Teacher setting homework and revision for the next day!

[monarona]

Do you think a teacher setting urgent revision and homework for the next day is reasonable? My child struggles with tremendous anxiety around tests, and frequently the same teacher says "test tomorrow" and sets a good 45 minute revision to be done that evening. I personally think it's unfair and causes great anxiety and stress in my y8 child. They have test and exam anxiety in general anyway, and it just makes things ten times worse (crying, meltdowns, paralysis - ND btw). Would welcome thoughts from other parents on this. I want to speak to the teacher, as I think its unfair, at least 48hrs is fairer, as some kids have after school commitments as well. What do others think?

There is plenty of time to revise on the school bus.

You need to give positive reactions to the homework.
You being calm counts.
They can easily have a quick snack and get stuck in as soon as they get home.
Be interested in the school work. Show that it is worth learning.
Suggest that they also revise on the bus in the morning.

Remind your child that doing their best is all that is required in a test. The teacher needs to know what thekids know so that she can adjust what she teaches them next.

Everyone in the class is doing the same.
Your child is not singled out.

If the teachers don't know what they have & haven't learnt from Monday, they don't know if they should go back over it or build on it as the learning is already secure on Tuesday.

Totally agree with having 48 hours to allow for after school clubs, but 7.45am to 4.15pm is really not a long day at all, and allows plenty of time for homework, relaxation, dinner before bedtime. I can't see the problem with that

All our homework is set for the next day (year 4 and year 8 child, about 30-60 min per day).
If we don’t do it in the evening, it gets done the next morning.
Kids come home from school around 5, once a week around 6:30

My children’s school has a policy of a minimum of 48 hours between homework being set and when it’s due in.

My brother and friend are teachers and say thats the most common approach in schools they’ve taught at although some have had a week between as standard.

Speak to the school OP. They should stick to their own policy.

7.20am not 7.45 (bear in mind they leave the house at 7.10am).

When you consider this is daily, it's as much as a full time working week for a 12 year old. It IS exhausting, especially for an ND child.

Also this is a child who sleeps very badly. Yes, we're working on it!

And homework on the bus, as much as I would love to enforce it, again I just don't think this is realistic. It's a noisy school bus, and the home journey is two separate buses. Yes... we have got earplugs etc. etc.

It’s inconsiderate of the teacher. Give a week’s notice and remind them the day before. That way everyone should have time to do the revision and those who want to do it the night before still can. As a fellow anxious ND person, I would be much happier with this.

Is the homework "Revise for a test on this tomorrow" or is it "Write an essay on the Titanic AND revise for a test on this tomorrow"? There's a big difference.

OP, I was going to say: check the school’s assessment policy. I would be shocked if a school allowed summative assessments with less than 48 hours’ notice.

We (I’m a secondary school teacher and department head) have to plan all our summative assessments at the start of the year and put them all in the calendar. If anything changes, we are required to give 5 working days’ notice. For regular homework we are allowed to set work due the next day, but it’s greatly discouraged, and we would have extensions for students with sen or anxiety. Typically, homework given on Monday would be due on Thursday/Friday, and we are very flexible with deadlines.

If you decide to contact the teacher or school, make sure you have a copy of the assessment policy on hand.

At my kids school it was usually due in the next day. They were expected to prioritise homework over everything else. It avoids it mounting up andcalso tge topic is fresh on their mind.
In y7 it was 2 or 3 subjects a night and then in y8 3 subjects a night. Each subject 30 to 40 mins

Is this typical for children at the school, or are you at a further school due to ND? I can understand not studying on the bus as both myself and DC get travel sick if trying to read on buses, but my DS usually gets home at around the same time, chills for an hour and still has time for homework on the days he doesn’t have clubs.

normal school. buses are timed ridiculously early, there's no way around it.

obviously we do some homework on school nights, it's not my gripe that they give it out at all. but shorter notice for tests and less than 24hrs notice I think is a bit much.

Do the children have advanced warning of the tests or do they find out only when revision is set , which is the night before? Is this a regular occurrence or a one (or a couple) off?

for this and other recent tests by this teacher, night before find out about test and revision. hence finding it a little annoying. I will perhaps email the office and ask them about it politely. I don't want to overstep as a parent but I think it's fair to do it.

So is there homework AND revision? They are very different things

Ex teacher

if the school has a policy that homework should not be set one day for the next then complain. Teachers should stick to school policy.

some schools do do this. I’m not a fan generally because what tends to happen is that the students will have nothing most of the week and then get six do overnight homeworks one day which is clearly unreasonable.

Homework / revision is done through answering questions on an online platform. Hence homework AND revision. Not that I see a great deal of difference even if it was just making notes and reading. both involve work and concentration.

thank you. this is my issue.

Yes I think it’s unfair. Many kids have commitments outside of school and maybe busy that evening. They should always have a few days to complete the work. This also teaches the students to manage their time which is incredibly useful skill for life.

if this is happening regularly I might ask the teacher to adjust when he gives h/w. If it is a one- off, that’s fair enough.

I'm a secondary school teacher.

The teacher isn't following the school's own homework policy. They don't get to be the exception to the rule. They clearly think they are, and they need to be told that they're not. I hate teachers who take pleasure in stressing kids out - they have no place in the classroom.

Email the Head of Department and copy in the Headteacher, quoting the homework policy and providing evidence of a pattern of setting homework for the next day, against their school policy. Say this is causing your child stress and anxiety especially as the teacher is using threatening language around students not being able to access opportunities next year if they don't do the work. Be clear that you want this teacher spoken to and for this breach of policy to stop.

At the same time you do need to work on the anxiety with your child, though - while this teacher isn't helping, if they're this anxious about assessments at their age, they are not coping to cope once they hit GCSE. Are they seeing the school counsellor?

I mean, I don’t check the app for homework daily. My dc goes from school to a job and then sports practice 3 days a week and doesn’t get home til 9:30pm. We plan homework on days when she’s free. I wouldn’t be scrambling to do homework at 10pm just because a teacher couldn’t be asked to set it in a timely manner.

Also it’s teaching terrible revision practices. You don’t retain stuff cramming it in last minute. I’m a university lecturer and I’d absolutely get pulled up for doing this to my adult students. In fact, eyebrows would be raised by leadership if I added anything after the start of term.

Absolutely this does change things and gives a completely different way forward, but was a drip feed amid several posts from OP so not everyone will see it before posting.

I think it’s completely fine in y8 and upwards. There will be many, many tests to come. And 45 mins is hardly hours and hours of slog is it!

thank you, this is helpful. I was worried that I was being over-sensitive about what they keep saying about the groups next year. As a parent it is so hard to tell if they are doing it to keep them on their toes and encourage them, but this seems really beyond that (threats that make my child very uncomfortable) and I've noticed in particular such an aversion to this subject since they went in this class, it's such a shame! And does make me cross. Also when i consider that there are limited spaces in this so called 'top group' it doesn't fill me with confidence that some of the very able children won't be left behind, due to these supposed very limited spaces. It's a real shame.

thanks yes we are working on the anxiety etc, I've seen some reduction since year 7, so progress is being made. they did get some group therapy at school. I will keep up with this though.