Teachers not marking homework... what?! AIBU

[NoNeatFreakHere]

... and by marking I don't mean grading - giving a number. An absolutely star teacher last year wrote a one liner on DCs homework and DC was always excited to read it. The one liner conveyed "I see you" and maybe you want to adjust this thing or other but I liked such and such thing you wrote. DC couldn't wait to read it always and made a difference in DC being enthusiastic about school.

Now the school management has communicated there is no more of that and homework books will come and go. Met DCs teacher this year and explained what a difference the one line made last year to motivation to do the homework and general enthusiasm and asked her that school mgmt consider the feedback. I was met with the response of pfff we have 30 of them to do, we can't do it (and an attitude of it's so obvious this is not doable). Now homework is once a week and it's primary school. It's not that much and can't there be a middle ground? Do the marking once every 2 weeks or something?

The argument here is that feedback is given in class and for class work. Then why do we have homework? And why would my DC be incentivised to do it? We have asked the school management when it was announced. We were told... and felt like out points were ignored of those parents that spoke. It was a patronising session to the tune of "us heads of school know better". Extremely frustrating.

This also breaks parent comms in my mind as I have no clue what is happening or expected then outside of a termly 10 minute session. It's hard to know how much or little is expected of certain quite open ended pieces of homework. Booking more time with the teacher in my mind would defeat the purpose of being more efficient with teachers' time.

School is state and ofsted outstanding for context.

AIBU:

• I empathise with teachers' workload but isn't this a core part of the job?
• I am sure there are teachers here, what do you think? Am I being in complete ignorance of what teachers go through?
• Other MNers is this happening in your school too or is it just ours? What do you think of it?

Thank you for reading 🙏🏻

I totally agree with you op. I'm a secondary teacher and I hate homework with key stage 3. On the one hand, we are told homework must be set and recorded / reported on. On the other hand, we are told to manage our workloads by reducing marking and ks3 homework is a good one to cut down on. So that's the bloody in it then??? Why not just leave it up to teachers - if they are overwhelmed with assessments or marking exam mocks then no homework that week. If a homework would be beneficial and the teacher can mark and feed back in good time, set it. I completely agree it is so demoralising for kids to be set work that never gets seen, especially something like homework which is often sanctioned if not handed in at secondary (don't know about primary). Homework is honestly one of my biggest bugbears. It's literally treated like a tick box exercise, adding extra work for everyone instead of real though going into what it could do and whether it's really needed. And unfortunately homework policies rarely take into account what class teachers actually think - we are just told to follow it!

Another primary teacher here. We don't set homework. We ask parents to read with their children and to take them outside.

We also don't grade work in the classroom. We want the children to be working for themselves, not for our validation. We set aside time every week to 'conference' 1-2-1, and during the day we offer verbal guidance. If a child has not grasped a concept that we are pushing, they are offered one on one.

You are assuming each child is like yours...

Well said!!!

Use this as an opportunity to encourage your child to do something because they have to, not because they get a reward for it.

I personally don't agree with homework in primary school. I didn't do homework in primary school and have managed to grow into a fully functioning adult.

I agree OP, the teachers who've bothered to mark and comment on my kids work have always been the incredible, devoted ones who are worth 10 times the salary they get paid.

I think most of them just can't be arsed. They're busy. The busiest people on the planet if you believe them.

I've literally never heard a parent complain that they want homework for their child. If it has no value I'd be perfectly happy for it not to be set, but if you're going to ask my child to do it then have the decency to look at it.

I think you’re coming at this from the wrong angle OP. You’re correct to question the point of the homework, as there is very little point to homework at primary school. If you can, and the school aren’t going to make a big song and dance about it, stop doing it. When my DC’s got a new headteacher a few years ago all homework was scrapped, the justification being that there was no evidence that it’s beneficial. I’m grateful to that very sensible Head for being strong on that and holding her ground, as at the time there were lots of parental complaints about that change in policy. Your DC may was well get used to not having all their work marked now, because it’s most definitely not going to all be marked at secondary school! There are 101 things that teachers can be doing which are more beneficial for learning than marking homework, and as has been pointed out they really don’t have time. In a chronically underfunded system something has to give, and your DCs school have decided that for them, one thing that’s going is marking homework. I’d now focus your efforts on campaigning to do away with it all together. If they know parents are behind that, they’ll probably be quite willing to scrap it, as it would be another way of decreasing workload. Like many a good state schools, they’ve realised that they need to do something to decrease workload, or they’ll lose their teachers to others schools who are better at that (or just other jobs completely tbf, there’s lots of that happening). In that respect, they are doing the right thing, they’re responding to their school’s needs, that’s the mark of a good school. A lesser SLT would just stick their heads in the sand, with unhappy staff, and then be surprised when half their teachers leave come next July.

As a parent I can totally see your point - what is the point of doing homework if there is no feedback? You don’t know if it’s right or wrong and the work feels like it has no value. My primary child was set some projects for home last year in Y4 - make a Viking boat model, make a model Rainforest etc. He spent ages on them. He would take them to school proudly on the day and I’d say “so what did your teacher think of your amazing boat?” for example, and he’d say “I don’t know, she didn’t say anything.” Poor kids!!!

However, as a teacher too, I am presuming these projects were set because the staff were told they had to set something, and this is what they went with! None of it deepened the kids’ understanding of the topics because they just had to label parts they already knew! My experience of setting homework is from secondary teaching so slightly different, but I’d have some days where I had to set homework and nothing fitted that day particularly so I’d scrabble around for something, preferably something which didn’t need much/any marking. If your school’s policy is now not to mark the set homework, the staff will be very pleased (even if it makes no sense as parents!).

It’s a shame really as at primary the best things they can do at home are reading and maybe spellings. But if they are going to set extra work, some sort of feedback should be compulsory!

@Iknowforsure1 it is compulsory at my child’s school and we’ve never been given any indication otherwise. Thanks by the way for reminding me why I usually steer clear of mumsnet. Such a waste of time.

@SaveWaterDrinkGin
Sorry to be a waste of time. I just think it’s worth it trying not to latch on every small problem or perceived problem with schools and just try to get on with life and enjoying life in particular. Why do you let such small things affect you, it’s beyond me. We all know that every service these days is overstretched and underfunded. I don’t believe you will be reprimanded or god forbid disciplined in any way for not doing homework that’s not being marked or checked. I get on with my life, sometimes I do a lot with my child because I care if they are lacking something. Sometimes I do nothing. I don’t want to pass my anxieties on my children and I don’t want them to think they have to be relying to everyday praise or never ending positive input for every breath they take. There will also be 30 completely different children in the class. Don’t know about private schools, but state schools surely can’t cater for every parents whim. I’m sorry to be wasting your time again anyway, but maybe you can actually check with the school if the homework is compulsory and what happens if the children don’t want to do it.

Thank you for all the responses and thought that's gone into this.

To those who are complaining about marking home daily - I clarified its once a week or suggested every two weeks.

To those who say homework should not be given - then my question to the school would be why the mixed message? Either give it or not. Also useful what another poster said that it's guidance for parents. Then they should say that and then we can choose what and how much to do.

By the way "there is no evidence that home work helps" does not mean to me that it really doesn't. I am not bothered very much either way and we are very engaged parents. We absolutely do and want to be doing other things but if homework comes from school in a non optional way then I feel as a responsible parent I have to do it.

Also - and I appreciate how controversial this is - lots of people here are part of existing stretched services (like NHS) that have no choice or choose not to say I am not doing part of my role because I am overstretched.

School that say they consider feedback and want to have an open conversation with parents m, should be wanting this feedback which I thought was constructive. If feedback is not given and everything is taken as is because of 'moaning' then how does anything improve? And why would you not want to improve? And I don't mean compete... I mean just good natured healthy energy and motivation to be good that we are trying to role model to our kids... 🙏🏻

The thing is that individual written comments in books has been found to be an ineffective method of feedback that has a large cost in terms of the time it takes to do.

It is more efficient and impactful for the teacher to spend that time looking through a representative sample of the books, seeing what the misconceptions were and then planning a follow up activity to address them.

A teacher writing "Well done Katie, super handwriting", might be nice to read but that's a chunk of her working time not spent moving the learning forward.

The value in the homework is the process of doing it, not the recognition or reward.

@Daffy7286 thank you and ok I see your point. We have seen the school struggling to keep and hire good teachers. Although when one teacher does it with a smile and supports it, and another says to my face this is too much for me, I doubt her commitment and ability... instinctively and maybe wrongly. 🤔

Also thinking more... the sentence that a teacher writes is not a reward or social recognition - it's connection - after a few difficult years. They don't share them widely in the class, she reads it privately at home. Without it school is like a factory or a ticket queue where you submit and a stamp pops out the other side.

I've literally never heard a parent complain that they want homework for their child.

I have had countless complaints over the years from parents wanting more homework. I have probably had the same number of complaints saying they don’t want any homework.

Homework is often done by parents*. And believe me, it’s a bit awkward to correct their mistakes.

*I don’t actually care if this is the case. I only set homework if school policy dictates that I do. And as a parent of tired primary kids, I often just wrote out the homework for them to copy as I knew how much notice the school took of their work.

Research shows that homework other than reading has no benefits in primary school and can even be detrimental.

This. I'd also add that the evidence is that generic feedback comments aren't very effective either.

I do think (and research agrees) that you have a point about motivational comments to show the kids the work is seen. I think that's a reasonable thing to discuss with the school.

Ultimately, however, it's their choice and a school which is trying to remove low value tasks from teacher workload will improve the quality of teaching overall.

If you can, and the school aren’t going to make a big song and dance about it, stop doing it.

Part of the reason homework has a negative average impact in primary is because so much of it is crap.

Personally I would still do things which seem to help your child learn, or that they enjoy, but certainly not stress about getting everything done.

Not all primary schools set it. My DC's doesn't, but they really push home reading and expect this 5 nights per week. I think that's perfect.

Do people realise how long it takes for teachers to mark and then write a comment in 30 books? Never mind the ones they use during the school day.

Honestly I don't think many teachers actually want to set homework at all. They are usually told to.

I set reading homework via an online platform and don't often put comments on because I don't always have time. What I do do, however, is spend 10 minutes on a Friday looking at everyone's homework together in the class, praising all for effort and giving children merit points for doing it. They love it.
Recognition, but without the onerous marking to go with it.

My daughters in high school and her homework is on teams (so confu

@Disneyblueeyes "What I do do, however, is spend 10 minutes on a Friday looking at everyone's homework together in the class, praising all for effort and giving children merit points for doing it." This 👏🏻👌🏻

This is great. If only our school could communicate that they are doing something good like this instead. But I doubt it because my kids always talk to me about stuff like that and there isn't any. My one DC is really responsive to praise and does well out of it, my second DC does not get much and comes home telling me I can't do it like the others and she sounds deflated. 🤷🏻‍♀️😓

My daughters in high school and has all homework on teams (so confusing) but it's mostly questions and tick boxes. She got 1 question wrong on her English homework and the teacher just submitted the same work again for her to do to get the one wrong right. No feedback nothing. You get shown when submitted which ones are right and wrong so the "system" marks it for you. The questions didn't even make sense and some of the answer options were the same. It's a shambles. I'd much prefer the planner, writing what they need to do and taking homework books home and handing them in to the teacher. To either mark or mark together as a class.

My DD's high school do a lot of peer marking and the teachers take the books in every now and again to look at it. Otherwise it's Teams.

• I am sure there are teachers here, what do you think? Am I being in complete ignorance of what teachers go through?

To write a sentence on every child's work is going to take at least half an hour each time add in the time to read the work, it goes up to at least an hour. To mark it with any value, add more time. This is for every piece of homework. Then add in the marking for the work done in school: every subject, every child. Then add in the prep and planning, the other paperwork and admin needed just generally in schools, the workload outside of the classroom can really add up. Most teachers would rather focus on the stuff that actually makes a valuable difference to the children day to day, rather than just a ticking exercise for the sake of being seen to do it.

Remember, the teacher may not want to set the homework. They simply have to follow the school's homework policy wither they feel it is beneficial or not.

Personally, I don't think homework at primary is necessary and it generally isn't beneficial. Other than reading regularly, even If just 10 minutes a day, is pretty much the only useful homework needed for this age group. So my thoughts on homework is it's not worth the time and effort to plan it, set it and then a feedback on it.

What is said when homework is handed in or handed out?

Does the teacher make any comment re 'thank you for handing in your finished work' or 'well done class on last week's work; I like how you all wrote well about 123, this is xyz for the coming week" ?

What happens if they don't do the homework?

The teacher may be verbally commenting in class direct to the children, rather than writing something. Verbal feedback is usually much better for smaller children anyway.

How rude.

Trying doing the job before stating teachers can't be arsed.