To think DD can't do all this homework in 1 night?

[Ashor]

• timetable of her life schedule (this is actually homework set) and to write 500 words on why time management is important.
• 750 word essay.
• PowerPoint on cells.

In 1 night???

[MaisyPops]

But setting an essay for the next day is either poor planning or a lack of respect for students (who on any given night may have other commitments).
And yet as a 6th form we are fairly clear witj what we expect and students are told that they should expect a couple of hours of homework a day. If students choose to fill their evenings so much that they can't do an hour's studying between 330 and 10pm then they are the ones who haven't planned appropriately.

Interestingly, I asked for a short response to an essay question around a side of a4 (accounting for time framr) The vast majority of the class still produced closer to 2 sides.

Ultimately, with free periods and the expectation of homework students shouldn't be surprised to get homework due the next day. Sure, you wouldn't set it all the time but it's not some sort of awful imposition.

[wrenika]

That's not too bad for a 16 year old. Good practice at time management - something to write about in her 500 words about time management!

[nowbebe]

For an 11yo that would be too much but for a 16yo doing A-Levels, that sounds as expected. There's a jump from GCSE to A-Level and sometimes it takes a little while to adjust to the increased workload.

[Mistigri]

Last week I set a side of a4 written due the next day.

A handwritten side of A4 is roughly 200-250 words. That's fine as overnight homework. That's a bit different from what the OP described.

[Mistigri]

An essay is not an unreasonable piece of homework and has sod all to do with poor planning.

Of course it's not unreasonable. But setting an essay for the next day is either poor planning or a lack of respect for students (who on any given night may have other commitments).

[bpisok]

@Mistigri - I agree with @MilkyTea20 that students that do well are putting in 25 hours a week during term time and extra during holidays. But the key words here are 'do well'. You can do a lot less but you are VERY unlikely to be getting A/A stars without this level of input. So assuming you have the innate intelligence and if you are aiming high (Oxbridge/Warwick/Durham etc) then you need to put in the graft.
DDs Politics reading list alone is well over 50 books - they don't HAVE to read them all, or even any, but it will provide a depth of subject knowledge that could nudge them from an A to an A* or a B to an A.
I assume that she has a similar list for English and History (thankfully not CS). As a parent of a 17 year old there's no way I can make her (or even expect her) to do this so it's all down to the motivation of the student.

[user139328237]

No way is that all set for the next day. When I was at sixth form all work was supposed to be able to be completed during the college day if you chose to work during all of your frees. I very rarely did more than an hour at home a night (by working during most frees except for those at the start or end of the day, completing those tasks that were not particularly useful on the bus to and from college and skipping anything that didn't need to be handed in unless it was directly beneficial for the exam and on a concept I didn't understand) and the only stuff that ever got done at weekends was online tests that one teacher insisted on being completed at the weekend (and even then these were often completed at motorway service stations or on a bus).

[MaisyPops]

Mistigri
In most sensible schools staff have the autonomy to set their homework based on their own planning and needs of their class.

An essay is not an unreasonable piece of homework and has sod all to do with poor planning.

Last week I set a side of a4 written due the next day. It was set because I spent a bit longer in class consolidating some knowledge so the write up happened ready for next lesson. I'd be a bit if a student or parent complained that it was so unfair on them.

[adaline]

Easily doable at 16.

[Mistigri]

Are you seriously expecting teachers to coordinate homework with 80 other teachers on site?

No. If they could avoid the need by simply giving homework in advance. But in any case, don't most schools have online homework diaries accessible by teachers?

There is need to give essay homework for the same evening, if teachers plan adequately.

[Mistigri]

There's no escaping the fact that students who do well at A level have to put on a lot of hard work and effort. DS is in his GCSE yet and his school(and me) expect him to do 4 hours revision per night and 8 hours per weekend day.

If he really does that, he's going to burn out before his exams.

But of course you are exaggerating wildly.

[MilkyTea20]

There's no escaping the fact that students who do well at A level have to put on a lot of hard work and effort. DS is in his GCSE yet and his school(and me) expect him to do 4 hours revision per night and 8 hours per weekend day.

[Thingsdogetbetter]

Find it hard to believe several different teachers set homework due the next day. Suspect they were set earlier (must schools have a policy of one or two a week for each subject) and she just left them until the night before. So time management essay will help her to avoid that happening again. Probably why teacher set it. Lol

[MaisyPops]

it suggests that they are being taught by teachers who can't plan and schedule and who don't coordinate with each other.
Are you seriously expecting teachers to coordinate homework with 80 other teachers on site?
Typical A level class has 15 students. None are doing the same 3 or 4 options. Shall I email everyone who teaches y12 and ask them when they set homework for the 15 students in my class? Well I could set homework on Tuesday but Sarah has music rehearsals, I could set Wednesday but Seth and Harrison have Physics set that day and Amy has Law on Thursday Marie has a maths paper due and on Friday Liam has a Sociology essay due. Shall I give them all different deadlines (making it impossible to plan learning sequences because they're at different stages)?

Or should they be able to do homework they are when most of them will have at least 1 hour free period a day (If doing 4 a levels more if not) without complaining that it's too much for them.

[Mistigri]

Students who do well at A level are consistently doing at lest 4 hours school work per evening and 6 hours on weekend days.

LOL. Do you really believe this, and think it's a good thing?

[Mistigri]

I don't think that's reasonable in on evening, if there was really no notice. In my teenagers' classes the students would have raised the issue themselves with the teachers concerned.

As a general rule, I don't think next day homework is ever appropriate unless it's a few straightforward exercises. Children, like adults, are entitled to a life outside school/ work.

Giving homework at the last minute means the students aren't given the opportunity to plan and schedule their workload (important at this age) but more worryingly it suggests that they are being taught by teachers who can't plan and schedule and who don't coordinate with each other.

[MilkyTea20]

Your DD needs to step up get work ethic and you need to step up your expectations if she's going to do well at A level.

Students who do well at A level are consistently doing at lest 4 hours school work per evening and 6 hours on weekend days.

Pupils in countries like South Korea study for 14 hours every day and your DD is complaining about doing a PowerPoint. No wonder the UK is falling so far behind the rest of the world.

[theworldistoosmall]

If written by hand then yea would be a pain. Typed out not a problem

[BrownPaperTeddy]

I don't think it's the amount that has been set that is unreasonable but to expect it done for the next day definitely is.

It's fine to have X hours of homework per week but there needs to be flexibility as to when the student does it.

What if you had theatre tickets for that night, or volunteering (which students are encouraged to do) or a part time job or hobby.

Over a week, with study periods and the weekend a student can fit it in. But that one particular night, that week, it might be impossible.

[Beach11]

The is devised by the school & shared with all pupils/staff

[Beach11]

She should have a home work timetable to follow

[roisin]

Hmm.. My boys never had that quantity of homework.

Much younger they learned to categorise homework set:
Priority 1 - an interesting task that will further learning
Priority 2 - an important task, required to embed learning, or to be built on in a future lesson
Priority 3 - a task with little meaning for me, but the teacher will mark it
Priority 4 - a task with little meaning for me; the teacher may check it has been completed.

Alas there was a fair quantity of 3 and 4 from teachers who were told they had to set homework. They rattled through 3 and 4 (often at school in breaks or frees) to do the bare minimum to avoid getting in trouble, so they could focus the time they had on the real stuff - 1 and 2, plus optional, independent tasks.

This approach served them well and they were 'successful' in school.

[rightknockered]

Plan her time

[garethsouthgatesmrs]

The posters saying they refused to do homework at a-level are likely to get a shock when their children do a level. I am a secondary teacher and we expdct 1 hr of h/w for every hour in class so a lot of the learning goes on at home. The idea that you could just skip it and still get the grade you are capable of is laughable. Students are probably doing between 12 and 16 hours home study a week but they will get some free periods.

Also we are encouraged to sanction students who don't do homework, we run detentions for sixth form and make phone calls home for lack of effort. If it is a recurring problem it can even result in your child being kicked off the course.

[rightknockered]

That is definitely doable. I used to regularly do around 3 or 4 hours at Alevel, usually because I should have planned better. She obviously left it a bit late. Help her to plan her Tim better