What's the point of homework?

[MrsSnape]

I'm not for or against homework...I'm genuinly just interested what purpose it serves.

DS1 used to do his homework without fail everytime he brought some home and would take it back to school the next day. Thing is it was never acknowledged and when I asked DS if his teacher had been pleased with his homework he replied "dunno, she never read it".

Also, children who never did their homework were never told off or anything, it was as if the teacher didn't care either way.

So in the end I relaxed on it, some weeks he'd do it, some he wouldn't.

Now DS2 is in year 2 and he's the same, most of the time he does it, sometimes we don't bother. But today in the phase newsletters there was a note stressing the value of homework and how it should be encouraged for our children's benefit.

So...what exactly are the benefits of homework?

Brigit, if the parents have that many opinions on what they want and what they don't want, what would happen if you said to them: OK, you just let your child do the homework you think is best, (but don't expect me to supply the homework that you want. You're responsible for providing that yourselves.)

I think homework makes a child responsible to his/her duties and make them regular to studies. Also doing homework regularly helps a child in final exam.

learnandsay: I can understand what you're trying to suggest to Brigit but as someone who is at a school which has totally copped out can I say that leaving parents to it results in the following:

higher ability parents (often with better incomes): search the web & download things on their printers, download apps, let children go on websites at home. Lots of books at home.

middle ability parents (often with middling incomes): may download apps and may have a home computer and let children play on websites. Some books at home.

lower ability parents (often with lower incomes): might have a phone and can download apps, but won't have a computer at home. Few books at home.

Net result:

higher ability parents find resources & support learning.

middle ability parents do what they can & maybe buy in some workbooks

low ability parents - maybe borrow workbooks from the library or buy them and might download an APP, but often don't know about them.

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I don't think it is that difficult for teachers to identify useful resources and put together something (as a booklet, on-line with links on VLE like Moodle and generate some ideas for learning through games, etc.... at home off computer/ tablet/ phone) to help.

Sometimes what parents need to clear communication on what is being worked on that month and a few ideas to run with.

The best system I've come across (also from an Outstanding school - inspected 2012) - was a grid of homeworks was given out and it was entirely optional whether you did one or all 25. School found that on average pupils did a minimum of 5 - 10 homeworks a month - enjoyed the choice and parents were generally happy. The nice thing about this system is that the homework time feeds into lessons playing out in school that month. They were very big on 'inverse learning' - so going out and finding facts about something or experimenting (i.e. what happens to the water level when ice melts? Design an experiment and record your results).

Keeps parents happy. Keeps Ofsted happy. Keeps Heads happy who want to keep parents and Ofsted happy.

I hate homework.