To think most school work should be done in school

[BeeInYourBonnet]

When I was in primary school we had a small bit of homework which was normally doable on our own, with a bit of input from parents. I didn't particularly benefit massively from the fact my parents are educated to post grad level, as they never really needed, or were expected, to significantly input into my learning.

I have adopted a similar approach with my DCs. Helping with homework, listening to reading, but generally not setting a structured plan of learning for them outside school, as I stupidly presumed this was what school was for.

However, it is now becoming very obvious that there is a big gulf between those children whose parents have provided tutoring or a high level of parental support and it seems there is an expectation from the school that considerable amount of work will happen outside school. However, although I have a degree and a fair level of intelligence, I don't feel I am equipped to develop and drive my DCs learning, for example in Maths, as I don't understand the specific ways things need to be done, what with not being a teacher!

AIBU to think, apart from a small amount of homework, parents shouldn't need to take such a significant role, and that this causes huge inequalities between those parents who are able (time-wise, educationally and financially) to provide a high level of extra support, and those who are not?

Totally agree thecatfromjapan .

I was SO adamant that I wasn't going to get dragged into worrying about which was the best school, or whether my DCs needed tutors, or ensuring they could read before they started school. Because I strongly believe there are more important issues (friendships, community life, security and confidence). But I feel like I am fighting against the tide.

BeeInYourBonnet try not to get dragged into it for your sanity, I feel life is too short for stressing about such issues, it all evens out anyway by secondary school if not sooner, IMO serious loss of energy for parent, mega stress not to mention guilt trip of a lifetime, For what?
Spiritless children, vacant and robed of their childhood.
I would much rather kick a ball around playground or go for a bike ride with them, then have DC spend hours on something that should have been completed at school.
I refuse.

Chwaraeteg What a lovely article! I'm going to print it out and put it on the wall.

Our nearest school is a Grammar and it is so hard not to be sucked into the whole entrance exam circus. Tutoring is almost routine where we live, and it is not uncommon for children as young as Y1 to have a tutor.

I refuse to join in. My kids (Y3 & Y5) are bright enough and might pass if I pushed them, but I so don't want them to look back at a their childhood and just remember hours of studying. The next nearest school is a good comprehensive, they will do well there too.

I have 1 night a week dedicated to doing (or planning how they are going to do) homework. I am available for any help they need should they wish to ask, but otherwise it's up to them. The rest of the week, we do other stuff, activities, free play, lazing about, whatever. I check what they've done, but I don't correct it. If it's genuinely been too hard, I send it back with a letter explaining that they tried but couldn't do it - could they go over it again in school please?

Sometimes I can weave stuff into whatever we are doing in the evening, and that's OK. For instance, last year when my DS was struggling to understand what adjectives were, we went shopping. Everytime I put something into the trolley, I got him to find an adjective to describe it. Horrible onions, yummy chocolate, delicious noodles etc. We also managed to learn about alliteration at the same time. He thought it was great fun, but I would have stopped if he didn't.

I sometimes doubt my approach to homework/ tutoring, especially when other mum's are openly critical about my Y5 dd not having a tutor. But that article has strengthened my resolve to let my kids develop in ways that are not just academic.

Yanbu, my ds has an iep and I am expected to cover areas on that also. I have never been happy about this, he has homework, reading and spellings. He has intervention in assembly. He is already doing what is expected. And yet they want even more off him because he is "behind". He is where he is and he does his best at school.

I don't think that there should be homework at primary level at all. Research evidence doesn't seem to suggest it makes any real difference and if you child is finding school hard then bringing that stress home is far from ideal. My ds is dyslexic and really struggled with literacy related tasks so we had meltdowns virtually every night just from the reading book and spellings, the endless projects were a total nightmare!

We did get him some tutoring to help him to read (specialist phonics) and it made a huge difference, but aside from that we did the minimum, even when he got in trouble at school (although that was more because he forgot to hand work he had done in). The school homework policy, which we were told we had signed up to (I wasn't aware that there was any choice, and we certainly weren't given the document in advance) was all about preparing for work, which for a 7 year old is frankly ridiculous.

The school after set two hours of homework every night, and had all sorts of catch up classes, summer school etc. Also ridiculous and only feasible as I wasn't working (a major issue earlier as we'd not get home until well past six). Current school only sets formal homework in years 11 and 12, before that you only have to do work at home if you've not finished it in class. The children don't appear to struggle in university, but we'll see (my children are only 13 and 13). They both seem to have acquired good enough discipline without school forcing it on them by providing excessive work.

I agree with the op. We were lucky that dd's primary was very old fashioned with homework. Just spelling times tables and reading until y4 and a project in y5 & 6 but with a term each to get it done.

I have several friends whose dcs are being given ridiculous amounts even from reception. Eg to write stories aged 4 or pages of maths work. They have no family time as a result.

That is the time i spent taking dd for walks in the woods or swimming or baking or for picnics. Even watching tv or going to the cinema gives a different perspective and widens horizons .

If i'd spent every Saturday throughout her primary years wrestling her through her homework I'm convinced her overall knowledge would be poorer now.

Our relationship would definitely be poorer.

Can I nominate chibi for Secretary of State for Education, please?

I'm fascinated by attitudes towards homework. I'm a teacher and we decided to take a no/ minimal approach to homework this year. However, despite people complaining that there was too much homework previously, we now have lots of complaints that there is not enough and we are setting more. I'm very frustrated by the whole thing.

I'd be really interested in your feedback about what we are setting now.

• Every class sets reading homework. This is weekly/ twice weekly as appropriate.
• I send home the weekly spellings but only for information. We do spelling tasks daily so words are covered in school and dictation happens on Friday to assess.
• I send home a weekly maths idea. 2 weeks a month I suggest a relevant website. The other 2 weeks I send home a game with all resources provided. These are optional.
• With every new topic I send home a guide. This includes ideas for things to do at home if you wish.

I'm standing firm against sending homework craft type projects. I really do believe if building an air raid shelter, for example, is central to learning then it gets done in the classroom. I have a sinking feeling that we are going to have to go back to the old way next year and it's a huge mistake in my opinion. Not all children have someone to help at home. If something has to be taught at home then a huge percentage of the school population is disadvantaged. On the other hand, lots of parents do want to be involved but surely this does not have to be worksheets and written work?

indy. What age(s) do you teach? As a proportion of your class size(s), how many are "lots" of complaints? Is it the same few vociferous parents? How are the children performing this year against previous years with a heavier h/w regime?

Sorry I should have said. I'm Primary, 8 year olds. We have an across school homework approach so we will all have to do the same thing. This is a trial for a session. About 20% of parents complaining. Many of them are the same vociferous few. Some classes are already setting considerably more now to placate the parents in their classes. We are not in England so testing very different. Anecdotally spelling attainment has improved greatly in our room. Previously we depended on parents to teach the words but giving time every day to spelling in class has made a difference and dictation is considerably more accurate.

Dd's school makes it clear that homework is entirely voluntary although it strongly encourages reading at least four times per week. When dd was younger she would do the homework about one in four (but read every day) if it was interesting and appealed to her. Now in y6 she completes it every week because she sees it as practice that will help her in school as it's always an extension of what she is doing in class. It takes her between 30 and 45 minutes each week (no input from me needed) which for me is enough.

We have the same in Year 2 indy, parents asking for homework, wanting to change reading books every day and if no homework is set, parents make their own work for children to practise at home in the evening.

I've totally changed my tune on homework as my DD has gone through school.

When she first started in reception, and we got none, I thought it would have been nice to do some worksheets with her. I was never vociferous enough to say so, but I think I may have ticked the "not enough homework" box on a couple of questionnaires.

When she did start getting proper homework in Y5 & 6 I got a bit more insight into why my friends were so anti-homework. It takes the choice away from parents.

That's not because I couldn't be bothered, or I didn't care about her education, but because sometimes when the sun is shining I don't want to have to be stuck indoors all day Saturday. Throughout primary I was working 4 days a week so she was out at school from 8-5.30. She also goes to her dad's Saturday eve to Sunday eve. This only leaves one day a week to get homework done. If she happened to be tired / poorly / invited to a party / seeing other family that day then it became a massive stress.

If homework is optional then it will just be done by the kids with pushy parents. If it's given but not enforced then it will just be done by kids with pushy parents. If it's given but hasn't already been covered in class then children will need to be taught it by parents, so it will only be done by kids with educated / English speaking / willing parents, and it gets more difficult to teach kids basic maths / literacy if you've got to do it with multiple children at the same time.

If it involves online research it will only be done by kids with access to a computer. If it involves craft activities it will only be done by kids with craft materials at home and parents who are willing to get involved and let them make a mess.

Homework seems to have escalated in the last few years in primary. Lots of what I've seen sent home to friends' kids seems to be motivated by "making parents interact with their children rather than ignoring them" which is patronising and misguided in the extreme. It just means that those who would have engaged anyway are restricted to doing some boring activity dictated by a teacher, and those who ignore their kids anyway will continue to do so and the kids will fall behind and develop negative attitudes to school.

My DD is now in Y7 and gets a lot of homework, but I have no problem with this because now is the time to instil good habits ready for GCSE. Three years before GCSE is plenty of time to develop self-discipline and learning skills IMO.

I realise this is a different issue to the OP - it's more in reply to indy.

I always thought homework was for children to practice and perfect a skill they had been taught and understood while at school...

Yanbu

I don't think schools can 'win' when it comes to homework because the situations for all students varies so much. I think some parents feel pressured into creating a more educational background at home but this is often more damaging to the child's education that leaving well alone.

Part of the problem might be that schools have money prioritised for certain groups of students: pupil premium, fsm and the like. Extra opportunities and support should be available in school for students who meet this criteria, schools who don't provide it are not using the allocated money as stipulated.

Students from more prosperous or comfortable backgrounds are often the ones to fall under the radar, it's not surprising that parents worry and enlist the help of tutors. The best approach would be for parents to discuss the areas for development with the teacher and then the tutor addresses the gaps, using the same method as at school, if school can't (or sadly, won't). This if course is an idealistic way of looking at it.

There will always be issues with divide in education, it isn't fair that children from advantaged backgrounds should miss out any more than it's fair for disadvantaged children to not be given a chance. When it comes to education the government should be doing more instead of focusing on extending the school day and reducing holidays for little ones who are already exhausted. It's the constant obsession over levels and progression that ruins things.

Good homework is things like practical use of concepts learned in school. Telling the time can be practised at home, as can use of money and measuring.

We learn about litres for example, but different sized jugs in the bath every evening are much more fun and informative than a few lessons taking turns to pour and record measurements.

Helping to bake a cake or make dinner is another fun way to learn about weighing and learn cooking skills at the same time. Lots of interaction from parents required, but doing things that need doing anyway so they don't take up extra time.

Personally I would expect most Year 2 children to be able to tell the time, ride a bike, tie their shoelaces and swim. I'm surprised at how many can't and these are all skills which would normally be taught at home, not school.

Great post MrsBobHale

Indy, your school's approach to homework sounds great to me.

home work is work at home to he completed by children and not parents!

I have written in my kids homework diaries that if they can't understand the homework then it needs to be covered again in class.

we teach our kids about life/politics/environment etc as part if our family debates and chats over dinner etc.

family time isn't about phonics or physics unless it's part of a family chat.

it's getting freakin ridiculous.

I am completely anti-homework, always have been (and I am a headteacher of a primary school!)

However, I do find the idea that "some children don't have X therefore we will not do Y" a strange one.

Some children don't have access to a bath or shower but we don't lower our expectations - we adapt. Good schools will have homework clubs with PP money to try and address the issues outlined in the OP.

I am still anti homework - but for all children.

I'm concerned enough about the amount of homework my children are getting that I will be raising it next parents evening. Mine are year 2. They have a reading challenge where they have to read every day, there's a visible class score board and children who do read every day get a prize at the end of each month. School reading books, three per week plus a new library reading book for each week. Plus spellings with writing practise and a spelling test. Optional maths book, but they get house points if they do it and corrections, so barely optional. Online maths homework too.

My children are in childcare from 8 till 6, it's an enormous challenge to do anything much in the evenings, especially as they're in the same class with the same work, so we try and do it separately. I really think it's eroding their love of reading. I don't find the work marked in a very positive way and the children are starting to notice. It just doesn't feel like it's creating the right attitude towards learning.

Forgive me, but I can't help wondering if any of the "homework objectors" are the same folk who take children on term time holidays and insist they'll "ask for work to take with them" ...