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Homework for primary school children - yay or nay?

Hocus Eye. said:
I suspect that a lot of the homework set in secondary schools is entirely unnecessary and is created by teachers because the school demands it of them.
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As a secondary school teacher...

I agree entirely (particularly below Year 10).

I rarely set very much in the way of homework other than the odd exam style question - if they need extra they come and catch up. I do mainly teach IT though so that's probably a bit different.
 
fractionMan said:
Homework at primary school sounds like a nightmare.

Optional homework might be a better solution.
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Not sure about down south but up here homework IS optional, even at secondary level. The school cannot force your child to do homework.

I think more than 5/10 minutes reading/writing of an evening is excessive and tbh if I had known homework was optional or if boy had ever had excessive amounts I would have told them to shove it.
 
BlueSquareThing said:
As a secondary school teacher...

I agree entirely (particularly below Year 10).

I rarely set very much in the way of homework other than the odd exam style question - if they need extra they come and catch up. I do mainly teach IT though so that's probably a bit different.
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I tend not to set much, either. I have to set some, and I've been told off before for not setting 'the right kind of homework,' because it's not always the kind that involves writing lots and lots on a piece of paper. It's often research, or choosing a newspaper article to bring in, or keeping a diary, or learning spellings for a test (where they get marks for improving their score). I was told to set more worksheets and long written assignments. As if having them research a writer enough to be able to talk about that writer for two minutes in class isn't real work. (Two minutes lasts a lot longer than you'd think = and any longer would mean that there wasn't time to hear their mini-presentation).
 
and it sounds great Scifisam that you are getting them to say stuff out loud in front of each other...speaking your mind is really important for everything in life I reckon. If anyone dares to say your homework is easy just call it PUBLIC PRESENTATION PRACTICE and ask the complainer whether they have any fear of public speaking, at all, ever...... ;-)
 
I frequently set thinking homework. Or walking homework - I got a group to go for a walk in two contrasting areas of the town and note the difference in trees, street furniture, graffiti and what not. Stuff that cant be done in class.
 
catinthehat said:
I frequently set thinking homework. Or walking homework - I got a group to go for a walk in two contrasting areas of the town and note the difference in trees, street furniture, graffiti and what not. Stuff that cant be done in class.
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Ah, that's my kind of geography :-)

I think I set a homework once to be nice to someone at home that week. I may have been told to make sure I set some...
 
Parents' attitude to this is interesting. I remember when I was a school governor hearing one set of parents (moved to the Uk from Jamaica) concerned about the 'lack' of homework at a parents evening. Whereas I'd also heard that some parents complained about having to help their kids with homework, because they didn't really have the time.

This was a good few years ago, and I since then, homework has become very much seen as a 'tool' to 'reach' parents, so a lot of homework is overtly supposed to be done with a parent, which I imagine some enjoy and others find an unacceptable pressure on their time.

I've also heard of some homework which is supposed to be about health etc but is actually rather sinister, along the lines of homework reporting on what a child's family eats every week or how much physical activity they do. Which is distinctly dodgy to my mind....
 
I don't think homework, especially at primary age serves any useful function, but then, I'm not a teacher.

My mother, however, is a Primary Head with almost 40 years experience in the profession, and she thinks it is pointless too. Home is for playing and doing family things.
 
I think set homework is useful in the last couple of years of primary school... but when they're little there really isn't enough time in the day. My eldest is in Primary 1 (equivalent to Y1 in England I think?) and because she comes home on the bus she doesn't get home til 4.20pm. She has to go to bed by 7pm or she's knackered and emotional next day. We have to fit having tea, bath, bedtime routine etc into that short time-slot and I just think she deserves a chance to chill out and do her own thing after school at this age so quite often her reading homework doesn't get done - I'll usually try but if she's tired and wobbly I don't force it.
 
Cloo said:
I've also heard of some homework which is supposed to be about health etc but is actually rather sinister, along the lines of homework reporting on what a child's family eats every week or how much physical activity they do. Which is distinctly dodgy to my mind....
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My daughter had that once, not for the whole family's diet but for her own. It was just a way to personalise lessons about healthy eating and get kids to think about what they're putting in their bodies. Her teacher was slightly frustrated that there was no way she could recommend my daughter's diet could be improved. :D (This was before she started eating like Michael Phelps).
 
mine started getting homework in yr2, she's yr3 now (7-8yo) and gets regular literacy and numeracy homework each week. I think its fine, its only meant to be 20mins per subject, but the problem is stopping it stretch past that when the questions are open ended.

She usually gets it on Friday, I insist its done on the weekend, precisely to avoid the scenario of doing it at 7pm on a school night.

I tend to give mine 5-10mins of sums most nights anyway tbh.
 
My eldest is now 8 (in Primary 4 up here, not sure what Year that translates to in English schooling) and I've just had to write a letter to her teacher explaining why some of her homework hasn't been done this week - because there's just so bloody much of it :mad: (I managed not to use that phrase though)

This week we have had:

4 chapters of a reading book (that's not a problem, she reads happily and fast)
'predict what you think will happen next' in the reading book
a page of questions where they had to underline the common nouns in one colour and the proper nouns in another colour, then had to draw pictures representing three more common nouns and three more proper nouns of their own choosing
a page of sums
ten spelling words to learn
a 'spelling task' for each day of the week, such as 'write a story using ALL of your spelling words. Underline the spelling words in the paragraph' and 'draw and colour a picture. Hide your spelling words inside the picture. Show it to someone to see if they can find the hidden words' (wtf?) which apparently the teacher doesn't even want to see :facepalm: but the parents have to sign that it's been done for each day.

This is all to be done between Monday and Friday. Some of these things she's come home with and told me they're supposed to be handed in the next day as well. It's just impossible, there's only me at home to supervise and I have her two younger brothers to divide attention amongst too - finding enough peace and quiet in a small 3-bed flat with 4 people living in it is not easy. And on Wednesdays and Thursdays I work and we don't even get home til 6pm, then I have to get their tea, they have to eat it, and have a little time to themselves before bed surely? She's only 8 FFS! I'm worried that she's going to get into trouble for me writing a letter saying there's too much homework now as apparently she asked the teacher for some harder reading books because the ones she's getting are too easy (and it's true, it's the sort of thing her little brother can read, with a picture on every page - at home she reads things like Terry Pratchett's kids' books) and the teacher said she was very rude and told her to sit down :eek::mad:
 
I think homework at primary school beyond some reading and the odd fun project here and there is ridiculous, particularly in the first two years when they're too young for formal learning anyway and it's only the stupid education system that insists they start school.

Unfortunately there is a real punitive trend in education these days. It's all about being more strict. Both government and a lot of parents seem to support more homework, more tests, longer schooldays and military style discipline.

Tp, if your nephew is at a state primary, they are probably pushing the homework in the hope of raising attainment and attracting more parents who favour this sort of model. But the fact that he likes his school suggests they must be good in other areas, I just hope it stays that way if they keep on putting so much academic pressure on him.
 
weepiper said:
My eldest is now 8 (in Primary 4 up here, not sure what Year that translates to in English schooling) and I've just had to write a letter to her teacher explaining why some of her homework hasn't been done this week - because there's just so bloody much of it :mad: (I managed not to use that phrase though)

This week we have had:

4 chapters of a reading book (that's not a problem, she reads happily and fast)
'predict what you think will happen next' in the reading book
a page of questions where they had to underline the common nouns in one colour and the proper nouns in another colour, then had to draw pictures representing three more common nouns and three more proper nouns of their own choosing
a page of sums
ten spelling words to learn
a 'spelling task' for each day of the week, such as 'write a story using ALL of your spelling words. Underline the spelling words in the paragraph' and 'draw and colour a picture. Hide your spelling words inside the picture. Show it to someone to see if they can find the hidden words' (wtf?) which apparently the teacher doesn't even want to see :facepalm: but the parents have to sign that it's been done for each day.

This is all to be done between Monday and Friday. Some of these things she's come home with and told me they're supposed to be handed in the next day as well. It's just impossible, there's only me at home to supervise and I have her two younger brothers to divide attention amongst too - finding enough peace and quiet in a small 3-bed flat with 4 people living in it is not easy. And on Wednesdays and Thursdays I work and we don't even get home til 6pm, then I have to get their tea, they have to eat it, and have a little time to themselves before bed surely? She's only 8 FFS! I'm worried that she's going to get into trouble for me writing a letter saying there's too much homework now as apparently she asked the teacher for some harder reading books because the ones she's getting are too easy (and it's true, it's the sort of thing her little brother can read, with a picture on every page - at home she reads things like Terry Pratchett's kids' books) and the teacher said she was very rude and told her to sit down :eek::mad:
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That seems to like way too much homework for an eight year old. Even if she has an advanced reading age, it's still going to take a while to do even half of that, and it's just not fair on a child of that age. And as for the teacher's behaviour - utterly disgraceful. She should be encouraged to expand her reading ability and range.

My mum taught me to read before I went to school, so when I got to primary school I had the highest reading age in the class. This mean that I got to choose my reading book from the shelf for the year above, and was encouraged to read as many of those books as I could. Everyone was encourage to read at my primary school. I am impressed she is reading Terry Pratchett, one of my favourite authors too, he is incredibly imaginative and I feel that imagination is a 'skill' (couldn't think of a better word) not really encouraged either, when it should be.

If I couldn't find anything to read, I read my mum's library books. Or my Dad's computing magazine. I wouldn't necessarily understand all of it but I would ask my Dad about stuff if I got stuck.
 
that sounds like a massive amount to me weeps. for comparison kid1 is 8 and she gets spellings once a week as her only regular homework. she has the odd project to be done over the holidays and she was doing something making a landscape earlier in the week but i've no idea if that was set homework or just something she decided to do herself. she has keyboard practice too but that's an extracurricular thing.

it seems to be very much down to the ethos of the individual school how much homework they set, rather than any kind of blanket policy - our school has a somewhat "challenging" catchment and is less academically focussed than the one down the road for example. they have much more homework than our lot do.
 
It's a load of bollocks assigning homework for any kids under the age of 14-16 I'd say. What's school for anyway, if not somewhere to do your learning? At a later stage assigning homework can be a good way of preparing kids for Uni, as doing well there demands a bit of discipline and motivation to get things done on your own.
 
TruXta said:
It's a load of bollocks assigning homework for any kids under the age of 14-16 I'd say. What's school for anyway, if not somewhere to do your learning? At a later stage assigning homework can be a good way of preparing kids for Uni, as doing well there demands a bit of discipline and motivation to get things done on your own.
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i don't really agree with this. i think it's helpful to learn at a fairly early age that regular practice is useful to get the hang of tricky stuff, and that a certain amount of self-discipline pays off. but i see kid1 learning this much better through her music practice than what little homework she has. it helps though that she's pretty self motivated and keeps on top of her homework herself - she likes it. but then again, she spent half the holidays playing schools :facepalm: no child of mine... :hmm:
 
nagapie said:
I think homework at primary school beyond some reading and the odd fun project here and there is ridiculous, particularly in the first two years when they're too young for formal learning anyway and it's only the stupid education system that insists they start school.

Unfortunately there is a real punitive trend in education these days. It's all about being more strict. Both government and a lot of parents seem to support more homework, more tests, longer schooldays and military style discipline.
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It does seem to be getting pretty stupid like that. That's way too much for an 8 year old kid.
 
I have no memory of starting this thread :o

weeps - that sounds like a ridiculous amount to me :( What do other parents think? I wonder if it is just this teacher that gives so much homework or if it is what all the children in the year get? She's going to be up until 9pm to finish that lot

Incidentally my nephew who I posted about at the outset has just started secondary school and his moaning about homework has reached stratospheric new levels :D
 
ringo said:
Same as Thora I think. Mine is in year 1 and I railed against the idea of her getting homework. As it turned out it's a small bit of reading and spelling. She really enjoys it, I get to help just a little in her learning, and I know exactly how she's doing and what stage she's at.

If there were more of it I'd be against it, but so far it seems well balanced and very useful.
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I tend to agree with you.

It should not be very much, but some won't do any harm and permits parents to keep an eye over their progress.
 
trashpony said:
weeps - that sounds like a ridiculous amount to me :( What do other parents think? I wonder if it is just this teacher that gives so much homework or if it is what all the children in the year get? She's going to be up until 9pm to finish that lot
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exactly, it's just silly, I'm not going to have her not getting enough sleep because of homework :mad:

I spoke to a couple of other parents in the playground this morning and the consensus seemed to be that it was ok and their kids were coping with it. They're both stay at home parents throughout the week though so they have more time to sit and supervise... also live in big houses where it's possible for their daughters to find a quiet space for half an hour. It's a terribly middle class area (there's a steady drip of kids moving to nearby private schools as they get older from this school) and I think there's a lot of parents who think lots of homework is a good thing. Many of them either have one parent who stays at home every day or a nanny though.
 
wayward bob said:
i don't really agree with this. i think it's helpful to learn at a fairly early age that regular practice is useful to get the hang of tricky stuff, and that a certain amount of self-discipline pays off. but i see kid1 learning this much better through her music practice than what little homework she has. it helps though that she's pretty self motivated and keeps on top of her homework herself - she likes it. but then again, she spent half the holidays playing schools :facepalm: no child of mine... :hmm:
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Regular practice, both supervised and unsupervised (ie also teaching independence and self-discipline) can easily be done in school. I just think that having lots of homework makes life a lot harder for both kids and parents. If a kid loves school that much, there's nothing to stop them from doing school-work at home if they so choose. I'm just saying it should be a choice, not compulsory.
 
That's far too much homework weeps. The only reason I can imagine for giving a child so much homework is if they are not completing the work in class or the teacher is sending work which out to be done in class and they have to say that they work has been done or, as it seems in your case, the teacher is just ticking boxes to say that work has been set. Why set so much work when you won't even see it or mark it?

You're quite right go send the letter and I'd speak to the head if the homework doesnt decrease.
I would also speak to the teacher about the reading books, I didn't make my son read the books they sent home becaus either were picture books and far, far too easy for him. Nobody had assessed his reading ability and given him appropriate reading and I didn't see why I should hamper his enjoyment of reading by making hi tick off their boxes.

Last year, when he was 8, his class ha homework like reading and a few spellings a week, some times tables and a weekly project. The teacher would give them a letter and the children created a project based on that letter about ANYTHING. most enjoyable homework ever.
That's good homework, work which stimulates them and uses their imagination. Tells the teacher a great deal about their interests, favoured working methods (EG drawing, writing, crafting or PowerPointing as the case may be) and gives the experience of presenting and sharing ideas with the class. That's the only homework primary school kids should have in my opinion.
 
My kids who are now grown up went to a local primary in what would be considered 'the countryside' oop north. It had such an excellent reputation that people from outside the 'catchment' were always wanting to get their kids in. The head was totally against formal homework, until the last year when small amounts were given (not compulsory) in order to get them ready for secondary school. Towards my son's final years there more 'middle class' people moved into the area and suddenly they all wanted their kids to have homework??? There was an expectation that they would not learn enough unless they had homework - I even knew one family who insisted on it ! WHY - the Head's attitude was his school wasn't doing it's job if they couldn't teach what was needed and more during school hours. Out of school was for playing, socialising, spending time with family and friends, having a childhood!!!
 
I keep waiting for homework or a reading book. But nothing so far. Which is good because at the age of four he is fucking knackered when he gets home, even though he's only doing mornings at the moment. I'm really surprised at how exhausted school makes him
 
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