Homework. Does the teacher mark your childs work?

[Tiredemma]

Ds2 is in year 6. I have noticed that the homework he has been set is either not marked at all by the teacher or marked, but by a fellow peer in his class.

is this the norm? Im a bit at the letters that came home at the beginning of term stressing the importance of homework (this I do not oppose)- but if its so important- why does the teacher not mark it?

Just curious as to whether this is some new concept?

In Yr6 DS homework was always marked by teacher. DD in Yr4 often has peer marked spellings ( often incorrectly done) and General knowledge homework. I think it's more for things that they discuss in class, but I admit it does mean I supervise a bit less!

Which subjects?

Peer marking is a really good and useful learning tool.

I don't think DD2 (yr 5) has handed in a single bit of homework this term and the teacher doesn't seem bothered. Several times I have found scrunched-up bits of homework that she did weeks ago at the bottom of her bag. I think if the school is going to set homework, they need to make sure it is handed in, mark it and return it, otherwise what's the point?

Her twin is in a different class and her homework is collected in and always comes back marked and with a helpful comment. This is what I would expect really.

ill raise it at parents eve this week.

its for literacy and maths.

I dont see the benefit of it really. All the comments say are "well done"

Hmm, I can see this system being abused.

However the benefit of homework has to be in the doing of it, really. They have still practised or researched.

Well that is what you have to tell yourself and child, otherwise you could get totally miserable about it....

I mark all of mine fully, including correcting the errors in their spelling sheets.

Nope, don't mark homework. Don't set homework. I let students choose from a series of projects that they work on over a period of time, which is then usually either presented to the class or uploaded (they might make a website, or keep a blog) and that then gets marked as part of their assessment. I'd rather spend my evenings developing interesting learning experiences rather than marking 30 repetitive worksheets which are nothing more than busy work.

DS (yr4) has his homework marked by his TA, DD (yr1) has hers marked by the teacher.

thanks all-

sorry for brief responses- still mastering typing and bouncing infant on knee!

Last year he had homework set and it was never marked- so i had asked at parents evening what was the point? Response was to 'test independence' (???) and to see if the children were actually doing the set tasks (no response when I asked 'How do you know if you dont look at it?'

So this year when DS2 came home with a letter detailing the importance of doing set homework, handing it in on time otherwise he will get a break detention, I felt that maybe this teacher would be more on top of it.

Looking through his homework book its either not been marked, or been marked by another child with no thorough feedback other than 'well done'.
Some of his maths questions he has answered incorrectly and these have also had 'well done- good maths homework' as feedback.

Tiredemamm Tbh it sounds a bit half hearted of the school. If they really believed homework was valuable, it should be at least acknowledged. I suspect that this is another thing that is Ofsted driven, the inspectors like to see that homework is set. So school are setting it, purely for this reason, otherwise you would have better acknowledgement over what has been done.

True independence is when you get to make your own decisions and choose for yourself what you need to do to further your own learning, so 'developing independence' sounds a bit of a cop out to me with regards to not marking homework. Children need to be guided towards independence (what the teacher should be doing) and not just left flailing before they are ready.

At my DC's school, the teachers have to set a specific number of pieces of homework each week, depending on the age of the child. When DS was in infants, the work was marked but now he's in juniors it is handed in and he/we rarely see it again.

My DD's work isnt marked by staff, its marked by other children in the class. I have brought the subject up many times before where its marked as incorrect when its right and marked correct when its wrong. If the students are to mark the work then it must be supported by the staff in my opinion and there should be evidence of this support/checking too. I am yet to see any comment from her teacher on any piece of homework or even classwork.

However, my DS's teacher is fantastic, not only does she actually read and mark the homework she also places a photocopied sheet into a homework book for the week ahead and she glues/staples it in place so it cant go missing. She is excellent at writing notes at the end of a piece of homework pointing out where it was good and where it needs improvement along with pointers on how to improve.

I find it amazing that 1 school can have such stark contrasts in their staff. Although when you consider that the children picked my DD's teacher from the final candidates and my DS's teacher was the old fashioned head and governors picked her its easy to see why one is so much better than the other.

My dds are Y2 and Y5, and yes their homework is marked, and commented on, by the teacher. Every week.

Yes marked it was marked by the teacher.

I wouldn't be happy about other pupils marking homework and would def bring it up with the teacher.