16th March, 2012
Dear Parents & Carers,
Homework
As you will be aware we have spent a significant amount of time collating views from parents, children and teachers regarding homework. The following document aims to share thoughts, stimulate conversation outside of school and present a considered professional view on the impact and importance of homework.
Through the consultation papers and informal discussions between children, teachers and parents it is clear that there are a range of views about homework. In simple terms at the time of consultation, most parents felt the children received sufficient homework (59%) some parents felt there should be more homework (14%), some thought that the children should have less (27%), other parents expressed the feeling that time at home is difficult to organize in order to carry out additional tasks as many children are involved in many after school activities and hobbies.
Teachers at Mellor had previously set a homework program that would engage, stimulate and encourage children to learn. It was our intention to provide a range of tasks to engage all learners. As human beings we all have different skills and talents and therefore what is of interest to one child is different to that of another and the homework plan that was in existence was developed not only to support core skills in numeracy and literacy but also to provide opportunities for the range of varied skills and talents: To share the differences that exist in us as learners and as people.
It became apparent that the model we had tried to develop particularly at key stage 2 had placed too much demand on family time and hence we decided to evaluate the approach to homework.
The reality in school is that teachers set homework, this can require a significant amount of planning and preparation and then teachers often have the challenge of working with a class of children that as a whole and for a range of reasons haven’t completed or undertaken the tasks and subsequently this can prove difficult to manage and the impact upon lessons potentially significant.
As a community supporting and developing our children’s learning for the future the homework question raises so many questions about purpose and the impact upon effective outcomes.
When teaching staff set homework they do so with a number of points to consider. These include..
1. What is the purpose of the homework?
· Is it to reinforce learning?
· Is to extend learning?
· Is it to encourage a love of learning and give children an opportunity to pursue a line of enquiry or demonstrate their understanding in different ways?
· Is it to be an integral part of the next lesson?
· Is it to cater for the different ways in which children learn? Eg Is a child an auditory, visual or kinesthetic learner?
· Is it to develop self discipline in children and to encourage a structured work ethic?
· Is it purely because there is an expectation for homework?
2. How much time should be spent on homework per week and how much time have families got in order to have dedicated homework time?
3. Should it be differentiated by outcome of pupils work or should it be differentiated for groups of children of similar ability?
4. Do children have access to the right facilities in order to complete homework?
5. How much parental involvement/support will be required?
6. How should the homework be marked/assessed and how much time in the teaching week should be devoted to it?
7. What happens if a piece of homework isn’t handed in on time or forms part of a developing program of work and isn’t completed?
8. Which aspects of learning should be covered? Which subjects?
9. How should it be presented? A worksheet which quickly becomes battered or screwed up? A book or piece of 3d work?
There are probably many more thoughts and points beyond these shared that teachers consider.
Research as outlined in the Sutton report (May 2011 Professor Higgins et al of Durham University) indicated that homework had a moderate impact upon learning. The research strongly suggests that it is more valuable at secondary school level and much less effective for children of primary school age.
Further information: ‘The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory’ in the USA has a useful summary: http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/home.php
We believe we should set some homework; however there are some complex issues regarding it. For homework to be successful it has to be done in partnership with parents and requires a commitment from everyone to ensure tasks are understood, carried out and completed. Each and every family has different pressures, habits and ways of living. Subsequently we have to be mindful of the complexities behind family life when producing a homework regime.
In the modern primary school there is significantly more pressure to achieve than most adults would have experienced during their primary years.
Along with this many more children participate in a wide range of after school activities and time at home to focus on homework tasks varies significantly.
Recently the Education Secretary Michael Gove rejected the guidelines for homework that were introduced by the previous administration in 1998. This followed ‘complaints by parents that too much homework is limiting family time and opportunities for play and sport’.
Education officials have further added that headteachers should be able to make decisions free from ‘unnecessary bureaucratic guidance’.
However homework as indicated by the Department for Education was ‘part and parcel of a good education.
So what do we do to address some of the issues and develop an effective homework strategy?
To help us further our Pupil Parliament researched the children’s views. They produced a simple questionnaire and asked the following questions.
1. What sort of homework should you get each week?
2. What sorts of homework do you like doing?
3. What should happen if you don’t do your homework?
The responses were varied as we would anticipate for example Nursery said they liked doing hoovering and tidying up… however the children did raise some very interesting points.
37% of Key stage two children requested creative making tasks linked to topic work.
67% said that Maths should be part of their homework with 58% stating that English in the form of reading and spelling should be each week.
91% of the children in key stage 2 suggested a punitive form of sanction if homework wasn’t completed, with even more extreme views being voiced by the infants including…’You should pegged up on the washing line by the nose’, the cane, detention and even smacked by the slipper..!
On a more serious note the children were clearly aware that if homework is set there should be a commitment to being organized to complete the task and get it in on time.
So what next? To help answer the question I would like to share with everyone a comment written in the consultation that struck a chord with me and may well make many of us consider what it is to be a child…and what experiences we all should value in their development.
As a child my free time was spent drawing, painting and wandering the woods, fields and moors with my family finding out about the incredible world around me. A young person’s early years should be about finding themselves – What fires their imagination? What catches their interest? Where their talents lie and what gives them pleasure and confidence? It is a time for obsession and absorption, not for worksheets. As adults we have little enough time to follow our dreams and passions.
If we care about the children at our school becoming rounded, balanced individuals we should be giving them the space to wonder at the world around them and to follow their own paths; kick the leaves and watch a beetle climb a grass stem.
We all know spending time with children is of vital importance. The ‘Aimhigher’ body of research came to the obvious conclusion that ‘The single most important factor in a child’s development and education is the degree of interest taken by the parents’. Encouragement and talk are the most influential aspects in the development of our children.
Time spent with your children learning about the world around them will make them much more rounded individuals than pouring over worksheets.
‘It’s good to talk!’
At Mellor Primary School we believe that homework is an important part of a child’s education. It should support development of core skills, develop self discipline and independence as well as fostering a love of learning.
The education of our children is a partnership between home and school and, on that principle, it is accepted that parents need to know what their child does at school, and to support the child in his/her learning. Involving parents in the child’s school work is a positive sharing process, and is to be encouraged. It is important that parents facilitate completion of homework and not aim to teach content.
The teaching team of Mellor Primary School will provide opportunities for core skill development supported through a homework program.
This will include each week an expectation for children to undertake the following:
At Key Stage One:
· Reading
· Spellings
· Core skills in maths
At Key Stage Two:
· Reading of the children’s individual reading book, preferably a minimum of three times per week. Additional reading tasks may be set for a specific reading outcome.
· Spellings
· Core skills in maths
· A learning challenge similar to the project tasks previously set for the half term.
All homework tasks will be appropriate for the needs of the children.
Whilst we are mindful that it is an optional extra in order to support learning again we look to parents playing an active part in facilitating completion of homework.
Teachers will communicate the range of homework in the relevant term/ half termly letters.
Communication of homework for KS2 will also be evident in children’s planners which need to be in school daily and checked and signed weekly. The partnership work with parents is of vital importance here.
I hope this paper has stimulated some thought or conversation.
Thank you to everyone who contributed in the consultation. The results of which are attached as a separate document.
Mr J.E.Nicholson
Headteacher
Mellor Primary School
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