To think 16.5 hours a week homework for GCSE is ridiculous?

[Southernisle]

My dd has bought home her year 10 handbook, and in it states homework will be 1.5 hours per subject per week = 16.5 hours per week = Nearly 2.5 hours per night 7 days a week.

This seems like no down time - factor in instrument practice, sports and cadets, and she will be full on 17:00-22:00 Monday to Friday and 6 hours of school work on Saturday and Sunday.

What happened to the teenage years?!?

I never did as much as that when I did mine 12 years ago. I did 10 and got all A-C grades. I was also a member of the Army Cadets and went twice a week as well as going away probably twice a month for the weekend. I'm sure that once she's settled into it she won't spend as long on it and will have time for all her other activities.

I did 11 subjects at GCSE (only 5 years ago) and we got told we would spend a similar amount of hours on homework but in reality, it wasn't that bad.

DD1 has just finished her first year of GCSE's, she's doing 12 (I think!) and is on track for all A*'s and A's. She doesn't do loads of homework every night but there are periods when she has to do A LOT.

She still finds time to see her friends, relax, mess about etc...

I did 2 - 2.5 hours of homework Monday - Thursday and then probably 5-6 hours over the weekend. I did 11 GCSES as well. I wouldn't say it is too much.

A lot of homework/exams is about teaching work ethic. It is important.

Agree with the comment on Art. That always took up a lot of time because unlike set Maths/Science exercises you are never really 'finished'.

I left school in 1994, and those were the guidelines then. I probably actually did about 8 hours a week.

I had a meeting recently with the mother of one of the girls in my form. The girl is a very talented pianist and also a keen gymnast and dancer. She spends every Saturday in London having specialist music tuition and most Sundays she competes in gymnastic events or dance competions. In addition she teaches gymnastics 3 evenings a week.

This girl is never late with her homework which is always immaculate. I asked her mother how all this activity was fitted in around her school work. She looked at me in surprise. 'We chinese work hard' she said. 'If my daughter can only start her home work at midnight, then that is when she starts. She does not go to bed until it is finished.'

Now that is the metal of the kind of person that will be out there competing in the job market. That is why 16 1/2 hours per week for homework needs to be found.

How can anyone think that's a good way to live? She will burn out or rebel. Teen years are about more than work!

And I speak as the mother of a very sporty, very busy 15 year old.

That depends on the 15 year old though. I managed to juggle extra curricular activites and studies (including an extra gcse done after school) and still cope fine.

I had plans to drop things if needed but luckily didn't need to

This is utter shite. No-one can imagine a student must study weekends, so this means 3 hours every weekday evening.

I don't do that, and I'm an English teacher.

And it'd only GCSE, FFS.

Lots of Anglo-Saxon there, but really, I mean.

Are you really a teacher echt? Quite a thought with your grasp of English and attitude towards study!

Yes, I'm really a teacher.

What's wrong with my English? Ohhhh...the typo. How thick I am. I'll retire right now.

Excellent exam results for my students.

What's your point, Renniehorta?

My dd(15) does nowhere near that amount, and she has done very well so far. She sets aside a Monday night to do a good block of it all, and spends a couple of hours after school one night doing "maths revision" with her geeky boyfriend. They are both top of the class, so something must get done . I can't say I notice her doing schoolwork much at other times, and she spends all day Saturday out with her friends, so she has plenty of free time.

Renniehorta - but how healthy is that kind of timetable? What does that kind of extreme timetable teach a young person about the work life balance? About life values? The mother is clearly driven to the extreem and has very little of her own life. I support all my children in their activities/education but surely life is more than acamemic achievement and back to back activites?

The point I'm making, though perhaps not clearly enough, is that this level of study is not needed for GCSE, in general.

Or for AS/A2 for that matter.

It is possible that reading is factored into the homework schedules, though this is rarely, if ever, mentioned.

Before anyone points out out that I live in Oz, I taught at all the relevant UK levels, and know what I'm on about, and yes, the same study levels are asserted in Australia, too. Entirely unrealistic.

Thanks, altinkum.:)

I'm off now to watch the Tour de France - thighs like magnum champagne bottles.

Theirs, not mine.:o

I think it sounds like the amount I did when I did my Standard Grades. One of my teachers however thought we should do 2Hr per subject per night. We ignored that advice not least because it added up to more than 24hrs.

It sounds about right to me. DS just completed Year 10 and certainly in recent months has been doing a couple of hours almost every day.
He has cut down on his sports as homework gets priority plus he needs time to chill.

It's too much. If you get home from school at 5, doing 2 hours of homework every night would give you no time at all to do anything else. Once you've had supper, sorted stuff out for the morning and done a bit of music practice it's bed time. what sort of a life is that?

Honestly? I did 11 GCSES, lowest grade was a B (helped that my school didn't enfore physics/ anything practical!!) and I did 15 hours of martial arts a week and all three D of E awards- so had to make time for service and instrument lessons for my skill. Tell her you'll try GCSEs+ everything else till october half term and review it then. I'm now a history teacher, and honestly don't think I've EVER given my year 10s 1.5 hours of homework!

sorry bur i do not agree with homework at all i think hours plus a day 5 days a week in more than enough time for doing school work i beleive kids do have a life and it should not revolve around schoolwork i am deffo 100% anti homework and my ds's schools know it so thank god they arent sent home with that much and when they do get it sent then i dont tell them they have to do it its up to them if they want to do it fine but if they dont want to then thats fine and i know i will get slatted for this but its our choice and if you dont like it then thats your problem

I had about that amount timetabled in my first year at secondary school and I bloody hated it. Then I learned not to spend that long on it and got through GCSE ok. But thinking back, I think it is ridiculous really. Yes, you have to learn to work and we did D of E and so on as well, and it did take time. But I have never been as knackered as I was doing my (only 9) GCSEs, it was very unhealthy and stressful, and I don't really see why so many hours are necessary. I think the school is just covering its back because the weakest ones really need all this practice so they have to set the same for everyone and go slowly in lessons, too.

I did 5 A levels and rarely had to bring homework home, it all got done in free periods. It seems absolutely stupid that GCSEs should be so much more pressured than what is meant to be a harder qualification. There seems to be an element of 'well I suffered at school so so must you/your children' going on here.

I bet you will find that it doesn't work out to be as much in practice as it does in theory.

echt- no work expected at weekends? Really? What sort of school do you teach at?