Homework- yes or no?

I say no. I have one child in first class and one in junior infants. Myself and wife work full time and most nights it's just a chore for everyone, especially kids who are already tired come the evening.

I've a daughter in Senior Infants. She gets about 10 - 15 mins of homework for Monday - Thursday. So far we haven't found it to be a burden but we've gotten no push back from her. She'll probably push back more as she gets older.

Like Pawwed said, I find it useful to see where she is and I know where she is maths wise and reading wise so we integrate it a bit when we're going out for walks or have some time together. She gets no Irish homework (and my Irish is weak) so I've no clue where she is for that and coincidentally or not, she's told me that Irish is her least favourite subject.

OP if you're concerned about how many hours a week teachers have to teach pupils, how about abolishing the half hour per day of "religious instruction" which is mandatory in 95% of Irish primary schools?

We need more homework, not less. Kids have too much free time.

Depends what the homework is, and what quality it is. If it's busy work then no point. There's a certain amount of independent learning required in life. Certain amount of practice to stay current in a perishable skill.

Then some of that depends on the quality of what goes on in the classroom. Trying to get feedback and updates from many teachers is like getting blood out of a stone.

I've read the research on homework. I think if it's not making any difference then what is the point. It seemed the classroom instruction was higher quality then exist in other places. Perhaps that's why the homework was redundant.

Easy solution. Require it to be hand written. copying it out from a computer screen will impart some learning. Even better, teach through Irish.

Just like you can tell when something is written by someone else. You can tell a lot of the time that its written by ChatGPT.

They have tools coming online that can detect chatGPT with apparently a  97% accuracy and a false positive rate of only 1%.

Chat GPT also knows Irish

The normal school day involve a lot of repetition. No need for more repetition again in homework, unless you want to really turn young learners off a subject. So the OP makes a very valid case as to how to proceed.

For parents who view homework as a means to check how their children are getting on - well you don't need homework for that. You can just sit down and ask what they covered that day/ week and explore a few ideas with them. Far more engaging, natural and useful for the young learner (or any learner).

Those detectors will adjust to suit.

Computers are like people. They have predictable patterns.

I've no major opinion on homework one way or another - I can see the benefits, but also the downsides. I've rarely had trouble to get my kids to complete it, and certainly in the older years of primary it's a good habit to get into for secondary school.

What does drive me crazy - especially because both parents here work full time - is the homework that is essentially "homework for parents" - projects in the younger years of primary, art and craft type things. Our school has got better at not handing them out anymore, but there was a period when one child was smaller that there seemed to be a project every month.

Projects in the older years aren't as much of a problem - 5th class child just completed one on a country of her choice, inputting it all into a presentation on google classroom. My involvement was keeping a vague eye while she was doing her research, pointing her in the direction of slightly more reliable sources, and a small bit of tech support.

I'd be interested to see what ChatGPT turns out in Irish. If it's anything like the nonsense google translate turns out, the Irish teachers of the world won't be too concerned. (And to be honest, I don't see ChatGPT causing much of a problem with primary school homework anyway)

Let's go to the extreme, of school.

Leaving cycle pupils:

School: 09:00 - 16:00

Expected Study: 2+ Hours

Homework: 2+ Hours

How many of you would accept that level of work after office hours?

Government and health officials complain about kids not doing sport: There's a reason right here.

Repition, in the hours after exposure, does help to lock in that learning but we need to come to some kind of balance. No 16-17 year old should be under that level of pressure.

FFS you go through an entire honours degree never feeling that level of stress again.

All valid points.

Thats just nonsense for the younger kids.

I find that homework, as others have said, give the parent a view into whats being done in the classroom and where their child is at.

It's value is very dependent on the child and indeed home environment but in general it is a good thing particulary in the younger ages where the parent HAS to get involved.

I think its good in general to get kids into the habit of "Work" and scheduling their time as they get older.

It's not the same for everyone mind and I suppose these are where the challenges arise.