to think so many things are done in education because of tradition and not because they have an educational purpose.

[OrlandoWoolf]

Ok

2 things really. But I am sure people can think of more.

Spelling tests - if you're a good speller, you'll probably not need to practise much and you'll probably get most of them right.

Do spelling tests improve your spellings? Why do people who need to learn them get them right in the test but get them wrong in their normal writing?

Homework - does it help you learn? Remember stuff. Help you improve. Or is it done because that's the way it's always been so people expect it?

I don't think there's any evidence to support the educational effectiveness of spelling tests or homework. Good teaching and identification of reading / spelling issues helps you learn to spell.

But we like tradition, not evidence, don't we

It seems to me that what's bothering a lot of parents is inappropriate homework.

Which means the schools/teachers are doing a poor job. That is an issue. But the issue isn't homework per se.

My kids must have done hundreds and hundreds of hours of pointless homework over their school careers

I find it amazing that RE is still taught at school. It would be better, more useful and more relevant to teach finance instead.

Bonsoir a number of reasons really.

First, the timings don't work for us as a family. School want us to do it when we want to go on holiday. We won't be moved on that.

Second, both DC work each Saturday afternoon in a charity shop (sorting clothes/records/books etc, working on the till). They've done it for a year and intend to continue throughout sixth form. So they have more than enough experience of low level work and understand commitment.

Third, at this age (15) it's very difficult to do anything meaningful IYSWIM in other areas they might be interested in. Better to wait until they're older and do some really useful internships.

I don't think there's any evidence to support the educational effectiveness of spelling tests or homework

I'm afraid you are wrong. There is strong research evidence that homework improves student achievement if used appropriately. There is a strong, positive, statistically significant correlation between the amount of homework students do and their academic outcomes.

The evidence on spelling tests is less clear cut. Some research suggests they are ineffective. On the other hand some research suggests that they do have positive results. I suspect it depends what is used to replace spelling tests, in particular whether or not the time is used for teaching spelling.

There is a strong, positive, statistically significant correlation between the amount of homework students do and their academic outcomes

Is there? Without sounding like one of those posters, where is it?

I should imagine there are a lot of factors that can't be controlled - school ethos, parental support etc.

My Dd's school has started half termly projects and have to say that my art skills have improved considerably but I can't say that I think my DD's have actually learnt much at all from the experience.

My eldest struggles with writing and the long project tasks are hell. She doesn't have the independent skills to organise them herself, she hates being helped. All it does is create enormous amounts of stress at home. I just didn't force the issue with the last task and sent a note in saying I wasn't going to force her as it was just making her very unhappy.

What is worse is she spends ages doing the other tasks and the teachers gave it a quick tick and gave them points and that was it. So if it was an important task surely they should be assessing the work and giving decent feedback. Personally I think this type of h/w is purely to appease the parents who think lots of h/w = good school.

I think there is a very wide variation in the quality and appropriateness of homework. I believe at one point there was a requirement that homework should only be used to expand, not reinforce, a child's knowledge and skills. This I think was responsible for a lot of the vague and ill-defined stuff that came home with my children, and caused so much grief. Yet reinforcement is one area where homework can be especially valuable.

Also, children should be given regular homework well before GCSEs, so they can get in the habit of it, rather than being thrown in at the deep end.

What is worse is she spends ages doing the other tasks and the teachers gave it a quick tick and gave them points and that was it.

Yes - all that effort and it gets a tick.

Personally I think this type of h/w is purely to appease the parents who think lots of h/w = good school

Which brings me back to the OP. Tradition,expectations - but educationally useful?

TheWordFactory - I agree that low level work (shop assistant) has its value and, indeed, DSS1 did three weeks as a shop assistant in his summer holidays between Première and Terminale.

But I also think - based on my observations and on debrief conversations with my DSSs - that getting a good hard look at how people behave in a corporate context has a great deal of value. DSS1 interviewed yesterday and today for a "big" internship this summer. He prepared like hell, with us and with his friends/coursemates who are interviewing for similarly big deal internships. I very much doubt he would have been sufficiently prepared without the several lower-key internships he has done over the past few years.