Using workbooks at school.

[OldJoseph]

So I've decided both DCs need to do some schoolwork over the holidays. DC1's spelling and grammar has gone down the tube since starting secondary school and DC2 has always struggled with schoolwork. So apart from our family holiday we'll try and do something every day. I've bought some workbooks for them and they're great, I've bought a SPAG one, a reading comprehension one and a maths one.

So why don't schools use similar workbooks? They could stay at school so wouldn't get lost. Homework could be organised differently.

Whenever I look at the DCs' exercise books they seem to be full of photocopied and stuck in sheets which is both messy and expensive. The photocopies arn't always clear either, so they'll be a photocopy of a photocopy.

1st is cost. A page of photocopying cost anything from 0.5 to 2p. A 100 pages book cost a maximum of £2 while a workbook costs more.
2nd is not everything will match in the right order with the order it is taught in school.

Some schools create their own workbooks and it is more common than you think. I used to teach in one where we produced a lot of workbooks which were appropriate for our students.

So they're not a bad idea as such? I'm not suggesting they use the ones I bought from Amazon, just something similar.
In terms of costs mine have an exercise book plus the (often poorly) photocopied sheets plus the glue to stick these sheets in their books. So one side of their exercise book consists of piece of paper+photocopied paper+glue=mess, whereas a workbook would be neater and easier to revise from and better value in the long term.

That's how it works in primary schools in Ireland, most subjects have workbooks. It's a lot less work for the teachers and it made my life easier with a disorganised DS who would have screwed up bits of paper and left in the bottom of his bag.

Also it takes time, either teacher's, TA's or child's to cut and stick paper into an exercise book, so that's another cost.

Pleased I'm not completely off the mark if Ireland does this.

Irish parents do have to pay for the books though, even in state schools. DD's books cost about €55 this year.

Whatever that people try to dress it, workbook, worksheet, textbook or electronic resources, the form of learning and materials are pretty much the same in principle. A workbook is a more organised way of giving information than photocopied sheets but essentially the same. It is the quality of the resources, how pupils do them and get feedback is more important. Sometimes, kids buy a workbook, do the questions in there and make improvement and they think the workbook helps them to be better compares to what they are given in class. However, they might just get better because they do more work in the first place and because they paid for it, they secretly hope it is better. I am not defending any form of resource, just saying that practice will tend to make kids better.

We use workbooks in Italy and after three or four years they become utterly demotivating. You finish one mountain of books and then it's on to the next one. It is very samey. The beauty of photocopies is you can pick and choose, spend longer on stuff they don't get, not do pages of the same thing if they do, etc.. Also it's not actual teaching, which is what most British schools still offer.

We have a thread on this every now and again. Most countries use workbooks and textbooks and they are often sent home every day. I think it is the least-bad solution, but it is considered absolutely impossible in England, Scotland and Wales (I would say UK but NI is apparently very different).

We are doing the Shanghai math program which comes with a text book and a work book. It's utter brilliance! Just exactly how it was in my school days. With text books pupils are less disadvantaged by bad teaching, absent teachers or missing school. I don't get why there is not an official textbook that comes with the national curriculum.

I'd hope my child's teacher set a range of activities which were more inspiring than workbooks. I argue there is a time and place for 'workbooks' and worksheets for reinforcement but in school there should be variety and tasks which allow investigation and actually applying skills.

I am a teacher too. I am in no way saying I never use workbooks or worksheets or textbooks... but not every lesson. I find or make the best resource for the topic.

Unless I'm knackered...!