Homework approaches in secondary school

[Stevie77]

I'm genuinely interested to hear about your child's secondary school approach to homework.

My son started Year 7 in Sept. I also have a Year 11 child in a different school. My son's school uses Seneca and Mathswatch as their main platforms for homework, with other work being on Google Suite, or other platforms. But all on digital platforms.

I've reached out to school (they have a dedicated Yr 7 transition lead) querying it as it seems like the reliance on an automated platforms leads to a lighter-touch approach to homework overall. I can see how it is convenient for teachers not having to mark books, but I am concerned about the lack of written homework, lack of personalised feedback, no teacher-guided assessment or the chance to meaningfully learn from mistakes etc. I also don't think that Seneca alone provides the level of academic challenge or the development of independent study skills needed further down the line. I also don't think it promotes focused work, as the system is really distracting - you get celebratory pop-up memes when you answer correctly, when you type an answer it automatically completes the end of the word for you etc. It seems like a useful for revision and quizzing, but for all homework?

School have so far replied reinforcing (expected, I guess) this school-wide approach, stating that they find Seneca to be a highly effective, interactive online platform that supports learning and revision. They say they also utilise a Seneca Plus model, where while they have a core approach, individual faculties incorporate specific independent learning strategies tailored to their subject area.

So, am I right to be concerned? I can't see how this approach prepares the students for what sitting GCSEs and the level of studying needed in the coming yars - which I am seeing with my older child now. Assuming I am correct in my concerns, where else can I take this next? Governors? Happy to be told I'm wrong!

Just realised there's Homework thread, so will also post there!

In all honesty, you’re expecting too much with regards to homework. Which, incidentally, is proven to have little impact on academic outcomes.

Teachers will provide specific feedback to work done in classrooms, in known conditions. I don’t believe they should be expected to provide close marking/feedback of homework, when realistically the conditions that homework is completed in is unknown. It’s a total waste of the teacher’s time if the homework was cheated on, copied, helped with AI etc.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that teachers not marking homework means teachers aren’t marking/providing personalised feedback.

but I am concerned about the lack of written homework, lack of personalised feedback, no teacher-guided assessment or the chance to meaningfully learn from mistakes etc.

There is zero point in a teacher marking homework. It’s a complete waste of their time. Some kids haven’t done it. Some kids did it on the bus and it’s crap. Some kids did it with their tutor/parents and it’s amazing. Some kids copy from another kid. Some kids used AI to do it.

If a teacher is going to spend time giving meaningful personalised feedback, it should be on work that the child has done in school.

In my son's school ( Catholic) they have Sparx Maths Sparx Science, Seneca, GCSE Pod and aome sheets given up. There is loads and loads of homework. And if they miss homework they get detention and negative points.

My daughter is now in Yr10, it's always been online platforms for homework and to be honest, this prepares them as far as I can see for GCSEs which are now wholly about passing the test. This seems to be the whole focus in her school which admittedly gets really good results. No homework done equals detention and stay after school and do it. It's ramped up a lot in Yr10 but again lots is making notes to pass assessments, some independent research (always online) , sample assessments online. They get a lot of feedback and more assessments in class. I'd relax. To be honest in Year 7 I don't think I really knew what she had for homework only that it was done and I wasn't getting reminders from school

Ex teacher.

i used to teach maths. These days pretty much all maths homework at all levels is automated online.

mathswatch is probably one of the cheaper ones. Lots use sparkx or dr frost maths. At a level it tends to be integral (specialist a level maths platform) or dr frost maths.

my dd has just finished a physics degree with some modules from maths and a lot of her assignments were set and done and marked online.

in maths at least, there is absolutely no need for teachers to do personalised feedback of hand written answers not least because most kids make the same three mistakes and the software can correct this just as easily and quicker than a real teacher.

this is also true for most science subjects - you mention Seneca but a lot of schools also use Tassomai which is paid for. MFL again these days usually has homework on apps or websites not least because this means it can include listening very easily as opposed to traditional homework which was usually reading and writing.

so maths, MFL and science are frankly better homework online.

the humanities and creative subjects are a different story, and that is where written homework may well have added value.

in the secondary school I most recently taught in, we cut down homework in year 7 to maths, MFL (both websites) and English - for which each kid was given a reading record, had a library lesson once a fortnight and were told their homework was reading and then writing a review of the book in their reading record. The English teachers during the library lessons while the kids were reading in silence checked each kid had a book and checked for reviews.

I’m sorry but at this time in teaching no teacher will be giving personalised feedback to homework. There is zero point in taking this to governors, unless you’d like to be solely responsible for lack of teachers when they quit due to work load.

Please align your expectations and remember a secondary school teacher can teach 150 different students in a day if they had 5 separate classes of 30 (used as an extreme example but does happen). It is not like primary and you know this with an older child.

I think it is probably good use of teacher time.

However when DD who has some SEN used online stuff it didn't work well for her. The maths was hard without pen and paper - doing it online didn't encourage doing workings out. Seneca required you to spell things right to get the 'pass'. Overall online work just contributed to high stress levels.

Secondary school teacher here. I’m sorry OP, but you’re expecting private school levels of service at (I assume) a state school.

The fact is that with 28-30 pupils in a class, it’s simply not viable for teachers to individually mark and give feedback on homework. Instead, homework in the state system is used to practice and embed skills that have already been taught in the classroom, building confidence in key areas. This, as such, shouldn’t need individual feedback.

If you’re looking for more, you’ll need an education setting with 12-20 pupils in each class, which is usually only found in the private system. At £12k+ per year, it’s not an option for everyone, and there are no guarantees that this will give you what you’re looking for, but the choice is there.

You may want to consider home education for a much better academic pathway. School generally can't offer anywhere near the same level, outside of some specialist or high quality schools.

Why was it possible up until just a couple years ago?

I suspect it’s because demand for book marking has risen, plus an increased number of assessments that need to be marked. Where one area increases, another must decline. I can’t speak for every school, but that’s definitely the case at mine.
That said, I’m an English teacher and so all homework tends to be written digitally or by hand.
I do think the trend towards homework being about embedding skills digitally is very effective.

Demand for book marking has risen so book marking has gone to basically zilch? I don't follow.

Mum of a Y7. His school uses...
Google classroom
Seneca
Educate
Carousel???
They also get maths homework to do in their books
There are probably other apps that I can't name but he knows what he is doing.

I teach primary and my homework is set online too (via email) plus reading to do. I don't mark any of it.

State schools have been using automated homework/online systems in some subjects for many years.

i have been teaching maths since 2006 and for at least the last decade automatic online homework has been a thing.

the online systems have improved massively in that time.

when they first came in at my school we rotated online/handwritten homework every other week.

but handwritten homework has many disadvantages:

a) takes up teacher time to mark. Even a simple ten question check whether right or wrong maths quiz is a half hour marking job.
b) is heavy. A class load of books is a lot of books.
c) the kids who care do it. The kids who don’t copy the answers from their friends. The online systems ask questions but change the numbers so copying isn’t possible.

the online systems mean that no teacher time is spent on homework (in maths). This frees up the teacher to plan better lessons or to give feedback on work the child definitely did because it was done in school.

in addition, if the child gets it wrong the online systems have videos and examples that they can work through independently to fix their own mistake.

this is very good for gcse and a level where more independence is expected.

so for maths, frankly the online stuff is pretty much what is needed.

obviously this is different for different subjects.

i’d argue MFL falls in the same category as maths, and the online systems probably save a lot of teacher time and can also massively increase the amount of listening practice that can be done.

i’m old enough that I remember having to go to the language lab to do French listening practice. Now it’s in an app on my phone.

Yes.

my last school, we had a requirement to mark a piece of work every two weeks. It needed to be a substantial piece of work that you could give feedback on and then the students could improve.

this was a lot of marking, at it was made clear that (eg) French word tests or single topic tests didn’t count.

as swopsies if you like the school instituted a homework policy which mandated online automated homework for year 7 and 8.

I was a bit unhappy with online homework at first... but I saw the benefit for Maths quickly. The instant marking, so they could have another try, really suited my DDs. Its pretty pointless doing the whole homework wrong. (Not worked out the point of the "book check" bit where they randomly ask them an answer from earlier in the session to make sure they had written the answers down... but then these are never looked at?)

I dont mind the apps for lots of the subjects but the one that gets me is the Sparx reading. It just sucks the enjoyment from reading. I get that not all children read so it gets them reading but it is painful. At very regular intervals (probably a page) it quizzes the reader, now I dont think I would mind if it was some inference or developed their thinking but its literally quizzing them on what they have read. E.g. what animal was hiding in the bush? Some questions trick them and may not even be in the story. And if they dont get a high enough score they are quizzed all over again! This is at ks3. It has turned my book loving child into hating reading.

I'm a teacher and actually attended an (optional) after-school forum session about homework this week. It was interesting to hear the views of teachers of different subjects.

The maths and science departments both use Sparx. They have by far the highest compliance from kids on homework. This seems to be because the homework is predictable (same format every time), is set automatically (no teachers forgetting to set homework, no excuse for kids to think there wasn't any set), is convenient to access and is easy for teachers to see at a glance (even from home) who hasn't done it and issue behaviour points.

I asked the maths teachers if they found it effective in improving progress/grades. They said yes, massively. They've seen a clear improvement in kids' knowledge and understanding since they introduced it. The platforms are now so sophisticated that they alter the difficulty level and amount of questions according to the pupil's prior performance and how quickly they complete the tasks!

The rest of us all want our homework to be more like that tbh. The kids prioritise their maths and science homework over ours!

I think Accelerated Reader is a better system - read a book of your choice, answer 10 questions, move on. Pupils are tested on reading ability at points throughout the year and titles are recommended based on the upper end of their reading score in order to push ability.

I teach 255 students over 3 key stages. I have 4 x 1 hr PPA's (planning, preparation and assessment) per fortnight. 16 hours of PPA last half term. That works out at less than a minute per student to plan, prepare and assess.

However I have assessed every one of those students twice in the last half term and provided written feedback and entered grade sheets to feed back to parents. my rough calculations are that was at least 60 hours of work (14 mins per student.

That's is an hour extra at the end of each day just on marking alone, not even considering planning, photocopying, catching up on emails, contact with parents, afterschool meetings, bus duties, performance management, supporting trainees, planning for clubs and trips, other admin such as printing or adjusting seating plans / support plans, open evenings and parents evenings. I am sure I've missed a million other things.

For planning I have to plan 35 lessons a fortnight and yes there may be some resources available but with school development plans and slt breathing down my neck to be on board with this years whole school target every lesson needs to be looked at, checked at least and adjusted. Even if I only spent 15 mins per lesson that nearly 9 hours across a fortnight.

There simply is not enough time in the world to do our jobs as it is, let alone adding more marking.

Sparx and ai use adaptive AI to set work. Amazing platforms and way better than copy out these questions into your book.

Thanks for this. I was going to mention it to school so its good to hear there are better ones out there. Its taken him from September to read 80% of the book, yet half term he read his own book in 2 days.

The sparx maths is actually really good and I think for knowledge building of facts for science it also useful. I think the apps help everyone. My sons school then mix it up with some more creative h/ w and research for upcoming lessons.

In the maths GCSE they can still get a large number of the marks if their answer is wrong, but their method is correct. But only if they show all their working out.
The book work checks get them into the habit of doing this.

Its not the calculations, just the answers. So it will ask "what was the answer to question 2b".