Homework for 5 year olds - a good idea?

I was sceptical about homework for 5 year olds when GD entered Year 1, thinking it would be every day. Some of the weekly tasks are fun & interesting but others have been quite stressful for parents & child. Neither her parents nor school are pushy & have a high level of interaction with their children anyway. However, though she is in the top group, she is also very creative & said to me: "Grandma, school is all work, work, Work" & all I want to do is "Craft, craft, craft". Last week when I phoned I could hear her screaming with frustration in the background because the maths homework was proving difficult for Mum (taught different ways of doing Maths) as well as her. It just seems too young for such views about homework & I hope they don't become entrenched in her mind. If they need to introduce it before Secondary school, I think starting at 8 years is early enough.

Oh - they are!

Hmm - I thought links were being automatically "blued."
www.suttontrust.com/news/news/smaller-classes-uniforms-and-primary-homework-among/

Interesting piece of research here: www.suttontrust.com/news/news/smaller-classes-uniforms-and-primary-homework-among/

It basically says that there is no evidence that primary school homework raises standards.

Also, somewhat counter-intuitively, it says that smaller class sizes and additional TA input do not necessarily improve learning.

I agree Iam64 but most of the activities my GC take part in are totally free or cost very little. My son and DiL have very little spare cash. I know there are children at their school (which is in the middle of a large council estate) who do absolutely nothing and go nowhere.

Not all children have parents or families with the financial or emotional where with all to ensure they attend lots of out of school activities.

Well mine don't have enough days in the week to do all the things they like to do. Swimming,gymnastics,horse riding, brownies, rainbows, drama.......
And it's there choice to do them no-one has ever pushed them into it.

Penstemmon - you make an excellent point. One or two clubs a week is probably fine for most children. I think it's important that children learn to entertain themselves (as we did) and learn to take pleasure in the simple things in life.

I think children choose the activities themselves. My two choose trampolining, dancing, drama, scouts/cubs and youth club. And anything connected with the church that they can get a look in on.

Do you mean organised activities jingle or just interesting things to do? I would find it depressing having my time over organised for me! Time to relax, make choices & do my own thing is important to me and I expected my kids to fill their own time purposefully! They had a go at ballet/ music lessons and sports but no more than 2 activities a week! It is not always laziness but a way of helping children to learn independence and good management of time.

I cannot see how modern life has to lead to depression in children. When my older grandson was quite small I often felt he could have inherited some of the family tendency towards depression. But with all the activities there are for him to participate in, and he does throw himself into them all, there is no chance of him becoming depressed.

I think if a child is depressed, it could be down to the parents not bothering to furnish the child's world with plenty of interests. Sheer laziness perhaps.

Not convinced it has anything to do with schoolwork. Most children seem to be either interested in getting on well at school, or they are not.

Sorry HollyDaze, I wasn't suggesting you had speculated about anything. I worded it badly and meant to indicate that I suspect many of us are speculating about the additional pressures within schools and families. I know I am.

Iam64 - I haven't speculated about anything; I was asked for evidence (in a roundabout way) of what I had said and I provided it.

Mamie, thanks for your input as your work experience is important to this debate

HollyDaze - I expect all of us share your sadness about the number of British children suffering from depression. WE can all speculate about the additional presures within schools and families as a result

Mamie - thank you for acknowledging that it is not my intention to demonise every teacher in every school. Thank you also for the apology, it is appreciated.

The post you refer to was in response to the comments that went before it hence the links that I was not fabricating the fact that there are some serious faults in some of Britain's schools. In some schools on the Island I have encountered some very bitter teachers that would gloat about their behaviour and I did challenge them - they saw nothing wrong in what they were doing (for obvious reasons, I won't actually list what those actions were). What disappointed me most was that other teachers didn't react in the way I would have expected and it's why, imo, the less desirable kind of teacher remains in their post.

I detest the relentless tinkering, by governments (same with the NHS) over the past few decades as it has left a lot of youngsters ill equipped for the workplace and, in some cases, higher education and I just feel desperately sorry for them.

Both of my grandchildren did quite well at school (and thoroughly enjoyed their school years) but the Island does tend to have smaller class sizes so teachers are not quite so stretched here and all of the schools have excellent sport facilities either on site or close by (we are quite a sporty family).

This is the kind of thing that saddens me: that British children are suffering from depression so much www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1528639/Modern-life-leads-to-more-depression-among-children.html

and does, in part, relate to the OP.

HollyDaze, I was referring to the links in your post of 26th March at 06:45. I have to say that I still struggle to find anything positive in those. In fact there is a lot of good news about school improvement, especially in maintained schools; this includes Ofsted reports on improvements in teaching, the increasing number of schools now rated as good or better, the results of the London Challenge, TIMMS international comparison data, to name but a few. I didn't see any of those in your links. You did indeed acknowledge that you had encountered good teachers, but to me the evidence that you used in that post still read as overwhelmingly negative.
Obviously that was not your intention and I apologise for the misinterpretation.
As a former LA and Ofsted inspector I am all to well aware that there is still a huge amount of work to do in school improvement. Sadly money, time and energy are currently being wasted on "reforms" that have been rushed in with insufficient rigour. It is to the credit of maintained schools that they are demonstrating continuous improvement in the current climate.
Can I ask how you feel about your grandchildren's experience of school?

Mamie

I don't believe I have been 'overwhelmingly negative' - I haven't given false praise but I have acknowledged that there are excellent teachers as well as those whose performance is poor; I'm surprised that passed you by.

Given the choice, I would prefer that teaching standards are maintained at a certain level by all teachers and not just some of them.

What I have found interesting on this thread is that regardless of age, people still tend to read what they want to see rather than what has been written; kind of ironic.

The whole Education Department here was put into special measures! But that does not mean individual schools are failing.
It is a mess!

If all teachers were brought up to the national average, it would no longer be the national average, it would be the lowest point on the scale and the national average would be someway above it. This is what is so silly about so many of averages etc that are quoted.

As it is at the moment the asessments of schools are a mess. Schools bounce up and down between categories for the flimsiest of reasons. DGD is 6. In the three years she has been at school her school has gone from good to failing and back to good. It was made a failing school because of one area of failure, in one age group, the school as a whole remained a good school. The problem area certainly needed to be recognised and addressed but to describe the whole school as failing was ludicrous.

I have been following it as it meandered along the byways but did not feel the need to contribute.

Hollydaze the PISA data is methodologically and statistically flawed.
www.statslife.org.uk/opinion/1074-the-problems-with-pisa-statistical-methods
According to Ofsted (not renowned for positive statements about schools) "More children are attending good or outstanding schools now than at any other time."
On here you will find retired teachers, headteachers, university lecturers, governors, LA advisers and inspectors and Ofsted inspectors. Whilst I cannot speak for all of them, I think you will find that the majority of them do not share your overwhelmingly negative views.
When I started a thread some time ago asking Gransnetters for their views on their grandchildren's schools, the vast majority were positive. Those whose grandchildren have had bad experiences at school (and there are still some failing schools) have been supported in trying to improve things.
If you really want to focus on what is going wrong in English education, then I suggest you take a look at the appalling waste of taxpayers' money on failing academies and free schools.
www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk
Apologies to the OP for going so very far off topic.

From December 2013: http:

www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/03/uk-students-education-oecd-pisa-report

www.theguardian.com/education/2006/feb/09/highereducation.uk1

Tutors at 16 universities - including Oxford and Cambridge - complained that many school leavers lacked a good grip of grammar and had a "fear of numbers".

A report from the UK Parliament entitled 'Confidence and credibility: key issues with the current system' (2012):

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmeduc/141/14105.htm#n40

Although the following article focuses mainly on pay, it is the reference to the OECDs comments regarding the amount of teaching hours spent by UK teachers compared to their counterparts in some other countries for the link being here:

www.educationviews.org/teachers-in-england-some-of-the-best-paid-in-the-world-they-earn-more-but-spend-less-time-in-the-classroom/

Once again, it is not every single member of the teaching profession that is at fault (as I have already said) it is the system in practice that is at fault - although Sir Peter Lampl, Chair of the Sutton Trust, has stated:

"We need a relentless focus on improving the quality of existing teachers within the classroom, through better appraisal, professional development and leadership," Lampl said.

"Sutton Trust research has shown that English schools could improve their low position in international league tables in reading and mathematics and become one of the top five education performers in the world within 10 years, if the performance of the country's least effective teachers were brought up to the national average."

If the system was as good as some would state it is, the UK would not be sitting at mid-table in the performance leagues. Personally, I would prefer our children to be doing much better thereby improving their life experience.

The university I teach at doesn't have to teach anything basic. And the students' spelling is excellent. Which universities are you referring to?

I didn't realise you were a practising teacher in a primary or secondary school Holly?

Our home routine was always, get home, have half an hour to chill, have a drink and a piece of fruit, do homework. Then I would cook while they played or watched tv (which by that time was usually DVDs). It was just a part of our life. I child-minded for a while and did the same for those children. I am convinced that the younger they get used to it, the less likely you are to have problems getting them to do it when they are older. As for having a teacher around - my OH is a teacher who really wants to know how his pupils get on when he is not around, to see if they have taken in the methods he is instilling in them. As a parent who was also a classroom assistant who was employed solely to help children with their reading, it was very obvious which children had parents who couldn't be bothered. It wasn't just working mothers, because I stood outside with them in the rain waiting for my son to emerge, and I would hear a few groans as they were presented with that week's reading homework. Others would be bright and enthusiastic and 'What a lovely book!'. Everyone is different.