Opinions please - Homework in Reception. Dd's teacher has asked to see me - tell me what to say to stop me being rude to her!

[Littlefish]

First of all, I am an experienced Early Years and Primary Teacher. Dd is my only child and is just reaching the end of Reception.

I have tried very, very, very hard to remove my professional hat in all matters relating to dd's teacher and Reception year, in spite of there being numerous occasions of poor practice. The children are basically being taught like year 1s, with very little play.

However, the matter of homework has really got me vexed.

I absolutely disagree with homework for Reception children (actually I disagree with homework for any children until year 6), beyond reading and phonics work. I read with dd every night and we practise her sounds and tricky words.

Last term, she started bringing home a photocopied maths worksheet each week which we were supposed to do with our child and then return to school. The homework is unrelated to anything they're specifically doing that week, and the same homework is given to all children, regardless of their stage of development.

Sometimes we do this sheet, and sometimes we don't. Dd is really strong with numbers, problem solving and reasoning, can recognise, write and sequence numbers up to 100, knows all her doubles up to 12 + 12 and all her number bonds up to 10 etc (Sorry, I'm not trying to be smug, that's just what she can do). The homework is frequently much too easy for her e.g. count a group of up to 10 objects and write the number.

We haven't done the homework for the last 3 as it was all too easy. I sent a note to dd's teacher explaining why we hadn't done it and she has asked to see me.

Added to this, the children were told that their homework was their responsibility and that if they did not do it, they would be moved down on the zone board (behaviour board).

I'm already heavily biting my tongue on all the other issues, and I'm really worried that I will be rude to her! She is a very brusque character, not parent friendly at all. At dd's last parents evening, she told me that dd "isn't pushing herself in writing"

FFS! She's only 5!

Is it worth voicing my objections to the homework, or should I just shut up and let her tell me off, for the sake of the last 4 weeks of term.

" at fun, enjoyment and work being synonymous..."

I am no fan whatsoever of the French education system - I hate it - but that has nothing to do with the fact that a lot of life is hard graft in order to get to a place where you find enjoyment.

Blimey bonsoir, I've been on here for nearly seven years and that is the very first time I've ever seen you mention that the French aren't the very best at something. I've always thought you were the epitome of that Parisienne attiude that everything French is far superior to anything from any other nationality.

wrt education, there's no need to bore the pants of 5yos just to teach them that life isn't always fun, you know. Learning should be engaging at that age. Learning IS enjoyable if you are interested in the subject anyway.

OK, I did have to plough through ruddy lists of who was allied to whom during the Napoleonic wars for A-level (endless acronyms as the alliances shifted) but I liked history so I was prepared to do that bit in order to get onto the interesting stuff. But at five years old, you should be discovering that learning IS enjoyable and fascinating and rewarding. They are only little, no need for a tedious Gadgrindian approach where everything is dull, dull, dull.

(And I discovered Georgette Heyer wrote one of the very best descriptions of the Battle of Waterloo - An Infamous Army - which helped.)

edam - then you don't read very closely. I am highly critical of many things here! And knowing about things French does not mean that I adhere to them, you know.

I do like bonsoir's comments. I believe that a diet of 'fun' does not necessarily guarantee that 'learning' is taking place.

A very useful attribute for children to acquire is that effort, sometimes not so much fun, can be rewarding.

When I see the effort that some of my students put in for their reading, or memorising number facts like times tables, it is clearly immensely rewarding, but fun, no.

It's well-established that children learn more effectively when enjoyment takes place aswell.

Enjoyment doesn't preclude effort - why should it?

You don't know how to make reading or learning tables fun, Malaleuca, after all the years you've been teaching?

I loathe homework being given to primary age children. DS is in year 3 and is given homework every weekend, which pretty much ruins most of one of the days as he doesn't want to do it and I have to sit with him whilst he completes it, making both of us miserable. I do the majority of the work, like looking up the info and writing it out for him to copy, otherwise it wouldn't get done and he'd be told off. So basically his school is giving me homework, and they know it. Asking an 8 year old to make an eight page booklet on Indian animals over a weekend is mean and pointless.

It's a well established fact that human beings are motivated by rewards and goals. Things are not always fun, but they can be interesting and rewarding when they are the building blocks to the bigger picture.

I think achievement is fun. When kids get complex things right, they love it, that is fun. A poster recently posted that her DS couldn't stand reading, until one day he sounded a word out correctly. After that he was on his way, he loved getting it right, and being praised for it, and he couldn't wait to get more right. I don't think worksheets are as bad as all that. Getting 10 out of 10 on a worksheet is fun.

It feels like you're stalking me feenie!

agree with Tidey, I bet her DS would prefer a worksheet to creating 8 page booklets on Indian animals, but that is what the school misguidedly consider fun.

Not at all, Malaleuca. I have posted frequently on the primary education boards for years, and I am following this thread closely.

When an experienced teacher makes a claim that reading and tables cannot possibly be fun, I would be very unlikely to ignore it.

Also - out of the two of us, I am not the one who had a personal attack deleted by MNHQ very recently.

Based on this thread, I would be very happy for Malaleuca to be my DD's teacher, but very unhappy for Feenie to be my DD's teacher.

I still think there's plenty of time for homework later. My Reception son doesn't get anything other than reading and spellings at the moment, but am not looking forward to doing the 8 page leaflets on Indian animals. After school he mostly likes to play in the garden or slump on the sofa.

The Boy has had two teachers this year, due to maternity leave. The first one was very much in the fun camp, the second is very keen on the learning - lots of word lists and spellings to do.
I think he really needs a combination of the two - no reason why they can't do both?

(he preferred Mrs Fun, by the way)

Fortunately, Ofsted and our over-subscribed school community disagree with you, Bonsoir.

Based upon this thread, I am very thankful you aren't one of my parents, and that your outdated views that learning should not be fun are very firmly consigned to the archives in this country.

In fact, the very first inspection point Ofsted judge schools on is pupil achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning. I'm glad we achieved outstanding for this in particular.

Mitochondria - word lists and spellings are proven not to work, so learning would not necessarily take place. But of course there should be a combination of fun and learning - can't have one without the other, imo.

Feenie, interested to know how they measure if the children enjoy their learning. Many children do not enjoy these homework projects like 8 page booklets on Indian animals. Do they factor this in somehow?

If children are clearly enjoying the lesson, they are engaged and motivated to learn. They are so interlinked that the inspection point makes no distinction between them - they are one and the same.

I don't know many teachers who would consider an 8 page homework on Indian animals to be an enjoyable task to set! They would look at homework as part of the children's work, yes.

The first statement that parents have to comment on in the Ofsted parent questionnaire is 'My child enjoys school'.

I have only recently posted on mumsnet, and I have to say there is a kind of morbid fascination about it. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing is how comments can be misconstrued.

Feenie - you are guilty of distorting my words, you would probably do better as a spin doctor.

I didn't know I had so offended someone that the post had to be deleted! I do apologise to whoever that person was for whatever it was on whichever thread it was.

Bonsor - thankyou for that comment, I wish you were a parent in my school!

"word lists and spellings are proven not to work"

Really? I loved word lists and spellings as a child - truly adored them!

Here are your words, Malaleuca:

"When I see the effort that some of my students put in for their reading, or memorising number facts like times tables, it is clearly immensely rewarding, but fun, no."

They speak for themselves - I didn't have to put any spin on them. It's one of the strangest comments I have ever heard from a fellow teacher.

I think Malaleuca's comment was eminently sensible, Feenie.

Effort and concentration have their own rewards.

Of course they do. But teachers also have a responsibility to inspire a love and enthusiasm for reading and other learning too - it's why most of us came into the profession , and actually a part of the reading curriculum here.

Love for learning is hardly the same as "fun", though.