Is homework legally enforceable in state secondary school?

[Firecarrier]

Would appreciate any factual answers regarding this.

I'm not particularly interested in debating the merits (or lack thereof) of homework, I have done lots of reading around this subject and my desire is to tell his high school that I will not permit our evenings to be dominated by homework when he has been there all day.

They have a rather ridgid system with class teams which sends us pie charts etc showing behaviour points etc.

Their system means a child will get a detention if they do not hand a piece of homework in.

For clarity, my son's behaviour in school is not in any question whatsoever and he is doing quite well, it is literally just the homework and possible consequences I am asking about. I say this to clarify that this specific thing I am asking about need not negatively affect other pupils.

I am in England if it makes any difference.

Thanks in advance!

I don't understand the need for this. Is there insufficient time and resource to cover the curriculum during a normal school day, being as they've are there all day ?. And they have a TA so there's two of them.

My middle daughter went to a private school and altho it was a slightly longer day , which also included a 15 minute afternoon break, there was no homework or threat of detention. The school transport left at a set time, be on it.

On the other hand my 15 year old son , who goes to state school, is threatened with all sorts of dire consequences if he dare miss a deadline.

They now have a game of seeing how much they can do on the bus home and then have a teams meeting to go over the rest - distraction being supplied by the girls in bikini tops ( I have no idea what their parents think ) . Apparently the record is 34 minutes to get it all done. This is signalled by a few choice phrases of Klingon. They've even started using American spelling and phrases to wind the teacher up, who accuses them of using AI and occasionally I get a phone call at work. This is all hilariously funny of course.

I did asked my husband to have a word but I didn't mean in Klingon.

As long as his grades are OK and he's safe and happy I'm cool with that but the homework thing is a nonsense as you should be able to do your job in the time you're paid to. I can only assume its a form of control mechanism, apparently lost on a bunch of 15 nearly 16 year olds, who are more interested in other extra curricula activities.

I'd ask the school about its homework policy (or it might be available online).

My children's secondary school had a strict policy in years 7 and 8. They had homework for 3 subjects a night (there was a weekly rota). They were told not to spend more than 20 minutes per subject. So they spent a maximum of one hour a night on homework, and less if some was done over the weekend.

That sounded reasonable to me and was never a problem.

And they have a TA so there's two of them.

Very unlikely in secondary school.

There are a lot of us ex teachers (and current ones) that think the same).

@Firecarrier

No there is legal requirement to do homework.
But if you your DC wants to go to college, uni or many professions doing work at home and being able to utilise the skills that homework instills, its worth doing.

Also Don't use this argument on teachers they have better things to do,
By all means go after HT and SLT.

And just FYI the Homework is his to do, if he is having problems doing it talk to the teachers, SENDCO, HoY etc.

Highly unlikely to have a TA at secondary. Also many state schools finish from 2.30pm onwards so is really only a few hours, not a full day

There’s a state school near me that finish at 5. The last 2 hours are homework. No one does homework at home. Their results are 5rh best in the country.

To answer an earlier poster, yes, I am a parent.

I work in education.

I am not interested in debating whether you think my son should spend his evenings completing academic exercises, particularly when he has spent all day doing this.

We are family who absolutely love life long learning and care about producing well rounded individuals.

He has always done his homework thus far, so to the poster who said I was 'being a dick' because he got a detention - wrong. He has always been very well behaved in school according to all of his previous teachers.

It is not my job to convince you (who clearly already know everything about education) that homework is often pointless. I will let you do your own research if you care.

I have previously home educated a couple of children.

To those saying choose another school, every single local school has the same types of homework expectations.

There were a few valid points regarding group projects or reading in advance (flipped learning sort of scenarios), however, none of his pieces so far have been of that variety so wouldn't have impacted upon his peers.

To those who say that if they don't learn now, how will they do it when they're older? I suggest you do some reading around intrinsic motivation. He is absolutely passionate about several subjects and spends plenty of time in educational pursuits for fun.

Those types of comments remind me of the people who say, but if they don't wear a blazer and a tie for 5 years at high school, how on earth will they manage to function appropriately in the world of work!😂

but the fact remains, the school can legally impose detentions and exclusions he he does not comply

@Firecarrier not all kids have intrinsic motivation so getting into a routine of daily homework and being taught study skills is highly beneficial before they reach Yr 10.
I get it, you produce perfect children so why even post asking the question?

Home schooling is an option for individuals who would like to remove their precious children from what they think is the idiosy of education.

Of course it’s not legally enforceable, but what I will say as someone with children applying for sixth forms - their attendance behaviour, and positive/negative points all contribute to whether they’re likely to be accepted for post-16 courses.

I guess as long as they turn up for any sanctions it doesn’t really matter. I would question why your kid’s homework impacts on you, though.

Only in some places; where I work has had HT this week, where I live it’s next week.

Ah, you are one of THOSE parents bringing up one of THOSE children. For your sake I hope he doesn't grow into one of THOSE children who decide YOUR rules aren't enforceable either. And the fact that your other, home educated children are all obviously perfect adults by now, so you know which rules can be broken without untoward consequences, is absolutely no guarantee that this one will follow the same, obedient, path.

Children really do need to learn that sometimes, seemingly (to them) pointless things need to just be done. It's a really valuable lesson. Doing a piece of homework can sometimes shed light on a misunderstanding from a lesson that wasn't spotted.

As soon as I saw you spell rigid as ridgid in the OP I knew you'd be a home educator 🤣

You asked whether homework is legally enforceable and it would appear that, legally, it’s not.

If you signed a home/school agreement, I imagine there are sanctions that apply if the agreement is ignored.

If you value education and work in education, I’m not sure why you would want to ignore what you’ve signed up to, but that’s your choice and I think your question has been answered.

It would seem that your choices are to allow him to ignore homework and any impact it might have on progress and accept sanctions, if applied; to carry on doing homework as before; to limit the amount of time homework takes; to withdraw from school and home educate.

You seem to be irritated with posters who have suggested that homework is a demonstration of sometimes doing things we’d prefer not to, because that’s what most people have to do, at least for some of the time. You weren’t initially asking a question about the methodology or pedagogy of education and learning.

@Bluevelvetsofa it comes across that the OP only brought those areas in go show how much more knowledgeable and superior they are compared to the rest of us!

Not only a Home Educator, but a teacher in Further Education who has interesting views on students with mental health issues.

@Firecarrier as others have said, no, homework isn't "legally" enforceable. The agreement the family signed with the school regarding behaviour however will have consequences if broken.

It would probably be best for everyone concerned if you brushed up on your SpaG and home educated this one as well tbf. Your views on students at your FE place with mental health issues are fucking abhorrent btw.

This

@Rosesanddaisies1

It is legally enforceable for a child to attend school and can impose a prison sentence on the parents. https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/7084230.truants-parents-face-jail/

Why do we not hear more of that?

Years and years ago we were lightly threatened [to frighten DC perhaps] with sanctions including court though we were working with the authorities.

The DC's all managed to get degrees!

A friend took this to extreme telling her DCs that she was off to court for their truanting. Packed her small bag - weeping and wailing with DH - and went off for two weeks in Mallorca 😂

So he did get a detention ???!
And op has ‘done her research’ so I guess my 27 years in teaching is woefully inferior !!

It’s not legally enforceable, no, but most parents sign a contract with the school before the child starts - this most likely includes a bit about hw expectations. If you are breaking that contract then the school can reasonably suggest you look for somewhere else

It very much depends on what the homework is and what the kids are like. When I was teaching in a very well known grammar school, hw was exceptionally helpful because I could teach the skills in class, start them off on the task and address any issues then get them to do the bulk of it for hw. It meant I wasn’t wasting class time on writing. On the other hand, when I was teaching in a very challenging school this same approach wasn’t possible because we would never have seen their books again. As such, it tended to be from pre-made booklets which didn’t necessarily match up perfectly with what we had been doing that day and I’m not sure the kids got much out of it.

I loathe homework. The only merit to it is in Y10 & Y11 to prepare them for research for GCSEs but even then I dislike it.
We tell them to get a good like balance doing sports, leisure etc, and then set them down much homework that they are burnt out.
I remember my eldest DGD getting decimal multiplications in a 12 by 12 grid. She was meant to do all 144 of them. Why?! What's the point? It's the same freaking sun with different numbers. I told her to do 10 and then wrote on the paper that did not need to do another 134 to prove she understood it!!
Kids who don't get home till 6.30 due to childcare struggle to get it done. Homework sucks!

Ah. Sparx I assume? Bane of our household too!