, he a) had a blast & b) got properly to grips with Shakespeare, hunting down grisly horrible quotes to support his presentation!

I would make a couple of caveats:

Some subjects (MFL & Maths, off the top of my head) need regular drills/practices. Doubtful whether ELTs could ever replace conventional HW in these.

You need a definite learning outcome - another student created an animated film using Simpsons characters. It took him hours, it was well done & quite funny, but it had bugger all to do with advancing his understanding of Macbeth! Likewise the girl who simply filmed her grandparents reading the scene where Lady M goads Macbeth into killing Duncan - could've been very successful if she'd actually directed them & reflected on her decisions...

& yes, there must be teacher feedback, linked to the learning.

I'd be interested to know how you get on, OP!

My DCs are/were at a highly selective state grammar school. Older DCs are/were at Russell Group universities.

About 40 pupils each year at their school get places at Oxbridge. Every pupil gets a place at a Russell Group university if not Oxbridge.

Personally, I don't think they need to do lots of homework all the time. They are easily able to cover the curriculum at school.

There is not enough time to both learn and practice everything that needs to be done - that is why homework is necessary.

Put it this way, the best independent schools I know set homework. So should every school. Is there any need to ask why independent schools get more pupils into university than state schools.

I don't really understand what you are offering RobAnthony?

It sounds just as tedious as setting 'traditional' homework (which I don't agree with). In fact it sounds more tedious. Certainly my DCs would not want to do any 'optional' homework and I certainly would not want to have to try and nag them encourage them to do it incessantly.

I would prefer they had no homework at all and just did what was needed at school and then we can all have a relaxing evening/holidays at home.

And this is from a parent with DCs at/were at highly academic selective school!

I don't understand some parents' obsession with homework. Why can't children just go to school, do the academic work there, and come home without some awful project/essay or whatever hanging over them?

RobAnthony - if you were my DSs teacher you would be getting a visit and a very difficult meeting.

While I agree that homework for the sake of it is a bad thing surely a good teacher should be setting homework that gives children the chance to practice and extend and consolidate what they learned in class.

Just giving optional homework to children means it does not get done IME. It has to be compulsory and relevant. Frankly, it just sounds lazy to not set it and if you were working in a selective fee paying school you would be sacked.

Sorry but what on earth are you thnking of?!

My only concern with no homework would be training the children for GCSE. What will happen when they are used to doing nothing and then, suddenly, the GCSE years kick in and there is no avoiding coursework or revision.

Personally, I am all for children not having homework but having lots of out of school activities and hobbies, but I do think homework over three secondary years helps get them prepared for what is to come.

If you are talkingPrimary then, fine,ditch it.If secondary then I'd like to see a terms project perhaps, or research, or regular revision allocated as homework. Something which helps teach independant learning skills.

I think also there is an issue regarding those children who don't have the space/facilities to do homework.
Many children live in B&B, homeless accommodation, emergency accommodation.
I have a couple of kids from around here who come in to mine to do their homework and use the laptops.
They have no books at home for reference, and there seems to be an assumption that every child has access to a computer.

Me too!

I don't agree with homework for the sake of it.

In my old school we had to set something like two 30 minute homeworks a week and I hated it and thought a blanket rule was pointless. I think that homework with a reason is fine. Even so, often the work is more effectively done in class, even homeworks that I think are acceptable, such as learning spellings. I had a variety of classes for teaching spelling (such as spelling bees and games) and generally found these much more fun and effective than, 'Write the numbers one to ten down your page. Number one is hygiene' etc..

I was a good student at school but only did the best set homework in a slapdash way. Most of it was pointless, IMO.

What is the point? "The information was imparted, left to rattle around in the brain for a few hours and was then required to be dredged up again for homework. It was the initial, short-term part of the retention of data (aka revising) process."

Chalk&talk worked for us and we were perfectly capable of concentrating for a whole forty minute lesson. In fact, we were also able to concentrate long enough to be able to do three hour exams which, apparently, the kids of today can no longer do (how can you call a 30 minute test an exam for goodness sake!)

Have you asked employers what they think of your no-homework idea? - I know that they are generally not terribly impressed with what is coming out of the education system these days.

Can someone explain how this 'no homework' idea works?

When I was at school, we had a lesson of talk&chalk and were then set work to check that we understood the concepts and could apply them. The information was imparted, left to rattle around in the brain for a few hours and was then required to be dredged up again for homework. It was the initial, short-term part of the retention of data (aka revising) process.
Is this now done in class instead? Is that why teachers always complain about lack of time to cover the syllabus?

Another teacher who thinks formal homework is ridiculous.

Dh's old school abandoned the idea (following research from Institute of Education on the lack of benefits of homework) and do optional project based tasks instead.

I think that if the student is given work to do whether compulsory or optional the teacher should then give the student feedback. This doesnt mean marking. It means explaining where it has worked really well and where improvements could be made.

No or reduced compulsory homework wont mean less work for the teacher, it will probably mean more but I think that work will be more interesting.

I know that my younger DCs find their homework a frustration. For DS it is simply a chore to be got out of the way. For DD it doesnt allow her to express herself fully.

Something which improved this and engaged DCs would be gratefully received.