6 and 7 year olds being kep in at lunch time for forgetting homework

[DaanSaaf]

Year 2 ds just told me they have to stay in at lunch time and do extra work if they haven't brought their homework in.

Aibu to think that's a bit harsh at their age?

@Linzeyhun

THEY ARE SIX

I've just read this out in the Staffroom and people are actually horrified. My head is surprised you're still teaching with that attitude towards little children.

Jeez. There's some debate about whether regular written homework is even beneficial at Secondary, never mind primary. Hearing your primary child read is important. Any more than that... nope. My dc are prolific readers. Once they could read, I totally ignored their reading diary and just let them read books from home. They hated the school reading books, which made them see reading as a chore. I'm a teacher btw (secondary).

Teachers very rarely get a break at all.

True, but utterly irrelevant. Are you really suggesting that punishing a 6 yo is comparable or relevant to teachers' working conditions?

So counter productive. If they work for hours at home they will be tired and grumpy for school the next day.

And slightly :o at the number of teachers both here and IRL who don't know try difference between primary school and secondary school! An 11yo is definitely capable of things that a 6yo is not. ...and they have more time in the evening cause they aren't in bed at half seven!

Yanbu. Very unfair on kids from less supportive homes.

Hmmm....emoticon fail. That was meant to be a shocked face

@Icantcopeanymore

I am saying that missing a playtime to complete work will not do any harm. I find once they have missed one or two, they don't do it again.

Teachers know their classes. Sometimes I will keep a child in, because I've agreed with the parent that it wasn't their best work and the parent wants me to work with her to ensure the child knows s/he can't get away with being mardy about homework at home when they are producing good quality work in school.

But the group of children who never do their homework because they don't have supportive parents do fall behind, whatever the research says, because it stands to reason that the more you practice a skill the more it improves. Yes, lots of homework given for y1 and Y2 is pointless. But practising skills which children are expected to be fluent in at the end of a year, isn't pointless. If your child needed extra support, you'd be annoyed if people began shouting that extra help and teaching makes no difference, and this was based on a study they'd read which didn't differentiate between types of homework set or methods practiced. Many people actually do want to help their child at home, and saying "homework doesn't help" without being more careful about the message you're giving, doesn't help children who aren't at their age related expectations in the long run.

Most children in this group, from my experience, love it when the teacher sits down to help them with their homework in a spare five minutes, because they are finally getting adult care and attention to their learning, and it rarely seems to be a punishment.

I forgot to do ds homework over the long weekend. He is in year 1.

I would be furious if he had been kept in before being informed.

FWIW I disagree with the random homework we get that is stated as compulsory. But we do it and I take full responsibility for forgetting. Not DS.

Linzeyhun, do you ahve children?

I think some peopl really need to toughen up on here. A child is not going to be harmed by being kept in to complete work.

I'm sorry, but if a child is refusing to do the work set in class or at home, then they don't deserve a break or lunch.

I really feel sorry for teachers these days when they're up against some of the attitudes on this thread of 'my pbf can do no wrong" and "it doesn't matter if the poor little lambs don't feel like doing work." If either of my DC had refused to work in class, I'd have been happy for the teacher to keep them overnight to do it never mind break.

To each their own Cal
I opt out of homework when kids are little.
Ds is in secondary school in the International Baccalaureate program and manages his homework just fine.
And I’ve worked as a teacher for 15 years.
Homework has bo benefits for young children.

This is why home education is on the rise.
This is also why our children are the most depressed, anxious and partly why they are overweight.

They have years ahead of them of pressure to get stuff done, it's sad it's starting at such a young age and now being kept in, prisoners are allowed time outside, people would be reported for keeping a dog in all day, but a child who hasn't done some homework (which isn't beneficial) is being kept in. That playtime could be their only chance at a safe outside place to play, it honestly makes me so mad. I would be looking for another school.

@CalF123 you are talking about 6/7 year olds not 11/12 year olds.

You seem to have issues with child development.

Anyone who has been around different around children can see that you can get a kid who is 11 to do their homework as they understand what it is for and understand why they may be consequences if they don't do it but the same doesn't go for a 6 year old.

Oh and children who are 6 and 7 can do and do do wrong but not doing homework isn't part of it.

@Linzeyhun not doing homework is not on a par with misbehaving in class at primary school. So I have different views on them, yes.

Especially as homework is not compulsory in my dcs school. If it was, I would fight that policy or move my children (well I wouldn’t send them there in the first place).

Homework for primary school children is, quite frankly, ridiculous and has no basis in improving attainment. I put it in the same bucket as phonics testing, early years screening and other pointless box ticking.

I bloody hope lin is never my kids teacher.

At primary school so much stuff is out of their control. They literally can't tho anywhere else to do it. Nor can they go by stuff to do it and if they have no access to books or a way of researching what is done or have a parent or guardian to sit down with them and help woth words they don't understand then how can they do it?

It's not even beneficial at this age.

Kids should be outside playing and getting exercise or colouring or making stuff. Not being kept in at lunch because homework beyond their abilities wasn't completed.

What a horrible horrible way to treat children

I really feel sorry for teachers these days when they're up against some of the attitudes on this thread of 'my pbf can do no wrong" and "it doesn't matter if the poor little lambs don't feel like doing work." If either of my DC had refused to work in class, I'd have been happy for the teacher to keep them overnight to do it never mind break

I feel sorry for primary school teachers wasting their time on setting homework when it makes no difference to outcomes.

especially when teachers set homework and they do not give any guidance to parents as to how they’ve taught something. Which makes it incredibly difficult for a parent to help a child with their homework, if they don’t know the methods used. Eg my son gets given maths homework but I don’t know what particular method of long division he’s been taught and he can’t remember either as he might need more time with the teacher to “get” a concept.

And teachers are too busy to tell parents what the methods are, right?

It’s pointless. Wastes time. Doesn’t reinforce classroom learning. So let’s stop with the silly homework.

Fair enough ask a child to do lots of reading - which is shown to help attainment - but homework itself.

Foolish.

The children in question are 6/7 years old. Occasional forgotten book bags aside, which would still be mostly on the parents at that age, it’s no wonder there’s such a large income related achievement gap when it’s seen as acceptable to punish 6 year olds because they are not fortunate enough to have parents with the time, inclination and ability to do homework with them. To dismiss it merely as a refusal is ridiculous as children that young are hardly capable of teaching themselves spellings. Bad behaviour in class is an entirely different matter though.

You can't expect anyone to go from doing no work at home whatsoever for 7 years to the level that's required at secondary school. It's not fair on any child to expect them to make that transition, so they need to be prepared with the skills to do so from a young age. I agree that there isn't much educational benefit to doing homework aged 7, it's about developing the mental attributes.

Course you can Cal

Most of us managed just fine!

There's plenty of time further up the school to get used to it if you really felt the need. Like maybe yr 5 and 6.

And what about the "mental attributes" to be able to switch off.

And eating dinner at a reasonable time and going to bed at sensible times etc

Wouldn't you rather teach a kid who has eaten and slept properly and got exercise ?

Does more good than sat down doing stuff when they have already been at it 6 hours

@TroubleLichen

We have an achievement gap due to some of the attitudes on this thread with excuse after excuse being trotted out to explain why poorer families are not 'good enough' to do homework.

@CalF123

Your way involved punishments etc if they didn’t do it.

Then you end up with a child who only does it because they have to. As soon as they hit the real world; it all falls away without mummy to wave the stick about.

Plus children are adaptable. Give them more credit.

Secondary school is different. Lessons and teaching are different, including the need to do homework. Why treat 6 year olds like 11 year olds....

There’s an attainment gap between rich and poor which sets in well before school age. That’s why labour put money into early years provision - if you want to make a difference it’s almost too late by the age of 6.

Managing the transition in the upper 2 years of primary, when the children are mature enough to take some ownership of their work and alongside a homework club for those that need it seems sensible. Punishing 6 and 7 year olds for having a crappy home life isn’t a solution to anything.

I volunteer with a charity that works with underprivileged kids and you wouldn’t believe the number that don’t even have a space to do their homework let alone a parent that can help.

@Believeitornot

Punishments would only be a last resort. If you told dc that they would lose all breaks and lunches for 1 week for each piece of homework not completed, 99.9% would do it.