Does your child's sixth form set and mark homework?

[6thformdilemma]

I'm a long time poster but have name changed for this.

DD is in Y11. We don't live in a great area school-wise. For 6th form she has the option to stay where she is, but with friends who live far away or to join a nearby school 6th form which is the best school in the town but for which we weren't in catchment when it mattered in Year 6.

We've come to learn that the nearby school doesn't give out homework or mark work in 6th form - although they do provide pre-produced guidance to the students to help them know what they should be focusing on for self-study. Is this the norm at 6th forms?

On the one hand, DD is a hard working, self motivated student, and having to direct her own learning will set her up well for University. But, they set a higher GCSE entrance criteria than other 6th forms in the area and I can't shake the feeling that they scoop up the cleverer students and leave them to their own devices whilst they give more focus to their Y7-11 students.

However, if this way of doing things is the more normal way, then that would be good for me to know.

Lots of homework in Y12 here, and it definitely gets marked. DS doing all essay subjects so he has a lot to do. Regular timed essays in class too and they had exams at the end of the first 6 weeks in Y12 and if you didn't pass you got politely asked to perhaps rethink A level choices. DS, who was frankly bloody idle during Y7-11, has bucked up his attitude under this regime!

Evil from his parent.

I agree with your comments 6thformdilemma
My L6 DD gets loads of homework and it is all marked. Sounds like a cop out to me.
Have you looked further afield. If only 3 A levels then there will be plenty of time for a bit of extra travel.

There's been lots of homework for my DD in Y12 and 2 out of the 3 of the subjects are marked every week without fail. The other subject hasn't been marked since before Christmas (by the part time teacher) and it's something we'll be bringing up shortly at Parents Evening.

Thanks for the replies so far.

We set (and mark) a lot of work at A Level. I'm a year 12 tutor and it does vary slightly between subjects but definitely in every subject.

It varies between teachers, not just subjects. My DS has two teachers per subject, for Physics, one sets and marks a lot, the other doesn't and always using the lazy excuse that the pupils need to motivate themselves to get themselves ready for Uni!! (Lazy teacher more like DS had him in year 9 and he never bothered with homework then either - the excuse being he was getting the pupils prepared for more self study in the GCSE years!!).

Absolutely, I worked in a very high achieving sixth form and we expected a lot of homework plus additional self directed study. Homework was thoroughly marked too. This sounds like a cop out from the sixth form and I wouldn’t be impressed.

Lower down in schools, every piece of classwork and homework in an ex book might be looked at and marked or at least acknowledged.

In 6th Form not all work will be marked. So a set of notes made it a brief exercise probably won't be - so every single piece of set work won't be looked at. That said, there should be regular work which is taken in and marked, often exam style answers. I teach 6th Form and expect to mark for them probably twice in every 3 weeks - decent pieces of work such as essays, which have taken a chunk of time,mfollowing various note making and other tasks as build up towards them. I'd expect classes to be producing an essay for me roughly every 1-2 weeks, along with all the other work needed to be able townsite those essays.

I'd be very surprised if any 6th Firm has a policy of not setting homework or marking. Check it directly with the 6th form and I'd think you'll find that's not quite right.

Massive amount set and marked for French, not much for the other subjects so far.

DD1 is in year 12. She has loads of homework and an expectation of additional independent study.

I don't know what proportion of homework is explicitly marked, as opposed to discussed in class. But she hasn't complained about a lack of feedback and based on previous experience, she definitely would if that was an issue.

Even at university, my essays were marked (critiqued, slagged off and torn apart!) by my tutors, so any argument about setting sixth formers up for higher education seems pretty spurious.

Yes, set and marked, and I get an e mail if it isn’t completed on time.

S London comp.

DC1 is doing the IB and has TONNES of set homework which is always marked / discussed in class. This is in addition to the required coursework essays and expectations for revision. IB is 6 subjects!

DC1 works bloody hard.

Yes DS has 3 essay subjects and invariably has to prepare an essay plan a couple of times a week, one of which will then go on to be a fully marked essay (using levels which explain how they have done with a written and quite detailed descriptor for each of the levels which do not directly correlate to A level grades but eg. Level 6 (17-20 out of 20) Level 5 (13-16 out of 20).

The other essay plan prepared as homework they go over a model essay plan in class for one of their sessions as a group.

All his subjects require a fair amount of pre-reading too and he is doing an EPQ.

How would they know at what level they are performing if they never submit any work and have it marked? Do they literally wait until year end when it may be too late to up their game sufficiently?

Ds has just started university. However when he was in 6th form he was working every night. He done law, English, DT and computer science, he was also doing the welsh bac. He constantly had his head in books. He went to a state school.

Homework and independent study are separate to me.

If I set an exam question for homework then it gets marked. If I want them to do pre-reading or prepare an answer then it will be covered and recapped in class but not marked. Other times, I'll put a good example on the board, do a walk through and students self assess and do guided reflections. Some things we pull apart in class like a uni seminar. Not everything needs marking (and lots of essays for homework risks students rehearsing bad habits which have to be broken later) Sometimes when we are mid topic I don't want to set an essay so I'll set independent study on a set resource.

The rest of the time I expect them to be making revision cards, keeping their notes neat, making glossaries etc. If I haven't set formal homework then they should do the appropriate study extra.

Expecting 6th form to rub like year 11 is what creates a lot of issues in my opinion (and it seems to be getting worse)

For biology A level
Lots of set, and marked by me work
But also lots of set work that includes reading, watching videos, answering questions that we go through in class.

Generally the expectation is an hour of homework/self study per contact hour at school. So if she does 5 hours a week per subject and is taking 4 subjects then she should expect to do 20 hours per week as homework/self study.

Lots of marked (and unmarked homework) here. I teach Literature at A Level

Lots of marked homework with my 2 (v recently) in 6th form - absolutely essential I believe in giving real-time feedback in the new world (well old world to me) of linear A levels. I'd be looking elsewhere - the leap from GCSE to A level is tough enough - guidance notes alone won't cut it.

I wouldn't touch that school with a barge pole. What a massive cop-out.

My son has just finished year 12. Lots of marked assessments and marked independent and college work.

DD had homework, which was marked highlighting areas where marks would be picked up in exams and areas wasted where no marks relevant. Also, work was graded, more like C/B in her case for year 12 and in year 13 getting higher as exam technique improved.

MaisyPops has nailed it - this is the exact approach my DD's 6th form takes. It works. It teaches them to work independently and still guides them in the right direction through in depth feedback for major essays.