Low parental engagement/effort. How not to feel demoralized?

[argyllherewecome]

I'm in my first class where parental engagement with homework etc is consistently low. The students (Y1) are really hindered as a result and I'm feeling really despondent and I've found myself lowering expectations, which isn't good obviously. Newsletters have gone out and HT gives talks about the importance of effort put in at home, but to no avail. It's not (largely) the case that they don't care, most of the parents are juggling work and are burnt out themselves. I got a fairly rude comment from one parent who said she had no intention of doing homework as she's been working all day and wants to relax at home, and that the dc have been in school for 6 hours so shouldn't be expected to "do your job" (ie my job) at home too.
How do you manage this, if this has been an issue? I mean my own feelings here, do you just accept it, try harder with the parents, or what?

How much parental input does the homework involve? I had an issue when dd1 was in Y1. We just couldn’t do it? When it came to dd2, all he homework seemed to be craft related which again, I simply didn’t have time to facilitate (we did do reading, however). I ended up telling their teachers that unless they could do the homework without significant support from me, they simply wouldn’t be doing it.

I think you need to be realistic about who is going to end up doing the homework. I’ve always been engaged in my dcs’ education but I drew the line at working 10-hour days then having to do Y1 homework.

Dd1 did her GCSEs last year and came out with six 9s. The lack of homework completion in KS1 appears not have affected things!

Sorry if that seems harsh but that’s a reality for many parents.

Believe me I'm not expecting a lot, but surely everyone can do 10 minutes a night reading and phonics/numeracy? Absolutely no craft stuff (I used to hate when mine got that stuff, and don't remind me of STEM week) or anything that requires anything more than sitting down with them for a tiny portion of the day. I don't know if they are just weaker students anyway or the fact that it's a very boy heavy class, but it is so incredibly hard to get much done during class time due to lack of attention, fighting, children crying etc. I'm more familiar with older classes so this year group is new territory for me, but I take it very personally that they aren't making the progress that I would like.

You can provide homework activities, if they do it great, if not....well, not much you can do about it.

But at least no one can say you didn't try.

I got a fairly rude comment from one parent who said she had no intention of doing homework as she's been working all day and wants to relax at home, and that the dc have been in school for 6 hours so shouldn't be expected to "do your job" (ie my job) at home too.

No need for parents to be rude but I actually agree with this perspective at such a young age, children of 5 and 6 should be playing, running about and decompressing not doing more work (I don't even really agree with them sitting doing formal learning all day in school but here we are!!)
and parents should be free to just enjoy their kids rather than battling through phonics worksheets that neither of them have any interest in.
Maybe save yourself the stress and just send them reading books home?

At KS1 I don't think more homework than simply reading is particularly effective. Focus on the reading but be sympathetic- a working parent who drops a child at breakfast club at 7.30am and collects them at 6pm will struggle monday to friday.

Make sure you aren't trying to keep the whole class on the same book level - sending books home that are too challenging makes it very difficult for tired parents/children to slog through. If the book is too hard, either it takes too long to get through it, or they are forced to only manage a page or two at a time which feels laborious and demoralising to a child.

Have tried reframing homework away from (for example) worksheets and more suggestions of fun family games or activities that build numeracy?

it is so incredibly hard to get much done during class time due to lack of attention, fighting, children crying etc.

This jumps out as a bit of an issue. You can't really expect parents to make up for a lack of classroom management leading to poor progress. Have you got SLT support in imposing the behaviour policy with regard to fighting?

Have you got a TA in your classroom for some or all of the time? Have you involved SENCO if there children needing support for additional needs?

Start with working on behaviour in the classroom and ways to improve that - you shouldn't have children crying & fighting all the time.

Have to admit Op I thought the same. You aren't managing to get the children progressing in the classroom with you despite 4-5 hours a day with them in a classroom setting, set up for learning.... So you want parents to make up for that at home 😳

Instead of trying to make parents do more at home, is it worth trying to work on your own classroom management skills with the aim of achieving more learning with the children during the school day, aka the time that's already earmarked for the purpose?

It is an issue. One boy has suspected ADHD (he is on waiting list for assessment) and he is very disruptive and encourages several other boys to follow suit. One is completely non verbal, he isn't any trouble at all but needs 1:1 to help him, which he doesn't have so I feel awful that his needs aren't being met. One boy has very severe separation anxiety and cries all the time, wants me to pick him up constantly. This is very disturbing for the rest of the class, a few of the girls get really upset due to this. I don't currently have a TA, but even with one felt like I was firefighting. I spoke to a colleague today who said this is fairly normal and I should aim to care less. I'm new to this school (and this year to be fair) and I've never had such anxiety in my life.
I'm not expecting parents to teach the dc, but it would be very advantageous if they could get them to school on time, do some reading and spend five minutes consolidating work at home. The weaker students would really benefit from this.

I don't think homework is the issue here at all. You have a really difficult class and not enough support. This is what you need to be focusing on and requesting more support with from SLT. I don't agree with the advice to care less at all!!

Its normal to have students with needs lacking support. Its not normal to have a child crying constantly to be picked up - don't do this, if the crying gets him more attention he'll keep doing it. Give him a reward chart for walking in in the morning without a fuss etc. Can you buddy him with some confident kids who'll lead him off in some play? If he stops dwelling on things & is kept busy he may calm down.

You can't 100% meet all their needs, all the time. Remember some of their needs might also be wants.

Separate disruptive child from easily led peers and put him with quieter children, although you may need to rotate him round a bit, you can't impose him on the same kids repeatedly if difficult. Adhd doesn't have to mean disruptive.

Can you make any broader changes to your classroom that he and others can all benefit from?

I assume you've insisted to SENCO that the child who needs 1 to 1 be assessed for ehcp?

Most of your parents will be working full time and life will be a slog. If they aren't engaging with whats being sent home its probably too hard - can you pitch it lower? If its less hard at first you can get in a habit of doing it.