OBEC orders teachers to ease back on homework

[webfact]

Teachers told to ease back on homework
SUPINDA NA MAHACHAI
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- THE OFFICE of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) ordered schools not to give a lot of homework assignments, and said they should also not be too difficult and should focus on group work.

Obec chief Kamol Rodkhlai said that under the guidelines, teachers were to assign homework appropriately.

The guidelines also instructed school administrators and educators to ensure that teaching and homework assignments were appropriate and to punish those students who copied from others or hired others to do homework.

School administrators were also instructed to arrange free tutoring for students who fall behind peers academically or to provide a "friends help friends" tutoring clinic or other activities to help them complete basic education, he said.

"Homework assignments are for students to review lessons and practise self-discipline and responsibility … I personally think it should take no more than an hour per day to do homework, so teachers should discuss the appropriate amount. Homework should not be so difficult that kids have to hire others to do it for them," Kamol said.

He added that the guidelines came from suggestions from the chief of the military's ruling National Council for Peace and Order and others in society.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Teachers-told-to-ease-back-on-homework-30242024.html


-- The Nation 2014-08-29

[lostinisaan]

BANGKOK: -- THE OFFICE of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) ordered schools not to give a lot of homework assignments, and said they should also not be too difficult and should focus on group work.

Isn't it already "group work", when they copy from each other?

Not too difficult and focusing on group work? Isn't homework an individual assignment?

School administrators were also instructed to arrange free tutoring for students who fall behind peers academically or to provide a "friends help friends" tutoring clinic or other activities to help them complete basic education, he said.

Sure, they'll stop taking money for their after school indoor tutoring. Gotta be kidding.

Homework should not be so difficult that kids have to hire others to do it for them,

Or just let it copy, or copy it by themselves. Harr Harr. Haar.

The new hub of smarter- through- less homework- kids. OMG said Buddha.....

...

Edited August 28, 2014 by lostinisaan

[chooka]

A lot of academics and child psychologists say that homework is of little benefit to primary school students and should only be given to Secondary. My 6 yr old son gets 2+ hours homework every night and approx. 8 hrs worth for the weekend. It makes it extremely hard for him to find some relaxation time. Home from school at around 5 p.m straight into home work, dinner then shower and bed. Weekends we have little time to go away or do family things and time has to be reserved for the home work

[joshstiles]

School administrators were also instructed to arrange free tutoring for students who fall behind peers academically or to provide a "friends help friends" tutoring clinic or other activities to help them complete basic education, he said.

Yeah....now all the teachers will be required to stay at school, after hours, and help all the failing students.....or in other words....the teachers will make sure that nobody is failing.....just like how it already happens.....what a joke

and don't forget

[oztaurus]

Philosophy

South Korea: "Pass with 4, fail with 5" (hours of sleep per night)

Thailand: "mai bpen rai"

Education spending as a % of GDP

South Korea: 5% (2009)

Thailand: 4.1% (2009)

Literacy Rate

South Korea: 97.9%

Thailand: 93.5%

GDP per capita

South Korea: $33,189

Thailand: $9,875

[SoilSpoil]

A lot of academics and child psychologists say that homework is of little benefit to primary school students and should only be given to Secondary. My 6 yr old son gets 2+ hours homework every night and approx. 8 hrs worth for the weekend. It makes it extremely hard for him to find some relaxation time. Home from school at around 5 p.m straight into home work, dinner then shower and bed. Weekends we have little time to go away or do family things and time has to be reserved for the home work

Try making homework a family time thing that is fun and relaxing. Some nice music on the background, pops or mom to help and laugh with and some delicious snacks. Works like a charm and is better for their development than watching tv whole night.

[SoilSpoil]

Problem in Thailand is that most kids don't come home before 7 pm. These after school activities and remedial classes are time consuming, exhausting and not really efficient in my opinion. Homework, or reviewing the school content, could best be done at home. This means that the parents will have toinvolve themselves with the school, the teachers and subject curricula. Parent can serve as tutors.

In Singapore, for example, it is common for parents visit math and science tutoring centers so that they can teach their kids at home, Highly efficient!

Edited August 29, 2014 by SoilSpoil

[klauskunkel]

Homework should not be so difficult that kids have to hire others to do it for them

...and with the stroke of pen a budding new industry was cast down...a sad day...

[brucetefl]

I HATE HOMEWORK. Always have, always will. I hated it when I had to do it (and almost never did) and I hate it when my kids are forced to do it.

Lets teach our kids to hate learning. Good idea. Make it something they absolutely dread.

Let them read books for extra credit. Watch Discovery Channel. Do something they enjoy.

If most of us had a job that required you to work at home 2 or 3 hours every evening we would quit.

[timber]

I don't think copying other's homework has anything to do with not having enough time. Part of learning is to practice, what you have been taught. So the less homework they do at home the more practice they have to do in class which means, less being taught in class. Administration seems to think tablet time, TV time and facebook time are more important than homework time. If everyone agrees with this, so be it, but don't complain about students cheating, because they don't learn from not doing homework.

[Baerboxer]

A lot of academics and child psychologists say that homework is of little benefit to primary school students and should only be given to Secondary. My 6 yr old son gets 2+ hours homework every night and approx. 8 hrs worth for the weekend. It makes it extremely hard for him to find some relaxation time. Home from school at around 5 p.m straight into home work, dinner then shower and bed. Weekends we have little time to go away or do family things and time has to be reserved for the home work

Quite correct. Same for my daughter whose now 8. In the UK I didn't get homework until I started grammar school at age 11.

A lot of what they get for homework is repetition or repeating more exercises that they did in class.

I have the impression schools here confuse quantity with quality - there is a perception that large amounts of homework is seen as part of the value for money proposition and helps justify the fees.

Teachers like it because the "homework" clubs are good extra earners.

[Baerboxer]

Philosophy

South Korea: "Pass with 4, fail with 5" (hours of sleep per night)

Thailand: "mai bpen rai"

Education spending as a % of GDP

South Korea: 5% (2009)

Thailand: 4.1% (2009)

Literacy Rate

South Korea: 97.9%

Thailand: 93.5%

GDP per capita

South Korea: $33,189

Thailand: $9,875

Presume you are posting from the utopia of South Korea?

[lostinisaan]

Why not giving homework to the Thai English teachers in form of language courses,real degrees online lessons, etc.....?

Would the teacher be more efficient, the kids wouldn't need such buffalo excremental stuff. Let's face it. Most kids copy it from somebody next morning, so it doesn't make any sense.

Let the children play might be the right way to "help" them learning.-

[Don Aleman]

Hmnn ?, Lets see - Thailand students rank 10 th of the 10 S.E. Asia nations in English. Math and , science so lessening their homework will require the enlisting of another nation so Thailand can rank 11th !

[culicine]

Philosophy

South Korea: "Pass with 4, fail with 5" (hours of sleep per night)

Thailand: "mai bpen rai"

Education spending as a % of GDP

South Korea: 5% (2009)

Thailand: 4.1% (2009)

Literacy Rate

South Korea: 97.9%

Thailand: 93.5%

GDP per capita

South Korea: $33,189

Thailand: $9,875

What's one to do when Thai students consider sleeping a 'hobby'

[culicine]

I HATE HOMEWORK. Always have, always will. I hated it when I had to do it (and almost never did) and I hate it when my kids are forced to do it.

Lets teach our kids to hate learning. Good idea. Make it something they absolutely dread.

Let them read books for extra credit. Watch Discovery Channel. Do something they enjoy.

If most of us had a job that required you to work at home 2 or 3 hours every evening we would quit.

If kids are hating homework, I'd suggest they are also not enjoying their classes very much.

Homework, if it has to be given to primary age kids, should be easy and enjoyable to do. Maybe just a puzzle to reinforce the day's concepts.

Either way, homework is supposed to be formative assessment and used for diagnostic purposes. It should not be graded. The problem in Thailand, if you don't give it a grade, the students don't bother with it. If you grade it, they all scramble to copy off the best student for the highest possible grade. It's a no-win situation.

If most of us had a job that required you to work at home 2 or 3 hours every evening we would quit.

As teachers, a lot of us already do that. I do a bit on the weekends, but not much during the week. I manage to mark my 100 or so tests/homework per week, every week, at school.

[chooka]

A lot of academics and child psychologists say that homework is of little benefit to primary school students and should only be given to Secondary. My 6 yr old son gets 2+ hours homework every night and approx. 8 hrs worth for the weekend. It makes it extremely hard for him to find some relaxation time. Home from school at around 5 p.m straight into home work, dinner then shower and bed. Weekends we have little time to go away or do family things and time has to be reserved for the home work

Try making homework a family time thing that is fun and relaxing. Some nice music on the background, pops or mom to help and laugh with and some delicious snacks. Works like a charm and is better for their development than watching tv whole night.

We don't all have pops and moms (grandparents) Most work all day and when we finnish work it is a rush to pick up the kids, get home, still tension from work and traffic then it is straight into organise dinner, child needs to be fed. Then you look at their 2 hours homework for a 6 yr old and you think &^%%$^^.

Your grandparent thing is good in theory and would save families but not all of us have access to mom and pops and I would never dump my child onto a mom and pop. A lowlife person would do that. So many children are being abandoned by their mums and dads on moms and pops and it is sickening. I will never abandon my child for your pops or moms thing it is disgusting, filthy and in a civilised country illegal. You my friend should be ashamed to even mention dumping children onto grandparents.

Extremely sick person.

My son doesn't watch T.v as homework, dinner and shower normally sees him going to bed at 12.30 to 1. am. Homework that they give may be 20 pages and takes hours and hours to do. He wants to unwind but from the moment we pick him up in the car it is, start your homework and work fast, you have hours of it to do. I am tired of still being up at 1.0 am trying to shove it down my 6 yr olds throat until he gets it right to please teachers. Most of the time my son is asleep in the car coming home from school and the I have to wake him and yell at him to keep him awake so I can yell at him to do hours of homework.

I hate it and it makes me feel so bad and I feel that hours of homework for a 6 yr old is child abuse and a criminal offence.

Edited August 29, 2014 by chooka

[chickenslegs]

Try making homework a family time thing that is fun and relaxing. Some nice music on the background, pops or mom to help and laugh with and some delicious snacks. Works like a charm and is better for their development than watching tv whole night.

We don't all have pops and moms (grandparents) Most work all day and when we finnish work it is a rush to pick up the kids, get home, still tension from work and traffic then it is straight into organise dinner, child needs to be fed. Then you look at their 2 hours homework for a 6 yr old and you think &^%%$^^.

Your grandparent thing is good in theory and would save families but not all of us have access to mom and pops and I would never dump my child onto a mom and pop. A lowlife person would do that. So many children are being abandoned by their mums and dads on moms and pops and it is sickening. I will never abandon my child for your pops or moms thing it is disgusting, filthy and in a civilised country illegal. You my friend should be ashamed to even mention dumping children onto grandparents.

Extremely sick person.

My son doesn't watch T.v as homework, dinner and shower normally sees him going to bed at 12.30 to 1. am. Homework that they give may be 20 pages and takes hours and hours to do. He wants to unwind but from the moment we pick him up in the car it is, start your homework and work fast, you have hours of it to do. I am tired of still being up at 1.0 am trying to shove it down my 6 yr olds throat until he gets it right to please teachers. Most of the time my son is asleep in the car coming home from school and the I have to wake him and yell at him to keep him awake so I can yell at him to do hours of homework.

I hate it and it makes me feel so bad and I feel that hours of homework for a 6 yr old is child abuse and a criminal offence.

I agree with everything you say about too much homework. Kids need a balanced life and that should include plenty of time to play and exercise.

But I think you have misunderstood the comment from a previous poster. In some places Pops and Moms are mother and father.

[SoilSpoil]

Try making homework a family time thing that is fun and relaxing. Some nice music on the background, pops or mom to help and laugh with and some delicious snacks. Works like a charm and is better for their development than watching tv whole night.

We don't all have pops and moms (grandparents) Most work all day and when we finnish work it is a rush to pick up the kids, get home, still tension from work and traffic then it is straight into organise dinner, child needs to be fed. Then you look at their 2 hours homework for a 6 yr old and you think &^%%$^^.

Your grandparent thing is good in theory and would save families but not all of us have access to mom and pops and I would never dump my child onto a mom and pop. A lowlife person would do that. So many children are being abandoned by their mums and dads on moms and pops and it is sickening. I will never abandon my child for your pops or moms thing it is disgusting, filthy and in a civilised country illegal. You my friend should be ashamed to even mention dumping children onto grandparents.

Extremely sick person.

My son doesn't watch T.v as homework, dinner and shower normally sees him going to bed at 12.30 to 1. am. Homework that they give may be 20 pages and takes hours and hours to do. He wants to unwind but from the moment we pick him up in the car it is, start your homework and work fast, you have hours of it to do. I am tired of still being up at 1.0 am trying to shove it down my 6 yr olds throat until he gets it right to please teachers. Most of the time my son is asleep in the car coming home from school and the I have to wake him and yell at him to keep him awake so I can yell at him to do hours of homework.

I hate it and it makes me feel so bad and I feel that hours of homework for a 6 yr old is child abuse and a criminal offence.

I agree with everything you say about too much homework. Kids need a balanced life and that should include plenty of time to play and exercise.

But I think you have misunderstood the comment from a previous poster. In some places Pops and Moms are mother and father.

I indeed meant father and mother, but more so I am shocked about what I read. A six year old boy so stuffed with homework that he goes to bed so late. Maybe it's time to not worry about homework so much. Is Thai education light years ahead that just keeping up with the curriculum takes that much effort, or is Thai education morally and organization wise bankrupt? My guess would be the latter. What would happen if he doesn't do all his homework? Would he fail? I doubt it.Trying to be a perfectionist in a non perfect system will make you feel like Don Quixote!

He's 6 years old and should play and have fun with his friends and not worry about academic development. Again, let them fail him if you have no choice.

Be a guardian of his childhood! We are only young once!

[kurnell]

A lot of academics and child psychologists say that homework is of little benefit to primary school students and should only be given to Secondary. My 6 yr old son gets 2+ hours homework every night and approx. 8 hrs worth for the weekend. It makes it extremely hard for him to find some relaxation time. Home from school at around 5 p.m straight into home work, dinner then shower and bed. Weekends we have little time to go away or do family things and time has to be reserved for the home work

Good god! My 5 year old gets about 10 mins worth a week, and my 7 year old does 2 hours a week and none on weekends. You need to change schools

[brucetefl]

With 20 or so contact hours,.....

I HATE HOMEWORK. Always have, always will. I hated it when I had to do it (and almost never did) and I hate it when my kids are forced to do it.

Lets teach our kids to hate learning. Good idea. Make it something they absolutely dread.

Let them read books for extra credit. Watch Discovery Channel. Do something they enjoy.

If most of us had a job that required you to work at home 2 or 3 hours every evening we would quit.

If kids are hating homework, I'd suggest they are also not enjoying their classes very much.

Homework, if it has to be given to primary age kids, should be easy and enjoyable to do. Maybe just a puzzle to reinforce the day's concepts.

Either way, homework is supposed to be formative assessment and used for diagnostic purposes. It should not be graded. The problem in Thailand, if you don't give it a grade, the students don't bother with it. If you grade it, they all scramble to copy off the best student for the highest possible grade. It's a no-win situation.

If most of us had a job that required you to work at home 2 or 3 hours every evening we would quit.

As teachers, a lot of us already do that. I do a bit on the weekends, but not much during the week. I manage to mark my 100 or so tests/homework per week, every week, at school.

[zeichen]

"If most of us had a job that required you to work at home 2 or 3 hours every evening we would quit."

You obviously aren't a full time teacher or haven't been in a long time. (just kidding) HW is a great tool when used wisely but worksheet teachers drive me nuts. The real issue is the lack of collaboration amongst teachers of different departments. No one knows what other teachers are doing so when we give a simple 15 minute HW and 10 other teachers give the same or more it turns out to be a lot.

As teachers we should remember that unless the HW has a clear objective for the lesson and is necessary it should be given. If you are not spending your time correcting and giving feedback on every HW, you shouldn't have given it.

I spend about 5-10 hours for prepping, 3-4 hours of grading, 1-2 hours for consultations for every 15-20 hours of teaching. There is no way I want to add to my work load with unnecessary HW. Every project that I give has a clear objective and is based on teaching's best practices regarding learning strategies. I also have well defined rubric that the students know exactly what they are graded on.

If teachers aren't doing this, then they shouldn't have given the assignment. If all students get is a # or a % they aren't learning. Feedback is typically the most valuable teaching tool.

[kaorop]

So being looked after by grand parents is abuse? Weird rant you've got going and reflects more on your own dilemma, I would change schools or at the very least speak to the director and teachers. I certainly would not make my own 6 yr old child stay up till all hours finishing homework like you are currently doing.

I was "dumped" on my grand parents many many times during my childhood. I remember it being a wonderful time, I learned how to cook and bake, learned about vegetable gardening and keeping chickens. Played cribbage, euchre, etc. My own children were lucky enough to experience a similar situation and my parents were very happy to have the time with them.

[meand]

There are definitely some bog problems with homework here. First, none of the teachers are dedicated enough to actually go through it all, so what it the point? They just get it back with all the uncorrected mistakes. Also, the kids are at school for way too long. If you are going to keep them there that long, I agree, assign very little if any homework.

[chooka]

A lot of academics and child psychologists say that homework is of little benefit to primary school students and should only be given to Secondary. My 6 yr old son gets 2+ hours homework every night and approx. 8 hrs worth for the weekend. It makes it extremely hard for him to find some relaxation time. Home from school at around 5 p.m straight into home work, dinner then shower and bed. Weekends we have little time to go away or do family things and time has to be reserved for the home work

Try making homework a family time thing that is fun and relaxing. Some nice music on the background, pops or mom to help and laugh with and some delicious snacks. Works like a charm and is better for their development than watching tv whole night.

We don't all have pops and moms (grandparents) Most work all day and when we finnish work it is a rush to pick up the kids, get home, still tension from work and traffic then it is straight into organise dinner, child needs to be fed. Then you look at their 2 hours homework for a 6 yr old and you think &^%%$^^.

Your grandparent thing is good in theory and would save families but not all of us have access to mom and pops and I would never dump my child onto a mom and pop. A lowlife person would do that. So many children are being abandoned by their mums and dads on moms and pops and it is sickening. I will never abandon my child for your pops or moms thing it is disgusting, filthy and in a civilised country illegal. You my friend should be ashamed to even mention dumping children onto grandparents.

Extremely sick person.

My son doesn't watch T.v as homework, dinner and shower normally sees him going to bed at 12.30 to 1. am. Homework that they give may be 20 pages and takes hours and hours to do. He wants to unwind but from the moment we pick him up in the car it is, start your homework and work fast, you have hours of it to do. I am tired of still being up at 1.0 am trying to shove it down my 6 yr olds throat until he gets it right to please teachers. Most of the time my son is asleep in the car coming home from school and the I have to wake him and yell at him to keep him awake so I can yell at him to do hours of homework.

I hate it and it makes me feel so bad and I feel that hours of homework for a 6 yr old is child abuse and a criminal offence.

So being looked after by grand parents is abuse? Weird rant you've got going and reflects more on your own dilemma,

I would change schools or at the very least speak to the director and teachers. I certainly would not make my own 6 yr old child stay up till

all hours finishing homework like you are currently doing.

I was "dumped" on my grand parents many many times during my childhood.

I remember it being a wonderful time, I learned how to cook and bake, learned about vegetable gardening and keeping chickens. Played

cribbage, euchre, etc. My own children were lucky enough to experience a similar situation and my parents were very happy to have the time with them.

Where did I say being looked after by grandparents is child abuse?

[chooka]

Try making homework a family time thing that is fun and relaxing. Some nice music on the background, pops or mom to help and laugh with and some delicious snacks. Works like a charm and is better for their development than watching tv whole night.

We don't all have pops and moms (grandparents) Most work all day and when we finnish work it is a rush to pick up the kids, get home, still tension from work and traffic then it is straight into organise dinner, child needs to be fed. Then you look at their 2 hours homework for a 6 yr old and you think &^%%$^^.

Your grandparent thing is good in theory and would save families but not all of us have access to mom and pops and I would never dump my child onto a mom and pop. A lowlife person would do that. So many children are being abandoned by their mums and dads on moms and pops and it is sickening. I will never abandon my child for your pops or moms thing it is disgusting, filthy and in a civilised country illegal. You my friend should be ashamed to even mention dumping children onto grandparents.

Extremely sick person.

My son doesn't watch T.v as homework, dinner and shower normally sees him going to bed at 12.30 to 1. am. Homework that they give may be 20 pages and takes hours and hours to do. He wants to unwind but from the moment we pick him up in the car it is, start your homework and work fast, you have hours of it to do. I am tired of still being up at 1.0 am trying to shove it down my 6 yr olds throat until he gets it right to please teachers. Most of the time my son is asleep in the car coming home from school and the I have to wake him and yell at him to keep him awake so I can yell at him to do hours of homework.

I hate it and it makes me feel so bad and I feel that hours of homework for a 6 yr old is child abuse and a criminal offence.

I agree with everything you say about too much homework. Kids need a balanced life and that should include plenty of time to play and exercise.

But I think you have misunderstood the comment from a previous poster. In some places Pops and Moms are mother and father.

I indeed meant father and mother, but more so I am shocked about what I read. A six year old boy so stuffed with homework that he goes to bed so late. Maybe it's time to not worry about homework so much. Is Thai education light years ahead that just keeping up with the curriculum takes that much effort, or is Thai education morally and organization wise bankrupt? My guess would be the latter. What would happen if he doesn't do all his homework? Would he fail? I doubt it.Trying to be a perfectionist in a non perfect system will make you feel like Don Quixote!

He's 6 years old and should play and have fun with his friends and not worry about academic development. Again, let them fail him if you have no choice.

Be a guardian of his childhood! We are only young once!

Yes his homework goes towards his grades and if he doesn't finish it then he has to answer to the head mistress. He doesn't have friends or go outside as there is absolutely no time what so ever for relaxation. He hates homework with a passion and normally does it in tears. Next year he will be in Australia where homework is not given to primary school students so he will have plenty of time to play relax and be a child. We hate making him do the work but he will not pass unless he completes all of it.

[Eliot Rosewater]

I don't think copying other's homework has anything to do with not having enough time. Part of learning is to practice, what you have been taught. So the less homework they do at home the more practice they have to do in class which means, less being taught in class. Administration seems to think tablet time, TV time and facebook time are more important than homework time. If everyone agrees with this, so be it, but don't complain about students cheating, because they don't learn from not doing homework.

I have seen some of the homework kids at Thai schools get; it is ridiculous. I don't even think the teacher looks at it before handing it out. In most cases, the student can't even understand the instructions, let alone do the task.

This problem goes way deeper than teachers just giving too much homework.

[Eliot Rosewater]

Yes his homework goes towards his grades and if he doesn't finish it then he has to answer to the head mistress. He doesn't have friends or go outside as there is absolutely no time what so ever for relaxation. He hates homework with a passion and normally does it in tears. Next year he will be in Australia where homework is not given to primary school students so he will have plenty of time to play relax and be a child. We hate making him do the work but he will not pass unless he completes all of it.

agree with everything you say about too much homework. Kids need a balanced life and that should include plenty of time to play and exercise.

But I think you have misunderstood the comment from a previous poster. In some places Pops and Moms are mother and father.

I indeed meant father and mother, but more so I am shocked about what I read. A six year old boy so stuffed with homework that he goes to bed so late. Maybe it's time to not worry about homework so much. Is Thai education light years ahead that just keeping up with the curriculum takes that much effort, or is Thai education morally and organization wise bankrupt? My guess would be the latter. What would happen if he doesn't do all his homework? Would he fail? I doubt it.Trying to be a perfectionist in a non perfect system will make you feel like Don Quixote!

He's 6 years old and should play and have fun with his friends and not worry about academic development. Again, let them fail him if you have no choice.

Be a guardian of his childhood! We are only young once!

Anyone who forces a 6 year old to stay up past midnight has some real issues and knows absolutely nothing about child development.

At that age, the child needs at least 10 hours of sleep per night. If he is getting 5 or 6 hours as it seems, you are doing severe physical and emotional damage to your child.