Primary school homework

[DavidEdwinAston]

On the Today Radio programme this morning. Kirstie Allsopp and Steve Chalk claiming that getting primary school children to do homework, actually damages them, mentally, and fails to give them any educational advantage over children who aren't given homework. And then claiming that this is widely validated by research.
Having a six year old Grandchild who is given homework, I was interested. Considered Allsopp, and have done due diligence on Chalk since the broadcast. Thought, and think that it is tosh, but am generally wrong. For me, it is like the poster the other day who claimed a subjective opinion, was universally taken to be the truth! Did anyone else hear this? And any general observations most welcome. (Not sure if Amirs kit is up to testing this "truth"!)

 

[symphara]

Where's that research?

Sounds like typical leftist political opinion on the theme of "equality of outcomes by levelling everybody down". They come up periodically with this this kind of stuff: don't read to your kids (to make them equal to kids in households where the parents don't read), don't hug your kids etc.

My son is in primary school and actually loves doing homework. They get these little brochures for maths and reading and he does everything in advance, optional stuff and all...

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Okay, a bit of Googling, which I should have done before posting, certainly puts forward views which are negative to the homework. Not finding universality about it though.
Not sure if our granddaughter actually "loves" it mind!

 

[dshreter]

Where's that research?

Sounds like typical leftist political opinion on the theme of "equality of outcomes by levelling everybody down". They come up periodically with this this kind of stuff: don't read to your kids (to make them equal to kids in households where the parents don't read), don't hug your kids etc.

My son is in primary school and actually loves doing homework. They get these little brochures for maths and reading and he does everything in advance, optional stuff and all...

The research indicates a complex rather than clear cut situation. It does not point to being universally beneficial or ineffective.

Key Lessons: What Research Says About the Value of Homework

How much homework is too much? Not enough? Who should get it? These are just a few of the questions that have been debated over the years. While the research produces mixed results, there are some findings that can help inform decisions about homework.

www.readingrockets.org

 

[mhardy6647]

getting primary school children to do homework, actually damages them, mentally, and fails to give them any educational advantage over children who aren't given homework.

Well... I mean... that explains us... umm, me, at any rate.

 

[Jimbob54]

Well... I mean... that explains us... umm, me, at any rate.

My 8 yo school has a "no homework" policy BUT encourages daily reading and provides access to spelling and maths apps that they are encouraged to undertake for 10-15 mins per day. I see no harm in it.

If it was a more substantial demand on the kids and parents time I might have a different view.

 

[Count Arthur]

Homework for 6 YOs seems a little daft to me. I don't think they even start school until 7 in Finland: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/11-best-school-systems-in-the-world-a7425391.html

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

The building that was my Secondary school, eventually became Wolverhampton Amateur Boxing Club. At which point, the intellectual quality of the attendee's went up markedly!

 

[yurqqa]

I don't know about others, but I have a ton of experience that doing something by yourself gives you much better understanding of the thing than hearing about it from others.
Maybe you can tailor the experience in the classroom that all the students will have this personal experience during the class, but you have to have the classes consisting of 5-6 persons to do it.

Is it a reality in your country already ?

P.S. My 6 y.o. son is doing homework every day by himself without any control from my side. They don't have grades in this age, but have 1 or 2 Stars for completing the homework and get a small surprise for a 100 stars. Had no issues with older son with the same system.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I don't know about others, but I have a ton of experience that doing something by yourself gives you much better understanding of the thing than hearing about it from others.
Maybe you can tailor the experience in the classroom that all the students will have this personal experience during the class, but you have to have the classes consisting of 5-6 persons to do it.

Is it a reality in your country already ?

P.S. My 6 y.o. son is doing homework every day by himself without any control from my side. They don't have grades in this age, but have 1 or 2 Stars for completing the homework and get a small surprise for a 100 stars. Had no issues with older son with the same system.

I don't think we have classes of 5 or 6 in England yurqqa.

 

[yurqqa]

I don't think we have classes of 5 or 6 in England yurqqa.

We also have it from 7, but you can start half a year earlier if you're ready (or more like your parents think you are).

 

[JayGilb]

Sounds like typical leftist political opinion on the theme of "equality of outcomes by levelling everybody down". They come up periodically with this this kind of stuff: don't read to your kids (to make them equal to kids in households where the parents don't read), don't hug your kids etc.

Did you hear that on Fox News, because I have never once seen that applied in real life ?

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

We also have it from 7, but you can start half a year earlier if you're ready (or more like your parents think you are).

I did mean 5 or 6 pupils yurrqa. Not their age. Sorry, I didn't make that clear.

 

[yurqqa]

I did mean 5 or 6 pupils yurrqa. Not their age. Sorry, I didn't make that clear.

My bad. Haven't recognized the answer to my very question.

 

[Digby]

I always thought that homework was really used to gauge the engagement of a child's parent in their education. No homework done = disinterested parent.

Out of interest, I saw a documentary on Eton/Harrow (one of the public schools = very expensive private school for non-UK members), it followed the boys school life. Anyway, boys there would gather round to ask for extensions from tutors, and it usually seemed to be granted. I think they are far more rigid in state schools, but then what is being taught (I don't mean subjects, more mentality) is rather different. How the other half (2%) live, eh?

 

[Timcognito]

Practice makes Perfect. They could make the school day longer so the teacher has more time to engage and help students with learning.

 

[Adaboy4z]

I have a 9 year old and they are given so much homework it's unbelievable. We found a retired teacher to help with math once a week. The retiree said if they have this much homework what are they doing in the classroom all day. The way they teach them math doesn't make sense and has the tutor scratching her head. Many of my daughters friends where pulled out of public school by the parents because of the ominous direction its heading and we are considering the same next year.

 

[symphara]

Did you hear that on Fox News, because I have never once seen that applied in real life ?

I'm in Switzerland, we don't get Fox News. But we do get some loony left stuff, it tends to fail the referendums.

I used to live in the UK so I actually know what this is about.

 

[PierreV]

Just give them ChatGPT training and forget about the issue

 

[Blumlein 88]

I was given homework starting in the third grade, but it wasn't much. It increased some in higher grades, but wasn't so much. One thing it taught me was getting things done to get to do things I wanted. Because my mother and grandparents had a strict policy. When you get home from school you aren't allowed to do anything else until you finish your homework. Want to go play outside, ride your bike around the neighborhood....no problem just finish your homework. Later on when I was in junior high and high school I was glad you had one period for study hall. I didn't mess around like some kids, I tried to get all or nearly all of my homework done so I was free when I made it home.

Now in the 1990's around where I live in the USA, it seemed out of hand. Grade schools were assigning so much homework it was pretty much going to use up all of each evening. Get them supper, spend a few hours on homework with just enough time to get them to bed. If you had more than one child you nearly needed your parents to be a teacher to get it done. That I think is counter-productive.