Is there a way of handling lack of homework?

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Dear all:

I'm well known here for grumbling about unimaginative and limited homework at DDs' school. Thus my hesitation to go into battle yet again about lack of homework. So I'd like to explain our situation and see what you Mumsnetters think about this:

Since Gove announced that he was removing guidance on homework our school has been 'reviewing' their homework policy. We parents received a letter in September saying that they were reviewing what homework would be offered and that spelling would move from a weekly list of words to more investigative work (i.e. making words verbs or adjectives, learning rules for certain groups of words - i.e. -ough words), etc... They also announced that there would be a parent/ staff meeting one evening (which was well attended) to discuss what parents wanted from homework and what the schools views on homework were (that was nearly 2 months ago).

It's the last week of term and still absolutely nothing from the school about what their homework policy will be.

Both DDs get a maths sheet (~10 minutes work, if that) and regularly get library books to read from school. No written work (writing a review, a letter, etc...). No topical work: researching a historical period, learning more about a topic, etc... And no investigative spelling work - unforutnately.

The school is proposing a grid (5 x 5) with options for homeworks which are entirely optional for each child to do - but children would get a merit for completing 5 a month. Each month a new grid would be issued.

Am I being unreasonable (AIBU) to think this shouldn't be taking so long?

Are other teachers/ schools struggling to come up with homework policy like ours?

Are schools opting to offer less homework now that government guidance on homework is removed?

Thanks for any input - I'm really struggling not to complain - but I'm completely astounded this is so difficult to organise.

Reading isn't work, reading is both a skill and a pleasure. Doing projects on graphs and the Spanish Armada is work, and in this house is done by me. I made it very clear to the teachers years ago that if they punish my children for not doing their homework, ill just do it for them until they leave primary school. My children know this also.

Enjoy it. If your child is primary age then playing with them, cooking with them, reading with them, walking with them, singing with them, swimming with them, etc. are all far more valuable than homework.

Absolutely agree with other posters that primary homework (over and above daily reading, and maybe learning maths facts such as tables) is a complete waste of time.

That persuasive letter idea would be a great idea for a series of lessons in school. sending it home seems to be rather a lazy option as it means that for many children the parents will do it instead. The children would have learned much more from it if it had been done in proper teaching time.

If what you are saying is that literacy teaching IN SCHOOL is uninspiring and that your children do not get interesting and motivating literacy tasks to do IN SCHOOL, then you definitely have grounds to approach the school and discuss it. If they do get great teaching in school but no homework, then you only have reasons to rejoice in the freedom it gives you to do proper learning at home (of the cooking / gardening / orienteering / etc variety - the sort that is hard to provide in school).

My children's primary school has traditionally set vanishingly little homework - a sheet a week - but has what sounds like really fascinating lessons in school. As a result, the Year 6s last year (the last year wholly brought up through that ethos) achieved results which put them in the top few schools in the county, particularly for high achievers and value added. Just recently, the policy on homework has changed, with spellings and 'project' work being sent home (the school is totally open about the fact that this is in response to requests from parents and is not expected to have any impact on the learning of the children, as the main learning will happen in school). I suspect that it will in no way improve, and may even reduce, their results.

Our primary school doesn't give out homework (apart from reading books).

It gets very very high SATS results (top 100 in the country).

HOWEVER - I know for a fact (having had a number of children at the school) that most parents DO a lot of practise at home off their own backs - reading, timetables, spellings, you name it. There is also quite a lot of tutoring going on from Y3/Y4 onwards (many off to private selective independents).

I think meaningful homework can guide parents what to revise/practise with their children at home. The most value add in my opinion would be personalised homework, because each child struggles with different things....

Unfortunately there isn't time for the teachers to do this - I agree that for many children the homework they get is a bit useless - like a list of spellings they already know or maths they can already do. Pointless waste of time.

practice not practise!

I wanted one piece of literacy one week and one piece of maths the next. Perhaps topic stuff sometimes.

I wanted it to see what the DCs were doing and to encourage conversation.

HW as a learning tool at primary is a waste of time. However, it bypasses the perennial, "nothing, can't remember" which you get if you ask what they are doing.

Traditional reading and spellings lead to tears and tantrums with dyslexic DD1 and were done in a blink by DD2.

Given we never see their books, HW that let's you see what they are doing is wonderful, it is as rare as hens teeth.

I have a child who is pretty lazy. He's bright enough but he doesn't want to work. He resolutely rejects attempts by us to help him learn, e.g. times tables games. Won't be taught by us. I do see his point

Homework is so nearly non-existent that I am losing heart. I believe that one of the functions of early school years is to encourage pupils to have a love of learning, and I'm sad for the opportunity missed to give the pupils a routine which involves a bit - just a little bit - of home-based learning.

www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/PRE_PDF_Files/02_27_02.pdf

I take great issue with people who claim that homework in primary school is of no benefit to the child. Short exercises that reinforce class learning are massively helpful, IMO. As is daily reading.

Stephanie,

that's interesting, because the only reason I can see for setting homework in primary is to develop a 'learning also happens at home' habit which is useful at secondary. Certainly my DCs have, from a very early age, been wholly responsible for their homework - I made a space and equipment available, we discussed possible times, they did it (or didn't, and took the consequences - only happend once)

Bonsoir,

Daily reading is the only kind of homework that I see as in any way beneficial. Research which i believe mrz has linked to seems to indicate that at a general level (ie wider than your personal assertion) there is no benefit from other homework.

Bonsoir,

A quotation from the paper that Mrz has linked to
"They showed that time on
homework contributes to achievement at secondary level, and
the effect is stronger among older pupils. However, the
research on primary pupils has been much less extensive and
the results are probably best described as inconclusive (a
mixture of slightly positive and ?no effect? results)."

Also, returning to the OP who believes that HW would reverse the decline of results in her children's school:

"Primary schools
aiming to raise achievement by setting more homework could
be disappointed."

"At best, most homework studies show only an association, not a causal relationship."

But what about getting children used to the (reasonable) notion that home is a place for learning too?

Lots of us on this thread are saying we feel it's a shame to disconnect school from home by letting homework fall by the wayside.

Is there any research into that relationship, not necessarily trying to find a correlation between homework and attainment, but between homework from the off, and the ability to study by oneself later in the school career?

"Several studies have actually found a negative relationship between students? achievement (or their academic performance as judged by teachers) and how much time they spend on homework (or how much help they receive from their parents)."

As teacherwith2kids suggests, our primary sets homework in the upper years principally to help the children get into the routine of some work to prepare them for secondary school. I think there is some value in that, but personally as a parent, I dislike homework in primary (apart from reading), and would rather spend the time doing other things with the kids. In my list of "other things" I include reading, but things like recipes while cooking and comics etc.

Teaching your children is a joint responsibility between school and home, and you can support what school are doing without formal set tasks and grids. If the standard in the school is declining, particularly in reading, it is not just the school that should be getting the "blame" and has probably got almost nothing to do with any lack of coherent homework policy.

I had my first homework set age 11, in secondary school. By that time I was mature enough - educationally, socially - to do it wholly by myself. My son, at the same age, started getting his first daily homework from secondary (as referred to above, his primary homework was very minimal). He is equally absolutely ready for it, and does it independently each night before I get home from work... because he is ready for it, and possibly also because homework has never been a 'battleground' or 'something he expects parental help with'.

Even reading, Soupy?

My children read what they want, when they want.

Stephanie - of course home is a place for learning too! But why on earth do you need school to issue you homework for that?

What does 'achievement' mean in that quote, mrsz?
I'm more interested in study skills, myself.

I don't really understand this. If you want your children to do extra work outside school, then why not just do it yourself? You don't need teacher set homework to reinforce reading, tables, spellings etc if you feel it would be beneficial. Large scale homework projects at primary level just result in either stress for parents trying to get dc to focus on them, or they are done by parents with minimal child input.

I simply want my child to go through school understanding that some schoolwork must be done at home. This is what it's going to be like all through secondary school.
It doesn't have to be much. It would be good if it were useful.

My DD (French equivalent of Y4) never gets large scale homework projects but she gets sums 4x per week (mostly long multiplication or division), French spellings 4x per week (5-6 words per day), reading 4x per week (a few pages of fiction that is quite demanding) and a poem to learn by heart every fortnight, plus occasional additional bits and pieces. She also has 12 English spelling words per week, a chapter to read and comprehension questions to answer and an English poem to learn by heart every fortnight. All this is beneficial and I wish she had French grammar exercises too. She loves doing it all, btw.

Do you really think your four year old needs study skills?