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?

APMF the teachers that I have come across at our primary school are as Solo describes. I have been so so impressed by their dedication, and enthusiasm for ensuring each child learns at an acceptable pace.

DS arrived at school with no phonic knowledge and could not write his name. He hadn't been interested before school so I hadn't pushed it. He did however, have masses of enthusiasm for life in general.

We had no homework in YR, and now have just reading and a learning log style task each weekend. He is now almost a free reader, excelling in numeracy and his spelling is also good.

I'm convinced his progress is down to excellent teachers who have fine tuned his enthusiasm for life into enthusiasm for reading, numeracy etc..

I talked to my mum ( an ex-teacher) about this.
I feel too much home work is given.
I feel that a bit of occasional maths and english, in primary, is mopre thna enough. Focus on good reading in primary. 'Study skills' is for secondary.

In reception we only had phonics and then moved onto some reading.
Headmistress always begs parents in the newsletter to hear their children read frequently, ideally 3 times a week, she asks.
It became more in Yr1, Yr2 and Yr3. With optional projects. and comprehension, maths, mymaths etc.
Now in Yr4 it seems to have really stepped up. In preraration for Yr5 & 6, so we are told. 30 minutes every night: of spellings, maths, comprehension, whatever, and if finish early to be made up to 30 minutes by using reading.

Whatever happened to coming home and chilling.
Or going out an playing with your mates.
Or coming home from school and riding your bike? Thats a big no-no, now, is it?

My mum says that as a generation (i.e. me, late 30's) they've realised that they didn't pay enough attention to reading. And they have realised that the lack of homework, given to children, back then, needed to bechanged.
My mum therefore considers that this is good becasue they have learnt from their mistakes.
Which is fine, but it means a) alot is asked of primary children. In my view too much.
b) my time and input is required alot. Next year when ds2 starts, I will find it hard to fit in all their supervised reading etc. It is asking alot of parents.

Whenever the subject pops up posters insist on citing Nobel prize winners, Oxbridge etc as proof as to how great our education standards are. That is a bit like looking at Hollywood and holding that up as an example of how slim and attractive your average American is :-)

What has any of that got to do with homework though APMF?

@sparkling. Our children are falling behind those of our international competitors and parents are complaining about too much homework????

It's a bit like a parent of a fat kid feeding the DC junk food while complaining about how her DC is not doing well in PE.

I don't think increased homework is going to solve it APMF.

My children go to school in one of the countries that regularly beats the UK on those tables. They have no homework until high school (and no uniform too).

I do not think homework at primary school has anything to do with performance, and the research evidence agrees with me.

olguis hordes of children of my generation in the Dutch system managed perfectly well with starting homework in secondary, working up the amount and complexity towards the equivalents of GCSEs/E levels and going on to get very good degrees, requiring a hell of a lot of independent research. I personally think 14 is a bit late, starting at 11 makes more sense. And I am also in favour of having a dedicated slot for it at school so that home life is just that - home life.

Then at age 14 by all means start introducing longer essays and compositions.

I agree that reading to and with your child and working on basic numeracy are good things, but let's face it - involved parents will already be doing those things and the ones who can't or won't will not do it, no matter what the school or the government dictates.

It depends on the homework. In my youth we would occasionally get homework that was simply copying pages from text books into our exercise books. I agree that particularly style of homework is a waste of time.

The point I am making is that relevant homework is a good thing.

For eg at DS's school the teacher will introduce a topic and the set homework may consist of doing research ready for the next lesson. These are the skills required at university so the school tries to encourage the development of these skills now. Also the accelerated learning means that the kids will have covered the GCSE material by the time they are 15 and they will spend the exam year revising and doing mock papers.

Agree, I would prefer just reading and practicing times tables for primary. Absolutely hate it when they have to 'make' something. I leave mine to it and they do enjoy that part of it but then they take their rocket or creature in to school and compare it to one which has clearly had parental input and kids then get dejected.
We've hardly had any homework this week and it's been great. I've had more time just to read with them and chill out or enjoy other activities without feeling stressed about when we're going to fit homework in

... just in case I didn't make myself clear, I was directing my comments at secondary schools. Having said that, I do think that light homework at primary school (spellings, math sheets) is a good thing.

There is a difference between prep and homework. It seems that private schools call it prep and that requires a different approach. You are recapping on the days learning and preparing for the next lesson. Homework in state school is frequently New task like a project. Not all children can do this, but all can do prep without supervision.

This thread is so timely. I am currently hiding a way from DS1 (11, year 7), with whom I have had a big row about not putting any effort into his homework.

I'm a perfectionist/goody two-shoes, he's a pragmatist/lazy who is wont to argue that studies have shown homework is of no use.

It's a HUUUGE source of tension and I'm on the verge of backing off completely and utterly and letting hi deal with the consequences (if there are any)

Don't know what to think really. I think he needs to learn some study skills, which I fear he won't learn at school - like researching, skimming texts for info and summarising. OTOH I think it might all be too much too soon and spelling tests would be most helpful right now

So bad is it at the moment that I am worrying about his homework as well as my own work. Ridiculous.

I could have written your post, Jamie, as I had one of those. My son changed from being open and enthusiastic about almost everything, into a person who completely lost confidence in himself, almost overnight. Now he just wants me to go away and leave him alooooone!

No advice to offer, I'm afraid - but lots of sympathy. (Why do they DO this???)

As Sparkling said above, they'll get there in the end.

What you write about study skills rings a bell for me, too. My son had to do the same sort of 'research' homework, long before he had learnt any research skills. He may have been taught them at school, but he certainly didn't know them. And he didn't learn them by doing the research, either.

And - there was no way he would listen to me. As far as he was concerned, I was the very last person he would ever ask for any help at all, not even if he was drowning and I was holding on to the last straw that could save him.

dc1 is at a private prep school, the parents' number-one complaint apparently is they don't receive enough homework.

in Y3 they get three lots of 20 mins a week, this increases. Seems plenty to me.

If the head listens to them, I shall removed dd1 forthwith.

DT are now in Y3 and homework in the Lifebegins at 41 house goes like this:
DTD - is very happy to do her homework
DTS - will his homework once I've nagged him enough bribed him with match cards.
DH or I still have to sit with each of them, and do the homework with them. So are they actually learning anything?
DH and I never had homework, other than reading - which I think is more important than anything else, spellings and times tables.

There are so many demands on parents these days, far more than when I was growing up, that surely the emphasis should be on the children having quality family time together especially now that the government is saying that some children come from chaotic households.

But they don't all get there in the end. If they did then the academically pushy schools wouldn't be leading in the league tables.

Why do some parents take the view that having homework and having quality family/me time is mutually exclusive? I mean, why can't you have both?

Because everyone is building a life size model of the Titanic or some other bizarre homework project APMF. And the DSs have hobbies out of school. Sometimes they have to miss their hobby to do some pointless homework that is due in the next day.

It eats into family life or indeed having a life when there is too much homework. For the whole family.

Lifebegins, it will get easier - you are setting the homework routines now and they will be in the habit by the time they get to sec school. It has worked for us (so far) though I also hate the way it can eat into family/their free time, especially if it is some pointless twaddle like making a scale model of the @Titanic!

APMF I would hazard a guess that, for some families, there is limited time to spend together at the end of the day - eg many of dd1's friends (Y4) go to after school club, where they do all sorts of things but not homework. By the time they are picked up from club by their working parents, its time to eat, have a bath, read, and go to bed. And either spend the spare half hour or so chatting/playing a game with parents/drawing with parents/even watching a movie with parents or doing homework.

I know for my friends (mums of dd's friends) who work f/t, and have more than one child, its a real push to get everything done - they often have to spend chunks of weekend time doing homework, as they can't do it during the week.

I'm all for reading, times tables and some spellings, but the rest does seem a little pointless tbh.

What we do have, that I like, is a 'whole school homework' occasionally - which is an optional challenge, often creative, that many kids throw themselves into voluntarily and with passion. It varies enough to suit all aptitudes, and taking part is satisfying and very much acknowledged by the school teaching staff.

Perhaps some parents like their children to disappear to their rooms to study from the time they get home from school to bedtime. Frees up the living room nicely for the adults.

Sparkling I like your thinking (luckily so does DD and I'm sure DS will too soon)