No English homework for weeks?

[jennylamb1]

Son goes to a private school and is in Y9. He has regular homework for most subjects, however hasn't had any for English since approx. October. They have had a lot of long term sick and recruitment issues, however AIBU to be a bit worried that he isn't getting any homework for what is a core subject. I noticed that his writing wasn't great when he did some recent History homework (grammar, tenses, spelling) and I'm concerned that he could be making more progress with regular homework

Why not contact the school and ask? Seems a sensible first step of action rather than asking random strangers on internet.

It could be they’re doing more written work in class to avoid students using AI to do homework, as so many are doing. Check with the tutor.

If they are having staffing issues there will be nobody to mark it and therefore no feedback making it a pointless exercise. I'd imagine the other English teachers in the department have had to take on the marking of assessments and possibly books but they may go unmarked too as he isn't in KS4 so to mark homework on top is likely to result in more teachers off ill.

Y9 homework isn’t likely to be focused on grammar, spelling and tenses anyway. He might have mistakes in those highlight, but it’s not going to be targeted homework to improve them. What conversations did you have in Y7/8 about him being behind in those areas? I think you should put your energy into specific intervention, not generic whole-class homework.

If there are absences then who will mark the work? The teachers already working there will have to pick up some slack due to colleague absence. They will be prioritising key stage 4. This is probably not what you want hear.

As an English teacher, homework is (mostly) pointless. The evidence that it aids progress is minimal! Please don't worry, although do contact the school if you are concerned. The best thing your child can do is read every day. Reading a wide variety of texts will help them so much more than a one off worksheet on tenses.

All of the above but if you're worried about those areas the free platform SenecaLearn has a KS3 SPAG course online which is quite good.

@jennylamb1 What does the school’s homework policy say? What should dc be getting? Clearly there are English teachers and it’s not a shortage subject. From what you say, I would wonder what I was paying for though. Of course you should speak to the head of year. You definitely should find out what’s going on. You also need to know what the curriculum is for English and how it’s taught. At a private school, parents do expect to get what they are paying for and if that’s adherence to their homework policy, you should expect it. So do enquire about English. What are they studying? How is it taught and what work is undertaken by pupils and what homework is expected.

English is a shortage subject actually. It is one with an increased bursary. The vast majority of subjects are now shortage subjects. I think targets have only been met for training for History, Classics and PE (and these are reduced targets).

Yes, I understand that teacher recruitment in schools is in crisis and having worked in primary and secondary can fully sympathise as to the work pressures, workload management, behaviour, worsening mental health and cost of living crisis impact, underfunding etc. I feel that in education it's like a vicious circle- pupils fall behind, teachers have more to cover to catch up, gaps widen, workload stress increases, attainment falls meaning there's more pressure on departments to improve.
When Rishi Sunak announced students would be doing maths up until A level I did wonder where he would be getting those imaginary teachers.

@jennylamb1 He didn’t say all pupils would be studying up to A level. He said some maths should be continued. As an aspiration it’s a good one. I agree there are no teachers though. Are you just accepting no prep then? On that basis. Even though you are paying for education?