To be pleasantly surprised by how little homework my DS brings home

[Brandybucks]

For various reasons we followed a more Scandinavian approach to education with our son so he was home educated until 7 and joined year 3 this academic year.

Ive been really surprised (and frankly delighted) about how little homework he is given. He has weekly spellings, a bit of timetables and apart from a very occasional other piece of work that’s it. I went to a private school and remember at times having 3-4 subjects per night (definitely worse in secondary but not great in primary). Is it common to have so little homework these days? Previously I had heard many parents bemoaning how much homework they had to assist with and I had psyched myself up for helping a lot more than I have actually needed to. I’m really pleased because I think homework in primary school isn’t great for pupils (or teachers frankly) and I love that my son still has plenty of evening time to read/watch tv/generally relax.

The primary school my kids were at didn’t do homework at all, only reading, and that wasn’t really policed much.
Even now at secondary, they seem to have about an hour a week in total (not GCSEs yet but still).
I remember quite a bit more than that but they’re doing great at school so I’m happy with things as they are!

Ours were expected to read every day too. I have 3DC The 2DS were average academically and DD is classed as G&T. She receives many times the amount of homework compared to her brothers. She is also doing more GCSES, including further maths, which is essentially self taught.

Hi @Brandybucks

As an ex-KS2 teacher, I would say that is is pretty common to not have much more than you have stated. Definitely spelling, reading and timestables are recommended by schools every week.

In the schools I have worked in, we have also set a non-compulsory piece of English and maths homework a week and we would do half termly topic homework which tended to be craft related activities.

@MyCloudTutor yes sorry I forgot to say that reading is also expected which is fine with me as I think that’s very important. There seems to be much less “busy work” than I remember which I’m really pleased about. It just seemed like an unnecessary burden for teachers & students. I do recognise the need for more self study in secondary school but I’m delighted to find primary so relaxed!

My kids have reading, spellings, times tables and an optional project each half term chosen from a choice of 6.

I remember being in year 6 at a state school. We got 1-2 pieces of homework a week plus the spellings etc. Generally each bit took 15-20 mins, so not too bad, although I'm sure it was a battle for some.

@Brandybucks
I think your experience of education has clouded your judgement! Few state schools would ever get near what you say you did! Even at DDs prep it wasn’t like that until y7/8. More prep from y4 but not onerous. Reading is the big one in state schools. As you have now found out, children really can have a childhood and enjoy school too.

@TizerorFizz yes I agree, I think it really clouded my judgment! I’m really happy that they still have so much free time. Childhood shouldn’t be filled with unnecessary work just for the sake of it.

I think some parents like the drama of exclaiming how much homework their child has. Like a badge of honour. Mine only ever had spellings, reading and the occasional project. This might be building a model garden or a hat for Book Day. These were competitions between the parents. The teacher least of all was fooled that the child had made it!

Oh yes. Times tables.

Meanwhile, in my Nordic country, primary school age DD gets homework from almost every lesson every day (except Fridays) and has done since she first started school at 7 - she's in 5th grade now and this week there's been homework from all subjects plus studying every day for history and science exams that are coming up. The actual Scandi approach is lots of homework and studying!

@Natsku
Thats very interesting. As Dc start school later, is there then a bit of a rush to get studying for exams? I think many people believe that Scandinavia has a laid back approach and is more child centred. Certainly with regard to starting formal learning. Does that then mean a more concentrated approach from y3?

I’ve never been a great fan of projects either. Art ones are for parents. Longer subject ones depend on parental engagement snd opportunities for research learning that some parents cannot provide. Some Dc simply don’t do them.

The later start means there's less time to learn everything (and shorter days as well, for instance DD only had 4 hours today so 3 hours of actual teaching time) so homework is needed to reinforce what they learnt in the lessons so don't need to repeat so much. And the assessment system is continuous assessment by teachers rather than national exams like SATs which tends to mean frequent exams throughout the school year, each year (not so much in 1st and 2nd grade but from 3rd grade, so 9 years old it kicks up a notch and then 5th and 6th grade even more so in preparation for upper school), its rare for a week to go by for DD without at least one exam in one subject. Its more child-centred in the early years for sure, and in some ways in primary school (shorter days, frequent breaks etc.) but not so laid back as people often think, and much less "fun" stuff like in UK primary schools like school trips or special days like Victorian Day or Roman Day.

I liked projects when I was in primary school but I doubt I'd have liked them as a parent! I never have to get involved with DD's homework except for reminding her to do it, there's no reading to parents at home expectation either but that's probably more to do with the language itself (doesn't need so much reading practice as English)

@Natsku
Having been a school governor, teachers are required to assess here. In my school around 2 times a term. The assessment results then go into a computer program so progress can be tracked and reported to governors. It’s evidence for Ofsted and for the success or otherwise of the improvement plan. It’s not necessarily tests, but teachers assess class work and make judgements on progress. Sats merely quantify where Dc are on a numeric scale. They don’t necessarily show who’s made the best progress. Although often the brightest do!

I don’t remember having much homework in primary and mine was an academic private primary. Definitely not multiple subjects a day. I think yours was unusual.

DDs are at a prep in y3/y5 and have one subject per night plus reading and spellings. Nothing at weekends or holidays. Very manageable.

@TizerorFizz must be a bit more complex for teachers to assess without tests, harder work for them I expect!

@Natsku
Yes it is. It’s also questioning, answers from Dc, explanations to show their understanding, observation by teacher etc. Tests don’t always show progress.

I'm sure of course the teachers assess with those methods here as well but the tests help me see how well DD is doing (the grades go on the parent-school portal thing) so there's no surprises at parents evening or end of year report and I can see immediately when she's struggling with a subject, and how she improves when she studies better. And in one instance, the teacher realised he had not been teaching the subject well enough when the whole class did worse than expected on an exam.

@Natsku
Assessment done properly should never lead to surprises. Teachers know what Dc are capable of and what they are likely to score in an exam. If a teacher cannot assess accurately and the school doesn’t track progress, it would fail Ofsted here! They would be all over underperformance like a rash. Plus a good head teacher would know too as they analyse assessment via the chosen computer program. So they can see where improvement is needed before any failure at anything. Plus the teacher probably needed more support in teaching that subject. I don’t really agree with testing for parent purposes. The school should give you data from assessment and you should know what scheme they use and if Dc are on track.

I mean no surprises for the parents - waiting until parents evening to find out how your child is doing instead of knowing all along. It's an added bonus of regular exams, though they aren't for that purpose, they're because that's the way they do things here and it works as it gets children into good studying habits very early on. The main thing that really let me down in my education is that I never learnt to study properly, and by the time I had to learn for gcses it was too late for me to get into the habit. That's not going to be a problem for my dd thankfully.

Wasn’t an issue for my Dc either. Exams started in y7. Exams shouldn’t be there on a regular basis in primary because of parent needs though. Teachers should know how Dc are progressing and be in contact with parents more than once a year. They should have curriculum evenings too and parents should know if there is concern. I don’t see why Dc need exams age 7. We don’t like sats here in y6!

Sats are a bit different though, there's a lot of pressure put on the children for them so they get stressed and worried. Its not like that with the exams in primary school here, they just become part of the school routine because they start young and have them regularly, so they don't stress out about them, there's not that level of pressure you get with Sats. Its more of an old fashioned system (well, in DD's school at least, some schools are a bit different) with teaching from textbooks and workbooks, less creative and fun than UK primary schools but it works well to fit the learning into the reduced timeframe.

Yes, that’s quite old fashioned and so is not assessing by other means. Plenty of schools don’t stress children out about sats. You just hear about the worst schools. Other dc know they are exams but they also know they ultimately won’t be judged on them as they have 5 more years to go until GCSEs. If all schools assessed accurately, and plenty don’t, school data should be good enough. However good school’s assessment data should not be that different to sats results other than some Dc are not great in a test situation. They do have 5 more years to improve.

I think we have always held the Scandinavian approach to education to be exemplary but some Dc might find fast track very challenging and all those tests….. ….

If plenty of schools don't stress children out about Sats then what's the problem with them?

GCSEs are even worse, that definitely is a lot of pressure, I would not say that's better than having lots of smaller exams throughout school life (there's no equivalent to GCSEs here, the only high stakes high pressure exams are matriculation which are only for those that choose to do them and that's at a later age than GSCEs) and other assessment by teachers to determine their results at the end of school.

@Natsku I personally don’t think there is a problem with sats if they are kept low key and Dc are not coached to within an inch of their lives. Others disagree. I do believe teachers should be able to assess accurately but it seems some don’t and schools don’t expect high standards of assessment. You could look at our inflated exam passes during COVID to see the problems and university A level grade predictions by teachers are often wrong.

Of course there ends up being pressure in y11. You cannot escape exam pressure forever and A levels/BTecs have more riding on them. University depends on these results. We have never had teacher assessment prior to university but did have matriculation before O levels (now GCSEs). In those days hardly anyone stayed at school beyond 16 and went to university at 18 so a general exam was taken. South Africa has similar now. As university numbers increased, exams were introduced at 18 for entrance.

It always makes me laugh when people say “such and such country doesn’t start school until age 6 / 7 / 8”.

I remember my (German) niece showing me “how to hold a pencil like a big girl” when she had just turned three. She had learnt it at Kindergarten which may not be officially school but sounded very similar to Early Years to me…..