To have told ds he didnt have to bother with his homework this weekend

[laptopdancer]

He finishes on wednesday and tuesday is sports day. I know its a bit bad but was I too bad telling him he could leave it? There was a lot.

Why is the fact that it may or may not be marked relevant?
Should we only do things we are likely to be awarded a gold star for, or is there any value in doing it for it's own sake?

My DCs primary now has a no compulsory homework rule, it does send home reading and sometimes suggests working on spellings and tables.
My biggest regret with my DS who was there before they changed the policy was that we wasted so much time on homework rather than the things he needed to work on.
Secondary is plenty of time for homework in my opinion, at this end of term it is probably just set because that is the schools policy.

Some homework aids learning, some is just set because it is policy, unfortunately sometimes people work on the latter instead of the former.

Plenty of people I know (including myself) did no homework until secondary and still got to good Universities. In fact I read more widely and learnt to learn by myself because I had time to follow my own interests at primary school.

floggingmolly Er, because it's really disheartening to do set by a teacher and then never get any feedback and never knowing if the teacher even read it. What's the point of it if it doesn't get marked! I still remember busting a gut in Y10 over a biology project that I never received feedback for - I'd spent most of an Easter holiday on it. It really pissed me off not to receive feedback.

I work in a primary, we have a homework policy of 3 pieces a week ( one literacy, one numeracy, one linked to topic work) I was a bit 'meh' about the idea in September, but to be fair it has helped to raise standards. Not just academically but in terms of presentation, independent study and pride in work. However, last week after the reports were out etc, in my class we decided to give the kids a break. They're tired, they've worked hard and there's no value in it at the arse end of the school year.

Ping, I completely understand your point of course it is disheartening if work isn't marked.

However, it is wrong to suggest there is NO value in doing work which later goes unmarked.

Most homeworks are either preparation for work that is about to be covered or (more likely at this time of year), consoldation of concepts and applied knowledge. Therefore, it is the act of actually doing the homework that is most important. Feedback is nice but not as important as the experience of doing the work.

He should of done it, ds is doing his home work as it gives him the message that home work must always be done.

The message you have gave him its ok to skip homework if he is tired

I can't understand why everyone's saying their kids are so tired anyway

They only had a week off last month.

I had a week off last month.

I am on my knees.

The children are tired. The last half of the summer term is always hectic. And certainly there will be no teaching as such on the last day of term.

Not every school had a week off last month

Sarcalogos I completely disagree. It's not just "nice" to receive feedback, it's crucial - especially if your reasons for homework at all are as you stated. The child might be getting something completely wrong or struggling understanding concepts (and not all parents, I include myself here, are good at explaining to a child or might not even understand the concepts themselves). How will they know if it's not looked at and no feedback is given? In fact my cousin who is a secondary science teacher said she preferred to give as little hw as possible, she preferred to oversee what students were doing and be available to discuss with them if they were struggling with it or couldn't do it.

I am also an educator and feedback is one of the most important and influencing parts of education.

Worra, half term was at the start of June - in many schools the 5 weeks since that have been action packed, fitting in all sorts of stuff that are not possible to do before statutory tests.

Also, this is the end of the school year. It's been a roller coaster of a ride with all the announcements/changes decreed by Gove. The kids I work with are tired, my own kids are tired and DP and I are on our knees.

Obviously feedback is an important part of education.

Perhaps I am expressing myself poorly.

What I really mean is the act of doing work is not in itself worthless if it is not immediately validated by the teacher.

Of course feedback and oversight by the teacher is essential generally. However, by this stage in the year a primary teacher should know whether the child completing the HW is consolidating knowledge he/ she has already grasped or not.

And anyway, we're all vilifying this poor teacher on the assumption it wont be marked. For all we know the teacher was going to APP the whole lot on Monday night ready for giving back Tuesday.

Sarcalogos

Re your post (06:13:28) - you really are one of the teachers that give teachers a bad name for being patronising, speaking to adults as though they were children and thinking that every little thing you do with the children is life changing. Newsflash, it isn't. Building a cardboard rocket, a mock tudor house or drawing the family coat of arms is not going to change a childs life... especially not in the last week of the year when it will barely be looked at, if at all.

cheers,

I don't teach primary btw, im just not dismissive of those who do. Also, I take a passing interest in primary pedagogy.

...And didn't you tell me off for making assumptions based on single posts?

At primary level mine only do 'homework' if it's reasonable and we haven't got too late with other things. I've never had a problem with saying it's far too late and I'll write a note to explain. Fiddlesticks to any 'message' I'm sending.

I have entirely different rules for secondary. Then they do what they're set and if they don't do it that's their problem and I don't write a note, except in extremis.

Sarcalogos - ...And didn't you tell me off for making assumptions based on single posts? - and your point is?

I'm not dismissive of those who teach primary either

My point is, you quoted one specific post (totally ignoring all the ones since) and used it to attack my character. Telling me I am a bad teacher, who brings the profession into disrepute with an inflated sense of my own importance. After aggressively telling me not to judge you on a single post.

All because I think that dismissing creative homework out of hand without knowing all he facts is a bit ignorant.

Of course the HW COULD have been a time-filling pointless bit of project work. Or, it could have been a carefully planned useful bit of homework that is valuable to the child's education.

LEGAL STATUS OF HOMEWORK????

I am not sure. I do know some schools are demanding more homework than the government suggests.

Can a child be punished by a school for things which happen outside
the school boundaries.? And with the agreement of the childs parents?

Yes of course.

If my DS didn't do his homework, he'd be kept in at play time with all the other kids who didn't do their homework.

Well they routinely are in this country... So yes.

I have no idea as to the legal status of homework.

But if a child bullies another on the walk to school the school can/should/does intervene.

If a child fails to do homework at secondary they can expect a sanction. I expect less primaries punish- because invariably it is the parents at fault if the child hasn't done it.

But this lack of a tangible punishment if you don't do it does not equal homework itself being pointless.

YANBU, although I'm not generally comfortable with parents not backing up their DCs' schools.

He's 7.

It won't get marked.

It's the last 3 days of school.

He's tired. As are the teachers by the end of term.

If the homework is 'make a flag for the Olympic themed sports day openign ceremony' I would do it though.

Homework is morally, ethically and in all ways wrong for so many reasons. It is a parents role to assist in their kids learning opportunities but homework does not do that. Our school keeps us informed of what is going on in the classroom so we can look for opportunities to expand their learning in our time with them. Please, please, please, if you feel that homework is wrong in any way please sign the e-petition at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/17055.

Why is homework wrong? Among other things my strong beliefs are:

I strongly believe that homework is unjustifiable for the reasons I quote below. I'm constantly talking to people and reading forum posts etc which show that there is a large minority or even a majority that feel the same, but no one seems to want to rock the school boat. We need to change peoples consciousness so that homework becomes as anti-social as smoking is these days. Somehow those of us who feel this strongly need to urgently start speaking collectively, write to mps, high profile people, schools, headteachers etc and start making our voice heard. Each year we have gone into school and reminded them that homework is not compulsory, home school agreements do not legally have to be signed and that while I will support my child if they wish to do set homework, I do not expect them to face punishment if it is not done. I urge everyone who feels like this to do similar. In addition, there is an e-petition at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/17055 which I urge you to sign - At the very least it may eventually indicate how many people feel this way.

Homework Issues

I feel strongly about the setting of homework in schools. I'm aware that this issue is contentious, so I've indicated just a few reasons why I believe so strongly that homework is wrong, to indicate that this isn't just a knee jerk reaction. It appears that I am not the only one - Teachers appear to be concerned, as indeed do many parents who do not push the point, as they are scared to push against the status quo.

Sends the wrong message re: Work/Life balance

• Most are concerned that this country prioritises work above all other aspects of life - Work/life balance misadjustment is costing us in both money and quality of life.
• Yet right from the age of 5, we are telling our children that not only is it acceptable to take work home, it is mandatory. It removes the segregation between work and pleasure
• It makes many feel guilty about not taking work home, and perpetuates the spiral of work taking full precedence over personal and family life.

Disruption of Family and Personal Time

• It dictates how we should spend our time with our children and as a family
• It reduces the spontaneity of spending time as a family.
• It reduces the time available for children to pursue those interests that they want to discover.
• It reduces time to learn for themselves outside of a pre-determined curriculum, and for us as a family to determine a learning agenda.
• It leads to stress, fear and unhappiness if homework either wasn't done or couldn't be
• That unhappiness leads to friction within families
• Can lead to sleep deprivation, either due to actually doing homework or worrying about it.
• Can reduce the activity levels of children, preventing them from more active activities when doing homework.
• Increases stress levels in children
• Result in drained, tired children - everyone needs time to refresh themselves - That time is the time that they are not at school or work.

Dissuades Children from Learning for fun

• A 2006 Scholastic/Yankelovich study found that reading for pleasure is a better indicator of test scores than homework, but that reading for pleasure decreases sharply after the age of eight. The study found that the largest reason for this was due to homework.

Rude, Inconsiderate and impolite

• I consider the presumption that a school can take up my family?s time outside of the hours prescribed to it as plain rudeness.
• I think it unlikely that the school would take kindly to my setting my children things to do during lessons.
• Yet that is exactly what homework does to time outside of school. If a school believes that it can determine what my family does in its own time, then why shouldn't I specify what my children do for a period of time in each lesson? Because, as I would agree, it would be impolite and inconsiderate!

Most studies show limited or no use in primary schools and only some use in secondary

• 2006 Synthesis of research - Found no correlation between homework and achievement in Primary, limited in Secondary (but only up to a period of 1 hour)
• US Cross Cultural analysis found that low-homework setting countries such as Japan, consistently achieve better than higher homework setting countries such as UK and US.
• Some schools are eliminating homework completely (e.g. Nottingham East Academy). Tiffin School - "Something's not right when a boy can't watch a nature documentary because he's busy doing maths".
• School provides a standardised place for formal learning - Home does not - Home life can be noisy, distracting, unsettling etc.
• Often homework is given because "parents expect it". As Peter Stanford from the Independent says "Teachers set homework in the belief that it pleases parents. Parents don't disabuse them of this, even when it is exhausting their child, because they don't want him or her to be singled out or seen as failing."

--- Richard Rowe, head of Holy Trinity School at Guildford, Surrey, said he would happily vote to abolish homework but had been unable to persuade parents."I genuinely think that if children of primary age are taught well and do a good day's work, there should be no need for homework," he said. "They should be allowed to have a childhood." (Times educational Supplement 14/3/2008) ----Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation for Parent Teacher Associations, said: "Schools need to explain to parents that they want their pupils to be fresh and excited in class. "Younger children go to school quite early and, if their parents work, don't get home till 6pm. To have homework on top of that just risks burnout." (Times educational Supplement 14/3/2008)

• Even teachers and their union dispute the use of homework - . Professor Dylan Wiliam of the Institute of Education in London, "Research shows homework does not make much of a difference"

--- ATL (Association of Teachers and Lecturers) in 2008 called for an outright ban on primary school homework saying that it was "counter-productive" (+ strict limits on secondary school homework).