A Cape Town school is leading the way in the education sector by doing away with homework; and six months later they’re seeing surprising results.
Gavin Keller, principal of Sun Valley Primary in Fish Hoek, told John Robbie on Radio 702 this morning that learners across all grades at the school are excelling academically, in spite of not having homework. He says the school is looking to do away with the idea that children have to put in extra academic time after a seven-hour school day. Instead, the time learners spend at school is more focused, on task and fun, allowing them to concentrate on sports and other activities after hours.
At first, Keller admits, even his staff were sceptical, with expectations running high that parents would be up in arms at the idea. Quite the contrary, however, as parents are delighted with the results. Books at the school’s library are reportedly flying off the shelves for the first time in years, the children are reading more, and getting more involved in conversations at the family dinner table.
Keller says the 21st century family is stressed, and many parents simply don’t have time to sit with their children in the evening to help with homework. He says children who were getting help in the evenings were managing, but those without that kind of support after hours were simply being left behind.
The Western Cape Education Department has taken notice of the success of Sun Valley Primary’s no homework trial, and will be meeting with Keller soon to discuss his education policies at the school.
I wish Gavin Keller and his team had been around when I was still at school…
Photography courtesy Sun Valley Primary
Been done before: http://mg.co.za/article/2010-11-30-yay-no-homework
Beginning of degradation! Shame won’t grow my children in dumb country. How so?
I salute this school for thinking out of the box. They have implimented some amazing things and really understands the kids. Once attended a chat by the principal and was blown away. May they go from strengh to strengh.
my daughter has attended many international ib schools as we are expats and they had a no home work policy, just encouraged kids to read a book, it worked brilliantly. Parents arnt teachers, and more harm is done at home when parents are tired and stressed and a child is exhausted and has to now sit and do more work. It is far healthier for your child to help with dinner, spend valuable time playing outdoors, and bonding with his family etc. Well done Sun Valley.
You must be joking. Back to the past of no turning back to the future or it must somethingof a very special curucullum to get a lot of information into children’s heads in such a short time..
Maybe you should do some research first. Thi sstrategy has been implemented by a lot of schools all over the world, all with spectacular results.
If we want to be a healthy society we need to get rid of stress.
Lets teach childern not to have any responsibility, Let them play
forever. But I guess that’s the way this world is going.. Soon they will
not even need to go to school. Machines will be doing everything fro
them. All they will need is a finger print. Sad the way things are turning out
Taking this a step further is to release the children from school premises altogether and allow them the freedom of online education that can be followed “any time, any place, any path, any pace” ………. education for the 21st century!!
ashr Maybe you should too. Not all parents do additional activities with their children dear, because they themselves are uneducated their parents never saw the need to when Little Johnny in 1St Grade is learning about Penguins for instance, a tiny minority of folks would give a toss about extending their interest (no not buying a shitty toy) but taking them to the Acquarium, buying childrens National Geographic Kids Magazines, and spending time with Johnny helping him to read all about Penguins. The tiny minority’s children will end up professionals, while the “other” will end up hating home just as much for their kids and so on. With the high rate of alcoholism in South african parents, now Sun Valley can help them along in their drinking careers. I’ll just plod along as a father and teacher, and continue with my homework, its best for the majority.
Tess B with all due respect, but what is homework in your mind? In a teachers mind its a form of assessment to see whether or not a child has grasped a certain concept. If remedial teaching may be needed, this is a good way to find out. Also it helps cement the ideas in the child’s mind for later use. If you ask me it sounds like you did not like or appreciate homework when you were younger and received little help from your parents. Well school and teaching is only the middle of the process, not the end. Education starts and ends at home, and the teacher cannot be expected to do everything. If you can not see homework as a way to bond with your child then you should reevaluate that position. School takes up from 4 to 7 or more hours of his or her life, homework is a great way to keep track of your child’s progress, and to find out about his/her friends, daily activities and a whole plethora of other experiences that you are missing out on. If you did not want this responsibility then that should have been thought about before having the child not after, we do not get to pick and choose as adults. As for the stress part there is no such thing as a stress free life. Death being the ultimate example of this, and children can become aware of their own mortality as early as age 3 but most by the time they are between the ages of 5-7.
RyanEdwards1 Tess B OMG Ryan, why the over reaction, what do you mean I should have thought twice about having a child because I don’t want to sit and bond over school work and make her do more than read or perhaps play some games in the evening, make dinner with her (measuring/weighing skills can be introduces here, or even just sit down for a relaxed dinner and chat around the table to catch up on her day etc…. which I believe by the way is far more important than re-evaluating and assessing if she is up to date and grasped the lessons she was taught during that day. That by the way should be picked up in the class room by the teacher, if you are at the top of your game. She has been fortunate to have the most amazing teachers who are at the top of their game and who thank goodness have the vision to see outside of the box, who during the hours of 8.30 – 3.30pm have worked their magic in their classrooms, and which unlike some schools involve and encourage parents to participate in the child’s school day, which forms bonds between the children, teachers, parent, and so yes believe it or not, I am very up to date as to her progress , and where she is in the IB syllubus. These teachers whom I admire, mothers themselves, encouraged the no homework policy at the school’s she has attended, as they realise the importance of family life, the fact that perhaps children may have other interests e.g. music, dance sport and this gives them time to be well rounded little people. What has mortality got to do with homework and bonding with your kids????? Education is important but an all round development in academics, the arts, sports, as well as emotional mentoring and the support and belonging in a family unit is so much more important, as well as guiding them to be risk takers and critical thinkers, not just sitting in the evening and regurgitating times tables. That is so out dated, What are we specifically trying to educate our kids for as the jobs they will do in 20 years time don’t even exist today, allow kids the time to be kids as well. By having no homework in these schools showed that kids were in fact reading far more than before. Is that not a reward in its own.
Tess B RyanEdwards1 Tess, to my mind, you are quite content with not having to sit with your child, to ACTUALLY find out whether or not she understands what is going on in her classroom. IB does not impress me at all. Alot of it is based on self discovery…. unfortunately this does not help with Maths and language skills, when later on the foundations of calculus and persuasive writing will be seriously lacking. I am happy for you, that your “trust” all of your incredible and highly trained teachers. Have you, yourself actually tested your child lately to see just how perfectly excellent she really is. I would suggests SATS progress tests or CIE Checkpoint or Progress Tests. As you have probably picked up, I myself am teacher, having taught with these “wonderful PYP and IB educators” internationally myself. I would test my child my dear, and definitely monitor her work, the iB program is full of solid foundational gaps, especially in the foundation years, leading to lack of some skills later on Sitting around a dinner table is not going to help my dear. You will find out what I am talking about, if you were to test your child with British standardized tests. But then, you might be too busy ready a Dr Suess story. Good luck with that.
RyanEdwards1 Tess B Ryan darling, done the map tests (global tests) bi annually, had the British curriculum assessments done, and we are all fine, thanks for your concern. She is 11 and has a Grade 8 language/reading skill her persuasive writing is pretty dam good, and her math skills are way above the general SA school syllabus as we speak. I will however keep a vigilant eye on her progress as I always do to monitor that there are no gaps. We move around as expats and so she is assessed every 2-3 years in numerous other institutions as well as all the international schools she attends do global assessments to make sure that they are on a par with what is going on around the world, and yes most of her teachers are at the top of their game (as it sounds that you are ) because they are serious about their career and work on contract so need to be in order to acquire a place in a great school when they move on. Her foundation years were thorough, in fact far more thorough than my adult sons who were educated in SA at a good SA School. Thanks for your concern, and I think its great that as an educator you take an interest, however personal comments on how I bring my child up, when you haven’t even met me are unjustified. What we should be doing is to remember that we are all individuals and should celebrate our differences and different opinions without becoming personal, what works for some may not work for others and that is fine. How we choose to parent our daughter and should it be in a more liberal out of the box style, is our choice.Tess.
Really? You must live in South Africa where your maid cleans and cooks while you sit and do homework with little Johnny. Must be nice to have all that time on your hands.