Do you agree with homework in Primary

[Toastiesforever]

I disagree with homework in primary school and quite frankly im amazed its still handed out and expected.

I have 3 DC in primary school and we have never done homework, my theory is that my children have enough education in school and as parents we should educate outside of school however we see fit.

For us this includes them reading books, Harry potter, Jacqueline Wilson, david Williams etc - we are lucky that my children love reading.

They will always participate in school talks/presentations and projects.

All my children are involved within the school Litter picking committees, School newspaper, music lessons within school.

And furthermore they are in competitive level sports outwith school which require substantial training hours.

Local days out like airshows, community days and city celebrations.

Ive noticed that most teachers my Dcs have had through the years really agree that homework is not required in primary yet we have this year we have came up against a teacher that says its required for my oldest DC.

I still said no, am i being unreasonable.

@MariaVT65

Of course, I entirely agree that it depends on the content and the volume.

But I still think the starting premise that homework is less important than clubs and extracurricular is an odd one.... there's a definite shift in emphasis here, in which parents seem to assume that academic work should be the least important element of their kids lives.

I'm not downgrading the importance of sport or music, far from it: these are hugely life enhancing things. But the idea that piano lessons or a rugby match come ahead of learning your times tables seems odd to me, particularly if spare time is so scant.

I just think its inconsistent with a society which is really equipping the next generation with the tools they need.

Yes, I don't agree with it unless it's sort of revision.
My son has a medical/health autism plan at school (basically, we talk to his teachers, make goals, and what we don't know what him doing) and one thing on the plan has always been no homework.
My son is in high school now (grade 8) and still no homework his schools have been fine with that they are very understanding and either he misses the homework part altogether (as in doesn't do it at school) or may do a bit in school he has his own lesson plans too so it's not like he is doing the same thing as everyone in his class/year so they can't mark it against him he does his own work and they mark that.

In primary we didn’t consider homework important- they learnt what was needed during school hours. Sports and music classes were important at that age to get a good grasp of the basics. Both the DT’s didn’t music exams through to grade 8 and played competitive sports through to Uni.

Both got all A’s in GCSE and A levels so lack of doing any primary homework hasn’t hurt them but the time for other activities has been a huge benefit.

“I'm not downgrading the importance of sport or music, far from it: these are hugely life enhancing things. But the idea that piano lessons or a rugby match come ahead of learning your times tables seems odd to me, particularly if spare time is so scant.”

I think it is a recognition that school can be very limited in terms of the types of learning. I do see piano as being just as important as so many state schools are so rubbish at music provision versus a prep. I would of course support learning of tables but try to do it as practice in the car or much more informally. Our school is pretty low on homework but gets amazing results. I also think time to play and relax is important as a thing in and of itself.

Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I don’t mind a bit of homework. I think the main benefit of homework (that I see in my kids, anyway) is that it teaches self-discipline and time management. My kids receive a packet of homework to complete each week, and they have to decide how to portion out their time in order to complete it by the following week. They are informed of exams a week or two in advance and are given study guides for revision, so they have to work out a study schedule for themselves depending on what they feel they need to study and how long they think that will take. They have learned to evaluate what is expected of them over the next week and to plan their time allocation accordingly. I think that’s a great life skill for primary age kids to learn.

The dark side of homework is that, as pointed out by others, it really can place kids who don’t have as many resources to complete assignments (time after school, quiet work space, parental help, etc) at a real disadvantage.

Depends what it is… my DC hate writing, and need to practice - for their handwriting, spelling, comprehension, stamina.
practicing maths is important- I can see that sometimes they did not get what happened in school, or they are not confident yet.
reading is important- you don’t get better at it unless you practice - and I don’t think school can deliver this level of practice.
same with timetables
art projects and posters are a complete waste of time. So is anything that requires “research”, as that is just the adult googling results - especially in Reception and Year 1.

@Toastiesforever your children really can't find time at the weekend for a page or two of sums and some spellings? They are not at school for many of the weeks of the year (summer holidays, half terms, Christmas and Easter Break.

Maybe 30 weeks a year. If they are as good as you think they are, then maybe that's an hour a week to do the spellings and sums. 30 hours a year.

You really can't find that?

There's no need for homework at primary except learning tables and doing reading practice. That's it.

I'd go so far to say there's no need at secondary until the GCSE years start, too.

Apparently adults need work-life balance, but children do not.

Yeah i can find it.....as stated in the post

You need to change your way before secondary otherwise you will run into issues as homework is mandatory and will cause detentions.

I can't imagine your kids can't spare 30 minutes to do a worksheet, practice timetables or read for an upcoming topic.

DD was at a childminder 4 out of 5 days until 5.30pm, she had 3 activities under the week plus weekend ones.
She still managed to get her homework done.

It is amazing how much spelling and timetables you can squeeze into a 30 minute car ride for example.

Yeah in a previous post i did say that in the car we always do spellings and timetables/sums for fun albeit not written down in the homework sheet

So why don't you find time for the spellings and the sums then? Purely dislike of homework and the fact that it will eat into your family time?

No, i stated all my reasons in my OP.

I've read your OP. So is this the reason you won't find time for the sums and spellings:"my theory is that my children have enough education in school and as parents we should educate outside of school however we see fit."?

Yet you do maths and spellings of your own in the car?

If so, then why not just do the ones the school is setting which should, in theory, support/revise what your child has been doing in class? Instead of your own ones?

Because doing it in the car suits us better with the same exact results.

Currently my children are in the top groups within their class without doing much of any traditional homework.

They are involved in the community, choose to do additional activities within school like music, class rep, school newspaper and others.

Same exact results? How can you measure this?

Do they have spelling tests at school?

If so: How do they feel about sitting these tests without having prcaticed them? Or do you ask for them to be excused?

If they don't have spelling tests, how do you actually know they know all the spellings? Spellings aren't usually put into "groups" so I don't understand how you are so confident they know the spellings they are supposed to be doing

Jesus Christ, cos parents working full time and judging child care isn't enough for a half term

I think the general consensus seems to be that projects, research, posters, craft type homework is rubbish and adds very little value. Whereas reading regularly, spellings, times tables etc are important and will help them in their school based learning.

Could anyone give their perspective on homework in primary/prep independent schools? I'm a secondary teacher (most recently in the independent sector) and we set a lot of homework. The pupils spend a minimum of 2 hours a night doing their "prep" and most will leave school with at least 9 top GCSE grades/ top A- Level grades and a university place.

I had always assumed primary/prep schools set homework and that parents would support it. Am really interested to read these perspectives.

No.
I never have, but that belief was reinforced by my eldest DGD getting a 12 x 12 matrix and they wanted her to do 144 decimal multiplication sums for homework.
FT working mum and dad so not getting home till 6. Nowhere quiet to do it at the childminder. 144 sums just for the sake of it.
Ridiculous.

I'm assuming she wasn't expected to do this for the next day?

Spellings, times tables and reading are fine (but the choice of book should be individual, not some dreary set text, just so long as comics are barred). Otherwise there's not a lot of point.

I think this may depend on why the parent has chosen to send their child to private primary school. I know a few people who were sent to private primary, not because they wanted amazing grades out of their kids, but because they had issues with their state primary schools, such as giving them books to read far below their capabilities, or due to bullying.

Also depends how much a parent would prioritise top grades in general. Most people are perfectly able to get into uni and have successful careers without all the top grades. 2 hours a night even at secondary school sounds like a lot. I remember having to quit my weekly sports club as soon as I hit year 7 because i had so much homework, so kids still need time for other activities, and parents work and also have several children.

But there may well be parents on here who want the top grades out of their children and have a different view.

I think it really depends on the school.

We have some around our area where the 4+ entry exam is already tough and they expect a certain brightness. These schools do set quite a lot of homework and expect it to be done perfectly.

Others are less hothouse, more inclusive. A colleague moved his son to one as he struggled with social issues at his state primary and he bloomed there. They are not less academic but they put a holistic approach to it.

Another colleague's DD is at a Montessori private primary and there is no pressure at all, it's very much work on your own pace with the Montessori background.

Oh, DD is at a state secondary and in Y9-11 1 1/2 -2 hours homework and prep work a day wasn't that unusual, definitely before assessment/mock time.
But as most clubs move to a 6pm and later slot it's not too difficult.

In an ideal world, homework wouldn't be necessary in primary school. Unfortunately, there are so many disruptions for children now that it's necessary. A typical class has 30 students to 1 teacher; 5-6 of those students who have SEN, 3-4 with behavioural issues, 4-4 low achieving, 4-5 high achieving, and some students may not even speak English. Cuts to funding means the class is lucky if they have 1 TA. The teacher delivers the lesson and the students do their work, but no individual time is allotted with the teacher, especially for neurotypical students who are expected to get on with their work effectively unsupervised.

Homework means students have guided work to do at home with parents giving individual attention. Many households wouldn't even encourage reading outside of school without it being classed as homework.

It's not something that I support, but I see why teachers rely on it.