Primary School Homework - Mini rant

[elsiegee40]

I think the homework that does matter in primary is learning tables, learning spellings and reading. All 3 are only improved by regular pracgice and the sooner a youngster becomes proficient in all 3 the better. Sad to say too large a proportion of youngsters leave primary school with a reading age below their chronological age which means that they struggle to access materials used for teaching at secondary school. The ones that don't have confidence with number bonds and tables struggle with maths. Level 4 and level 5 mean nothing and have been scrapped. What does matter is the building blocks for secondary education. There is no substitute for reinforcing these at home... and not everyone does read with their child every night unfortunately.

 

This is the homework that should be set in my opinion.

[witch]

I think the homework that does matter in primary is learning tables, learning spellings and reading. All 3 are only improved by regular pracgice and the sooner a youngster becomes proficient in all 3 the better. Sad to say too large a proportion of youngsters leave primary school with a reading age below their chronological age which means that they struggle to access materials used for teaching at secondary school. The ones that don't have confidence with number bonds and tables struggle with maths. Level 4 and level 5 mean nothing and have been scrapped. What does matter is the building blocks for secondary education. There is no substitute for reinforcing these at home... and not everyone does read with their child every night unfortunately.

 

This is the homework that should be set in my opinion.

Absolutely - this is what they should be doing, perhaps with the odd project on local history or whatever

[AdamzB]

9yo son, also an outstanding school. Reading and spellings every night. Weekly comprehension task based on the book they are reading. Weekly numeracy task and termly project based on the class topic for that term. The school is Outstanding for a reason, they want the best from their children. Too many parents expect the school to do it all. In fairness their children are at school for 7 hours of the day and they need to take an interest and a responsibility in their child's learning. All anicdotal I'll admit but it's normally they same parents who complain about home work that are the first ones to take a pop at a teacher when little johnny doesn't get the SATS results they wanted.

[pooley]

I can't help think that the homework is more for the schools benefit than the kids. Helps the schools if children achieve more - gives more value added.

 

I have this argument in school a lot, it's not the schools fault that the curriculum is over crowded and they can't teach it all in a school day/term. My son is 7 and goes to a very good local primary (in Wales) and currently he gets very little homework, but I know that will increase as he gets older.

 

Homework isn't enforceable and as my boy gets older and it eats into his time with family and friends I won't be too bothered if he doesn't get it all done.

 

It's not all about grades, childhood is to be enjoyed!!

[GrumbleDook]

The first place I came across this was on the BBC radio 4 programme "the educators". Well worth a listen and the whole series still seems to be available.

 

Professor John Hattie has done a massive study of outcomes over 20 years resulting in lots of information about what works and what doesn't.

 

John Hattie on BBC Radio 4: "Homework in primary school has an effect of zero" | VISIBLE LEARNING

 

Quote from that website:

 

“Homework in primary school has an effect of around zero. In high school it’s larger. (…) Which is why we need to get it right. Not why we need to get rid of it. It’s one ofthose lower hanging fruit that we should be looking in our primary schools to say, “Isit really making a difference?” If you try and get rid of homework in primary schoolsmany parents judge the quality of the school by the presence of homework. So, don’tget rid of it. Treat the zero as saying, “It’s probably not making much of a differencebut let’s improve it”. Certainly I think we get over obsessed with homework. Five toten minutes has the same effect of one hour to two hours. The worst thing you can dowith homework is give kids projects. The best thing you can do is to reinforcesomething you’ve already learnt.”

 

So essentially it's to make parents think more highly of the school...

 

Yep, Hattie's stuff is very interesting and intriguing. The best summary of what it means though I think is from Tom Sherrington.

Homework: What does the Hattie research actually say? | headguruteacher

 

Basically, it can make a difference, but it depends on what is set, how well structured it is and how well supported it is. Homework set poorly and too open ended is a bad thing, homework that repeats what has been learnt but done under the sight and support of parents is a good thing.

[featured_spectre]

My daughters Y1 homework this week was to draw her parents favourite childhood toys and grandparents childhood toys and compare them to her favourite toys. How is a child of 5 or 6 supposed to compare them when they're generally going to be the same thing.

 

My favourite toy was my stuffed monkey (Which I have to this day) and my mrs favourite toy was her Rolland Rat stuffed teddy (which she has to this day), my daughters favourite toy? Her stuffed bunny.

 

Other parents I spoke to about this had the same issue, we all had similar favourite toys as children, and the children generally have the same favourite types too.

[Dos_Box]

How do literacy/numeracy rates compare to when I started school (mid 70's) I wonder?

I, and AFAIK most of my classmates did not have problems with reading or maths at the level required when I got into high school (1982).

If this is the case and homework is to plug gaps in a system which is not delivering the best curriculum for younger children then I would begin to think that homework in primary schools could be there to make the schools look better rather than for the benefit of the children.

Now, I'm also going to play devils advocate. For quite a percentage of children the amount of reading material found within homes is not at the levels it was when I was a child. Indeed, many of my kids freinds do not get brought comics or magazines on a regular basis when mine get the Beano, Lego friends, manga (the child freindly type!) and we have shelves of books for them to dig into.

We are often taken aback these days when you are in someones house and you can't see a single bookshelf anywhere!

There is a gap between reading practice done as a leisure activity at home and perhaps homework is seen as plugging that gap but IMO it's very OTT for children aged 5 and upwards.

[elsiegee40]

How do literacy/numeracy rates compare to when I started school (mid 70's) I wonder?

I, and AFAIK most of my classmates did not have problems with reading or maths at the level required when I got into high school (1982).

If this is the case and homework is to plug gaps in a system which is not delivering the best curriculum for younger children then I would begin to think that homework in primary schools could be there to make the schools look better rather than for the benefit of the children.

Now, I'm also going to play devils advocate. For quite a percentage of children the amount of reading material found within homes is not at the levels it was when I was a child. Indeed, many of my kids freinds do not get brought comics or magazines on a regular basis when mine get the Beano, Lego friends, manga (the child freindly type!) and we have shelves of books for them to dig into.

We are often taken aback these days when you are in someones house and you can't see a single bookshelf anywhere!

There is a gap between reading practice done as a leisure activity at home and perhaps homework is seen as plugging that gap but IMO it's very OTT for children aged 5 and upwards.

 

When we were kids we still took reading books home and were expected to learn tables and spellings. We had bigger project work to do over holidays. This is the sort of stuff that I would expect to be set now

[edutech4schools]

The 'Outstanding school' I am in today and my sons school both give out homework once a week on a Friday for children in KS1. This goes up a bit in KS2.

[Xeba37]

I don't have children so perhaps I am not qualified to comment, however, when I was at school (80s-90s) I had no homework in KS1, in KS2, we had half an hour twice a week. Secondary was another matter, insane amounts, sometimes 3 hours a night even in KS3, my Dad ended up doing half of it for me while I did another subject so I had time to do it (and I wasn't a kid that just didn't get it and took ages for the most part). he told my school where to shove it a few times because it was so ridiculous. My Dad is a legend haha I am not opposed to homework, but in reasonable amounts.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

When we were kids we still took reading books home and were expected to learn tables and spellings. We had bigger project work to do over holidays. This is the sort of stuff that I would expect to be set now

 

Reading books were optional at my primary, if you were reading something at home at a higher level they were satisfied that you didn't need to take biff chip and kipper home with you. We used to recite our times tables in class untill we could do it off by heart.

 

We used to have spelling tests but it wasn't given as homework, just a suggestion that you practice your spelling over tea or something. I'm fine with that btw, family dinner time is a good place for discussion and a bit of spelling practice.

 

We never ever had bigger projects for the summer holidays however, what an anwful idea! Those six weeks should be totally free of any homework IMO. We would go away on holiday from the very first day of the summer for three weeks, coming back and having to do schoolwork is an awful thought! It was bad enough in secondary school.

[Duranis]

My youngest is in year 5 and normally gets 2 maths sheets (around 20-30 questions on each generally following on from what they have been doing in school), 1 "other" piece (normally a research X subject or create a poster/information sheet) and then has spellings and reading. He has a week to do it all except reading which they are expected to do every day.

 

Normally the homework takes about an hour depending on how much he drags he heels about it Then we spend between 10-30 mins reading before bed (I don't count this as homework though as I would probably try to make him do this anyway).

 

To me this seems about right for his age. It helps us see what he has been learning about and pick up areas where he is struggling/doing well in and it helps him reinforce what he knows and get used to working in a non-school environment. As we always try to give him the choice of when he does the homework as well he is learning a little bit about time management "do I do 10 minutes each night and spread it out or spend an hour all in one go". Normally he picks the putting it off until last minute and then having to do it all on Sunday in one go which takes longer as he gets bored. I keep hoping that one day he will understand the fact that doing the 10 minutes a day would be so much easier, but then again how many of us ever do?

 

I definitely think "some" homework is always a good idea for all ages of children. However it should not need to take hours and hours (for younger children at least) and it should be a quick reinforcement of stuff they have already been doing in school.

[Andrew_C]

The WORST thing about primary homework was the "Here's a maths game. Take it home and play with your family"

 

I get home near 7PM. The instructions with the games are carp. The girls can't do the maths.

 

Not a happy family occasion.