Primary schools and parents of primary schoolers should chill out

[howabout]

Scanning through Active discussions and they are dominated by primary school angst on homework and curriculum. I just want my lot to master reading, riting n rithmetic and learn to get on with everyone. Could actually achieve this with or without a school in my case as I'm pretty sure most of their friends could (we don't live in a naice area).

What am I missing?

The huge competition in later life for fewer and fewer good jobs?

Well... people are angst-ing about homework and curriculum partly BECAUSE they want their kids to master reading, rioting n rithmetic (AND history, geography, science, RE, art and music, I would hope!). Some schools do a better job of getting kids to master these things than others, hence the angst.

(Shrug)

People just want to know that their children are getting a good quality education. I agree there is more angst than is neccesary, but I'd never criticise a parent or thing badly of them just because they were a bit anxious about their child getting a good experience at school. They are just doing their best. It's the parents that don't care and just see school as childcare that we need to worry about.

If only that was all we taught in primary school! However, with the new curriculum in place, children are required to know (note I don't say 'have skills') an awful lot before they transfer to secondary school.

Things I was taught in Year 9 are now in Year 5. Some of the content is far more technical than in the past, the words they must be able to spell are dictated by the curriculum.... Mental maths skills are out of the SATs, specified methods of written arithmetic are in.

Have a look at the curriculum, it may explain a lot.

I agree OP. Currently looking at primary schools and my focus isn't 'what are the SATs results?' but 'where will he be happy?' and 'will they nurture his natural character or turn him into a robot of the system?'.

Secondary school may be more important for jobs market competition etc.
And, frankly, I can help him at primary level. GCSE physics on the other hand...

i actively dislike competitive parenting my son got upset the other day because all his friends can swim better than him i told him it's just because all the other parents pay for private lessons and he is doing well (because he is doing well he is six years old) there is another child who dominates every football match again parents pay privately for lessons and freak if he isn't allowed to play (at the expense of children who just want to kick a ball around) build a castle they said "junk modeling" they said and in paraded parent after parent with their massive creations (the kids were not allowed to touch them) seriously my creative 15 year old would have struggled to make such a good castle never mind a bunch of five and six year olds!

none of this matters what counts is high school they spend the years undoing the damage fixing the educational holes and getting the exam results they deserve and there is fuck all competitive parents can do about that even kumon cant help you get much further than your own brain you were born with (and yes several children are doing kumon at ds school also [sigh])

Apart from reading and times tables practice, I don't believe primary children should be doing any homework.

Secondary is different of course but even then some homework seems pointless and time consuming.

i think my point is you shouldn't need to do any massive intervention in primary school the school should teach and you should support it really should not be that hard and stressful

Well round here eleven plus fever has struck. If you want to see really funny parent behaviour move to an 11+ area

Primary school is so fundamentally important to how children fair later in education. If they are put off at this stage and disengage it's very hard to get them back again later on. I don't care about sats results or rigour, I care very much about the general environment and that their enthusiasm for learning and enjoyment of it is maintained. I worry about the degree to which learning isn't child centred. Because of all of the constraints in terms of numbers and resources and stupid government education policy they're trying to standardise children and that's pretty hard on those who don't fit with the current model.

When Mr Gove was banging on about more academic rigour and a knowledge based curriculum MN was full of threads with parents agreeing with him.

Remember teachers were called the 'enemies of promise' because we disagreed with him?

Now his curriculum has kicked in. Five and six year olds are getting several hours of homework a week. MN is full of threads with parents just wanting their children to be happy.

To be fair, most of the angst I have seen about homework has been about parents thinking their 6yo is being given too much.

As for curriculum, well the new curriculum seems to require much harder concepts to be mastered much earlier. It's also made it pretty much impossible to tell whether your child actually learned anything last year. So I don't think it's unreasonable to feel concerned about that either.

Agree with lunchpack too - 11+ has got a lot to answer for.

Lowdoorinthewall - we're not necessarily the same mumsnetters though. I wasn't on those threads. I think Gove was an unbearable twat. And there are plenty of mn folk who still think that all of the homework means that their schools are good and aren't at all swayed that it is in no way evidence based.

They're angsting because it's the season for it. New school term, joining or moving up a year, things are different.

This will dissipate soon, to be replaced by threads about reading progress, the approach to Christmas, the state applications round, the private school exam/offer season, the state school allocations, then sports days. Interspersed with parts for school plays, party invitations, cost of school trips and safety belts on minibuses.

It's the normal turning of the seasons.

I am sure the mnetters you describe would love feel as chilled as you, however I guess it is just a choice in parenting.

These mn will no doubt be aware that attainment in primary school has a direct relationship to attainment at GCSE level and beyond. In some areas that still run grammar schools the educational outcomes for children at the the same level at the start of secondary school are significantly different, depending on whether they secure a grammar school or non selective school place. This has a knock on effect to further educational outcomes and therefore life opportunities.

You are right this is not life and death stuff but I don't think the parents are misguided in there concern.

No doubt you will label me as hysterical but we left the UK specifically to secure better educational opportunities for our children. This move has proved to be the right choice for us as my ds did very well at GCSEs and is now enjoying his A levels.

DS has just gone into Y3 and is expected to read every night, learn 15 spellings, practice times tables, do a math sheet, a literacy sheet, practice guitar and has 9 different task to do with this terms topic. He is 7 years old and I'm struggling to think when he might have time to just be a little boy. That stresses me out.

I too think that most of the angst I've seen is from parents who think homework in primary school is too onerous. Which is fair enough. We chose a primary school with realistic expectations of children and parents and a happy environment in which ds can thrive - no angst here.

Fair point Misnomer. It just riles me because I don't think all the people nodding along with Gove actually thought through what 'raising expectations' would mean on the ground.

I can already sense it becoming the schools' fault that children will be pushed to the point that it stresses the whole family.

I don't actually agree with this. My kids are learning about the great fire of london, the Romans, the war, different religions, human biology, swimming, art, football etc etc its not just about maths, reading and writing. If all we could do was add up and read we wouldn't be very rounded individuals would we??

Interesting range of input and views. I am in Scotland and when the "curriculum for excellence" was introduced a lot of the baseline and progress monitoring fell by the wayside. I did notice an impact in the attitude to raising standards and expectations.

However now that the Scottish government is talking about introducing national testing I worry about the impact given the level of comment on MN re the Gove approach.

Idefix I chose to move back to Scotland rather than deal with the English education system, so I hear what you are saying.

"people are angst-ing about homework and curriculum partly BECAUSE they want their kids to master reading, rioting n rithmetic"

A lot of kids around here have mastered rioting before they've even started school

Doing all our riot practice at the tennis today Worra