Why has primary homework become a race to the bottom?

[tokyogirl]

I've noticed this over a couple of years now.... to be seen to be doing any kind of homework in primary school is a literal race to the bottom.

"Oh we don't do that"
"I never fill in the reading chart"
"We don't bother"
"Can't be bothered to do all those spellings"

In DC school completed reading charts and such like are rewarded yearly with certificate and prizes, why wouldn't you want your child to be rewarded and have a confidence boost?

Any hint of actually doing homework seems to be met with an eye roll or smirk?!

Family time is just so precious if you are part of a busy family where the parent or parents work. Nurturing and playing simple board games or even watching a bit of TV together far outweighs that little bit of extra primary level homework. A simple bedtime story and time to coversate will have a greater impact on a child's wellbeing than a an already frazzled parent trying to cram in everything.

Yes - kids learn a lot at home even if you don't give them anything structured. Just playing, doing their hobbies, board games, reading, chatting, drawing. My dyslexic DS struggled with reading when younger but used to love sciency TV shows like MythBusters which are full of educational info. If they have free time at home, they can focus on what they're really interested in.

My dc primary school doesn’t issue homework.

It’s marvellous.

@caringcarer

SN Year 10 child here but he has not been given hw since they have gone back. It will pay his GCSE grades no doubt. He has a tutor at home 3 hours a week to help him keep on top of his work at school. He needs continued revision to keep his learning fresh in his mind. I have bought text books he uses at school for tutor to use with him. If he keeps up and gets a few GCSES and BTEC it will be worth it.

I find there is a common thread in a lot of schools in my country where they push kids too much in the early grades, and yet as teens they are basically doing very little. The primary grade children are being asked to write original thoughts long before they are even a little comfortable with the mechanics of writing or spelling, or to do some pretty complex math thinking, usually without the necessary skills to really solve the problems systematically, and they learn all kinds of theories about social justice problems. Then by the time they are teens they still have poor handwriting, poor spelling, they haven't memorised multiplication tables so they struggle with factoring and division and everything after that, and they know little or no actual linear history taught in a connected way. And by the time they are off to university many haven't really overcome those deficits.

It's quite strange.

@OhMsBeliever

DS1 is like your youngest. School is for work. Home is for relaxing. He has said he would rather spend an extra hour in school than do work at home. He is waiting to be assessed for ADHD and definitely has traits of autism. He very much tends to compartmentalise things. He's in his first year of secondary school now and is not having fun with the homework!

I home educate both my children. One is primary-school age, and was removed from a class of 30 pupils as she wasn't achieving like she should and wasn't supported with her medical issues. Homework came home weekly, and I used to think it was over-the-top at the time. Having home educated for over a year, I come to appreciate the logistics and challenges of school based education. Hats off to teachers who attempt to engage 20-30 kids in any subject matter within a limited time frame, while trying to manage their behaviour, SEN and other issues. I don't know how teachers are expected to meet national curriculum targets for primary education with low or average-ability children given the limited time they can spend each week per subject. I think this is where the need for homework comes in.

I think my daugher's school has homework right but only because they are so laid back about it.

As well as reading and online maths (which are ongoing) they have a table with about 8 choices per half term; they are encouraged to complete 2 or more. There is no penalty for those who don't.

These are all topic related but are largely practical - there is often cooking, art or something physical there. Any maths tends to be 'real life' for example this time they have to plan healthy weekly shopping for a family. There are usually easy tasks such as making a poster. Because they can chose, and they are different to what they do in school, DD is usually quite keen to do them. Especially if cooking is involved!

I think there are studies that show that homework at primary level doesn't impact progress much, but personally I find it useful because it tells me what my children are working on. When I was at school, we used to bring books back home, so parents could keep track of learning. Now I only get to see my kids' work at parents' evening, so most of the time I have no indication of what they are learning and how well they are doing. It's quite frustrating.

Let them be kids for a while FFS! The pressure will start to ramp up soon enough.

My primary days were a long time ago now, but we had very little homework - spellings once a week, times tables when we were first introduced to them, and in the final year of primary a reading comprehension exercise every Friday to be done over the weekend. I think that was about right, personally.

You could argue that there should be more homework in primary now because the pressure later on is greater, but personally I think that's exactly why primary schools shouldn't pile it on. There's time enough in secondary for the pressure to ramp up, and it will. Towards secondary school they need to be used to having homework, true, but I think overburdening younger kids with lots of homework is just mean.

Our kids school dont give out a lot of homework, lower primary years.

I sometimes wonder if we're too laid back in this country...

I'll just leave this here so you know who your children will be working for in 20/30 years time...

twitter.com/alvinfoo/status/1157510365506408448?lang=en

I think it should be minimal until about year 5. Reading, spellings, tables. A bit more in the last 2 years just so secondary is less of a jump, but still not much. I remember being set tons of reading comp, grammar and maths exercises and dictionary practices in the middle juniors. All it did was exhaust me- I'm dyspraxic and it took me hours, far longer than it ought to have. I'm not stupid but I'm simply not that quick a worker.

I don't hold with children getting holiday homework or being given ridiculous projects, either- parents end up doing them. They're always bloody arty too, and as a dyspraxic I'd be as much help as a chocolate tea pot!

DS2's Y5 and gets homework most nights. He enjoys engaging with it and reached the point during lockdown where he'll do most of his study independently at the kitchen table and just ask the odd question. If he kicked up a huge stink I'm not sure I'd press it, though. DS2 often brings extra homework home at the weekends and takes it back in on a Monday - it's not something I've ever encouraged or pushed, he just loves school work and doesn't seem to want or need down time.

DS1 is Y10 and has a ridiculous amount - I will openly admit I spend more time and energy helping him Mon-Fri so that he can have some time at the weekend to switch off because for him that's vital.

[quote AtomicRabbit]I sometimes wonder if we're too laid back in this country...

I'll just leave this here so you know who your children will be working for in 20/30 years time...

twitter.com/alvinfoo/status/1157510365506408448?lang=en[/quote]
Ah, yes, China, now there's a country to emulate.

I don't think being able to count faster than a calculator is likely to be a reliable predictor of future success, but if I'm wrong I'm sure there are a range of peer reviewed studies to prove it.

[quote AtomicRabbit]I sometimes wonder if we're too laid back in this country...

I'll just leave this here so you know who your children will be working for in 20/30 years time...

twitter.com/alvinfoo/status/1157510365506408448?lang=en[/quote]
@AtomicRabbit I feel sometimes we are. There sometimes seems to be a fashion for lack of pride in doing well academically or putting in the effort sometimes required.

Utter waste of time.Bit of reading.

The faster than a calculator example is an extreme but surely those kids take skills with them into adulthood such as focus and disciplined thinking?

I think it's to fit in with this weird British "putting yourselves down" thing. On here, if you post about any sort of achievement, you get accused of "humble bragging". It's so weird and kind of like a "know your place" attitude. The mums at my school are like it and it really irritates me.

To answer OP's question...seems like homework in primary has become yet another individual lifestyle choice which parents are entitled to decide upon (accept, reject or modify) as they see fit. Also because every child's needs are different. (And also because some homework is reasonable and well designed...and other homework is not...?!)

Ofsted doesn't even include homework as part of their assessments anymore - they now leave it entirely up to the school as to whether to set it. (Didn't realise this until now and think it should be easier for people to figure out which schools require homework and which don't.)

Maybe it doesn't really matter what other people's kids are doing if you're just looking out for the best interests of your own. But I do feel for the schools if they are assigning homework as part of a well thought-out curriculum...must be somewhat frustrating if there is widespread lack of compliance. So again... They should make it clear up front which schools require homework and which don't, especially at state schools, so that people don't land in the wrong place either way.

@killpopp I completely agree.

@tokyogirl precisely. Those kids know discipline, focus and hardwork.

Yes in the UK most parents are pretty relaxed around education. There's probably only about 5% of mumsnetters who think like me. Everyone else is of the opinion that "children should be children" which basically means allowing them to just piss around doing whatever.

The number of parents who i've heard say "Oh, so and so isn't academic" and I think yes but when you compare Chinese DNA to British DNA it's not like there's much difference in them - none at all - as between all human races. The difference is that is that Chinese children do better in education because they've learnt to work.

And as for china, yes the human rights are shitty - but everything else about the country is pretty successful. 2nd largest economy in the world, beat covid in 5 months unlike us lot still dithering around, largest global exporter of goods, just check where your washing machine was made or that jumper you're wearing, more billionaires than any other country. Say all you like about china but the reason it's making so much money and owns vast amounts of Africa and various sea ports around the world is because they can WORK. No parent in China says "oh my child isn't academic".

And sorry tokyo girl, last paragraph not aimed at you. Meant for previous poster :)

'I think it's to fit in with this weird British "putting yourselves down" thing. On here, if you post about any sort of achievement, you get accused of "humble bragging". It's so weird and kind of like a "know your place" attitude. The mums at my school are like it and it really irritates me.'

This^. It's so true! Stealth boast etc. Why are people like this? In America achievement is applauded. You are allowed to be proud of your dcs grades. You are allowed to be proud of your own success. I love that. All this false modesty is just so ugh.

We do the homework. My dcs enjoy it, they love learning (stealth boast? Or is that a blatant boast?!). If it was a miserable battle we wouldn't, because I'm of the view that when learning stops being fun it stops happening.

And why can't we boast about our children? No one else is going to, hyping up my kids gives them huge confidence boosts. They're the greatest little projects I've ever done!

We are in reception at the moment, to be honest my son might not do all the homework but he responds very well to positive feedback and cares about it. I do some things but not all we apend pur weekends visiting parks and talking about the world. He has an enriching life outside of homework.