Isn't it about time we got rid of homework, at least for the under 14s?

[Solopower1]

Just heard on the radio (PM Programme, Radio 4) that there are moves afoot to stop setting HW in France. They did this years ago in Spain. Didn't catch any more details (eg what age children) but they are considering lengthening the school day by half an hour so that the kids can do their HW before they go home.

Apparently there is no research that proves that doing HW benefits a child! (Which isn't to say that it doesn't, of course, but still).

I think it would be a great idea to abolish homework, at least for those under 14. It has always been a huge burden in our household, and caused so much tension. Plus the school day is really short. In Scotland there are no classes on a Friday afternoon - not even for sixth formers.

It wouldn't stop parents from going over their kids' HW if they wanted to, nor would it prevent anyone from doing any amount of extra research. What it would do, however, is make things just that little bit more equal. It's not fair, imo, that children from disadvantaged backgrounds who get no help (or might not even have anywhere to do their HW), are still expected to produce the same quality of work as a child whose parent does it for him/her.

What do other people think?

Aaaahhh, yes, I would have struggled with that too!

I think that is why we never do that well at sports in uk children arent encouraged to do anything else but academia.
I have spent my life working with disadvantaged children who are made to feel shit and worthless because they are not clever or cant cope with the school environment. I cant see why they cannot learn a trade instead. God knows we are short of trades people, im not talking about crappy govt schemes im talking putting some money into seriously training up theses kids.
I digress but its kind of relevant.

Great links, thanks, Nooka.

We never do well at sports in this country????

Someone obviously was not watching the London Olympics.

Ds has had homework since reception.

But just reading, maths and spelling. Now comprehension once a week.

Don't think he's had to do a project. (year 3)

I don't mind the above, a good habit. But launching into a whole new project at night after a club or whatever is too much.

No homework, I dream. There seems to be a majority here against homework yet when you ask the schools they say it's the parents who want it. A friend's school had 50% of parents complaining that the homework was not enough.

Or parents complaining the homework wasn't hard enough.

Of course it is mostly the parents demanding homework. If you was a teacher would you be going - lets introduce more stuff that requires me to spend more time setting and marking.

Our school use a learning log style of homework, according to out HT it is the 'latest thing' and Ofsted think it is fantastic .

School sets a 'task', children do it however they want, being as creative as they like. Children look at each others work each week, teacher stamps it.

Causes headaches at home, but teacher just has to stamp it- no marking (although to be fair it is possible she looks at it for longer than the 5 seconds it takes to stamp it).

"Parents demanding homework"? Really? I don't know any such parents - and there don't seem to be any on this thread.

And I hate the style of homework above, where child spends hours on it and teacher just puts a tick at the end. Child then thinks, "Why bother?"

I have known parents to go into school and claim the homework wasn't demanding enough for their child. Which is all very well except not every other child is like their child and finds the homework a pain in the arse challenging enough thank you very much.

So what if their child did it really quickly? Bully for them as my Mum would say.

Well, I was one of those parents that asked for harder homework. Something that my child could do in 10 min was just ridiculous.

In the end I got tired of complaining and moved my DCs over to the private sector.

Bully for you APMF

A parent at our primary school was going on about how they moved out of London because their kids were at a state primary school where lot of their DCs' classmates were not native English speakers. The speed at which the teacher could move at was of course limited by this.

Well, I received similar eye rolling comments from this parent on the subject of 'easy' homework. Apparently it's ok to complain (and to move house) if OTHER people's are holding your kids back but if others are complaining about how YOUR kids are holding theirs back ......

What's the big rush, APMF?

This is not a criticism of ambitious parents, but it's a genuine question for anyone to answer (not directed at you, APMF).

Say your kids consistently finished their work 10 minutes earlier than everyone else in the class. Say that carried on, year after year. Wouldn't they be really bored in class? So they'd get moved up. Then wouldn't they be really young for their class? But they'd get a lot of kudos, of course. Say that was enough for them (to make up for all the fun they had missed on their way up) and they finished school two years early.

Then what? They apply to uni at age 16. Some unis might take them. But they can't join in with any of the social activities (as these mostly take place in the pub) and they are rather too young to be able to rent a flat on their own.

But you overcome all this, and then, when they graduate, you sit back and think 'What next?'. Your child-rearing years are over, a couple of years earlier than normal, but what exactly have you gained?

On the other hand, you could just relax and enjoy the process.

Plus there is such a thing as burn-out. I've seen it.

Solopower - that is the point though, isn't it? We all want our DCs to be stretched so that they don't lose interest and get bored.

A good school will broaden the curriculum where appropriate without it meaning that the more able children are going to end up covering the same work later in the year/further up the school.

Yes, no-one wants children to be bored, and if as you say, a good school keeps 'feeding' them interesting things to do, they won't be 'held back' by the others. They might, however, get a richer, wider experience all round if they have more time to explore a particular subject - and no-one would deny them that.

I was thinking more about why anyone would want to rush a child through the stages of their school life, as imo they are probably going to be happier going at the same pace as everyone else. But of course they need to be stimulated and challenged, just not all the time!

IMO they all get there in the end and there is absolutely no advantage in trying to win the race. What's the point?

Because some DC just pick things up that much quicker than others - having twins I have a birds eye view of this.

And there is nothng to be gained by repetition for the child that has already understood a concept, but everyhting to be gained for a child who has not yet mastered it.

It is not a case of racing through fixed points, instead it is a caseof moving on when the child is ready. Waiting because there is some artificially imposed age/stage is daft.

Adults are not bound by these strictures.

I don't think anyone would recommend making a child who has grasped something do it again and again. As you say, why would you do that?

But what do you mean by 'moving on'? Learning is not, as you say, a series of fixed points. And I agree, it would seem pointless to make a child do nothing while s/he is waiting for others to finish something. But I've never seen that happen in a classroom. Most teachers have plenty of imagination, lots of resources and can challenge the kids in their class at all their different levels. That's what they are trained to do.

It is tremendously rewarding for a teacher to see a child pick up the ball and run with it, whenever you give them something to think about! No teacher would have it in her/him to try to hold a child back.

I sometimes get the feeling parents don't understand how precious those moments are for teachers. They are the tiny every-day victories that feed us and keep us going.

@solopower - speaking as someone who is a parent and as an adult who went through the state education system the teachers that you describe are far and few in the state system.

The news media constantly tell us about kids leaving school barely being able to read or write. International reports has us low down in the education tables for western countries. Then I come onto MN and I read posts about how great the schools are and how well motivated the teachers are. Sorry ladies but there is a reason why private education thriving.

'ladies' APMF.

Very unfair, APMF.

Surely you would get a more balanced picture if you take on board everyone's experiences, good and bad, even though they they can only be anecdotal.

As far as international reports are concerned, yes, I would say our results are disappointing. If you want a fantastic state education, go to Finland. But then you have to commit to it, and pay for it.

If you google 'famous inventors' where do they all come from? It depends what you measure doesn't it, and what you think the goal and function of education is. I personally don't see it as merely preparing workers for jobs.

As for the media, they have to sell papers, and teachers are an easy target. If a child arrives at school hungry, sleepy and unable to concentrate, clearly that is what a teacher needs to focus on first, before any learning can take place. Teachers don't work in a vacuum. We're part of society and we're doing our bit.

A lot of the children that go to private schools round here have private tutoring to keep up. Work that one out.