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Homework in the holidays? Expert tips for avoiding the dreaded ‘Summer Slide’ learning loss
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Homework in the holidays? Expert tips for avoiding the dreaded ‘Summer Slide’ learning loss

by Tabitha BardaJuly 12, 2023

The Summer holidays are upon us and there’s no doubt it’s a huge relief for children, parents and teachers alike to be able to take their foot off the accelerator and enjoy some downtime for a while. However, research has found that students tend to lose an average of one month’s school-learning over the extended vacation – something referred to as ‘summer slide’, ‘summer learning loss’ or ‘summer setback’ – which means students start the new academic year with achievement levels that are lower than they were before the summer break.

Is this ‘summer learning loss’ something that UAE parents should be worried about?

Not according to our survey of UAE mums and dads. We asked more than 1,000 members of the Parents United UAE Facebook group whether they are giving their children homework or not over the holidays.

  • 75% of Parents United members answered “No – let kids be kids and enjoy their summer holiday”.
  • 19% of parents answered “Sort of. I’m encouraging a bit of curriculum-related learning, but nothing too structured or regular.”
  • While only 6% of parents answered “Yes – we have a good routine in place to maintain their learning over summer.”

Why do most UAE parents not  give their children homework over summer? 

Many of the parents we spoke to explained that they think children already spend so many hours being cooped up at school, and should be allowed to relax and enjoy their childhood over the summer.

One parent told SchoolsCompared:

“No way would I give my child homework over the summer. It’s a holiday for a reason! Let children be children – let them run around, scrape knees and explore, without the drag of homework around their necks. We need to get away from this idea that life is about work only. It should be about living!”

The shocking reality of Summer Slide

Yet, the research on the reality of the Summer Slide could give some parents pause for thought. A recent 2020 study found that on average children lose around 40% of the gains they made in the previous academic year over the long summer break – with some losing up to a shocking 90% of their learning in the two months they are out of school.

Other studies have shown that the decline in knowledge tends to be sharper in maths than in reading, and that it tends to be worse in older children than younger ones – and especially in those who are transitioning from primary school (Year 6) to secondary school (Year 7).

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While teachers will often recap learning at the start of the new academic term, they can’t go back over every topic that was covered in the previous year – nor would that be the best value for your school fees – so some teachers say that parental encouragement to maintain learning over the summer holidays can be a real help.

The UAE parents who are giving their children summer homework

Taz, a Dubai-based British mum to a 7 and 9 year old, told SchoolsCompared that this is exactly why she’s encouraging her children to do a little bit of school work in the holidays:

“I think they lose a lot of learning over the holidays, especially when it’s a long break. I want to make sure they continue and consolidate their learning. We use the CGP workbooks, and I ask them to do it every weekday, but they have the weekend off. They work for about an hour, doing both Maths and English.”

Taz is not concerned about her children’s home study time taking anything away from their time to relax and enjoy their childhood:

“I do think they should be allowed to ‘be children’, but an hour a day in their day is not taking them away from them being children.

Nevertheless, she does admit that it can sometimes be tricky trying to get them to actually do the work.

“Giving them the incentive that they have the weekend off and it’s only an hour, that always works as a treat for me.”

 Nurisma Fira, a UAE-based mother of four from Indonesia, agrees that a reasonable amount of daily studying does not take anything away from children’s ability to enjoy their holiday:

“Every parents has their own values and priorities. But doing one page of easy maths and reading a few pages – which is what I ask my children to do – can be done in around 30 minute per day. The children still have more than 23 hours per day over two months to enjoy the summer break.”

Nurisma’s children are aged 8, 10 12 and 14, and she says that she only asks them to go over topics that they already learned in their previous school year – this is for maintenance and consolidation, rather than to get ahead. In addition to doing a couple of pages of their maths workbook, she will set them reading tasks; sometimes it will be a fiction title that she knows they love and will devour within a day, or sometimes it’s a children’s classic book, which might take weeks for them to finish. And on some days, she will simply read aloud to them.

It’s all about trying to inspire a love of learning, says Nurisma:

“I do it because I love to read and my husband loves maths. We think reading and maths are important. When the children do these, the parents are happy, the teachers are happy, and when the kids do well at school, they are happy too.”

It’s not just traditionalists who support summer learning. SchoolsCompared Parent Panelist Michaela (Aminah) Cooper is Co-Founder of DUNEHA (Dubai Northern Emirates Homeschool Association) and the mother of five children – now grown up – all of whom she homeschooled. She says that studying didn’t stop over summer for her children:

“I would use the summer months to strengthen any weak skills or concepts that were apparent from the annual standardised testing that they were given by our homeschool curriculum. Nothing too intense, but general reading and foreign language practice. Sports classes would also continue.”

“When they were in early years and primary it was more fun learning activities during the summer months – standardised testing began in higher primary.”

“Summer definitely isn’t a time when all learning stops completely.”

Another SchoolsCompared Parent Panellist, teaching assistant and children’s book author Ellie Salkeld, also said she gives some learning tasks to her 8-year-old twins over the summer months:

“I’ve always done the school ‘homework’ of spellings and mental maths as a daily short activity, to embed the idea that, in our family, everyone has their ‘work to do’, and that this will increase with age and greater freedoms/responsibilities.”

“Before the summer hols, I made a ‘deal’ with both kids, that in exchange for going to UK and all the fun stuff and holiday treats, etc, they’d write a diary every day. The date, three full sentences, and/or a picture representing the day. It’s my way of keeping writing going, as I feel my kids are less practiced at that. We’ve done it most days – but I skip it if it’s clearly going to cause a fuss, and I help them with it whenever they want. It’s almost more about keeping up some small discipline of daily work.”

One view of whether we should be setting homework in the holidays comes from Ellie Salkeld is the mum of twins, a children's book writer and part-time teaching assistant.

Ellie Salkeld is the mum of twins, a children’s book writer and part-time Teaching Assistant

“In addition, I purposefully target some holiday activities that echo/reinforce past schoolwork or future topics (previously we have visited a stone-age cave, and tried chipping flint tools at the beach; they spent time on slot-machines on the pier that needed lots of maths; they have to calculate their own pocket-money expenditure, etc).”

In the last week before school, I will probably dig out some old mental maths sums and the times tables, and make deals for screen time after practice.”

“I don’t feel the need to insist on reading, as there has been lots more reading of menus, instructions, dog food packets, etc etc than usual – but I’ve bought a load of really good books and graphic novels appropriate for their age, and I read a bedtime story much of the time.”

“In short, I’m trying to keep up a bit, to protect things already learned – but only when the kids are up for it, and without me becoming the Holiday Bad Guy…..”

So, with the full summer holiday ahead of us, here are some tips on curbing summer learning loss:

Throw the book at them

For children whose reading is not yet fully established, or who experienced set-backs due to pandemic disruption, the two-month vacation could easily lead to further set-backs, and it is a valuable period of time during which to solidify learning and inculcate a love of reading for pleasure – a gift that will keep giving to children throughout their life.

Emma Monteith, Assistant Principal, GEMS FirstPoint School – The Villa (FPS) said:

“My advice for parents is to create positive conversations around reading at home over summer. Children absorb so much of their behaviour from adults, and if families can discuss books and reading at home this can be a huge motivator for children.”

“Making time to read with children and share bedtime stories can foster a love of reading that stays with children as they grow up.”

“For teens who may be more reluctant to read, celebrities like Sir Lenny Henry offer a clever tip for parents to turn on subtitles when children are watching TV – so they at least read by osmosis!”

Keep holiday homework short and sweet

Start small with any traditional style learning – experts recommend regular sessions of 10 to 15 minutes, which can help refresh learning and consolidate long-term retention, without it turning into a mammoth task that both you and your child end up dreading. When doing this it is particularly useful to have a specific aim in mind that you know will be constructive; ideally, check with their teacher to find out what are the key skills that might help them next year, whether that’s learning times tables, or a specific spelling set, or something else.

Say ‘YESS’ Everyday

UAE mum Nurisma told us that she follows the YESS Everyday principle to help her stay on track and keep her expectation realistic for her four children:

“Y – start at a Young age

E – with an Easy task

S  – aim for just a Small amount. Like just one page or half a page of maths, or reading only a few pages.

S – do it in a Short time (10-20 minutes is good)

Everyday – Doing this everyday, using a diary or chart, which they can cross out or fill in with a sticker when they complete the task can be motivating.”

Learn by stealth

Bribery is super effective, but can soon backfire when you find yourself wondering how you got into a situation where you’re bargaining with them to simply change out of their pyjamas. Try stealth learning instead; this could be through consuming content and media that’s enjoyable yet educational. Think David Attenborough nature documentaries, cultural visits to places like the Theatre of Digital Arts, watching Horrible Histories in the theatre, or listening to entertaining science podcasts for kids.

Find teachable moments

Be inspired by Parent Panelist Ellie Salkeld’s dedication to ‘teachable moments’ and try to find the learning experience in your holiday activities. This could be as simple as involving them in the weighing and measuring during cooking or baking, letting them plant seeds in a pot, or even, if you’re travelling around, letting them read the restaurant menus, road signs or food packets when in the supermarket.

Push them out of their comfort zone

Activities that are a bit out of the ordinary will help children build their confidence and resilience – whether that’s sending them on a sailing course, taking them rock climbing or to a parkour class, or even just going on a slightly longer than normal walk in the countryside where they have to dig down and find the determination to go on – it can all result in new skills.

What do you think? Do you think children should be left to enjoy their holidays, or do you think they should be doing at least some learning. Even on SchoolsCompared we are completely divided on the issue – and really divided on the issue! Please send me your comments and we will use them in future editorial. I can be emailed at [email protected] and would love to hear from you. Alternatively, please add your comments to our Parents United UAE Facebook group – I log in every day to learn about the views of all our parents.

© SchoolsCompared.com. 2023. A WhichMedia Group Publication. All rights reserved.

About The Author
Tabitha Barda
Tabitha Barda is the Senior Editor of SchoolsCompared.com. Oxbridge educated and an award winning journalist in the UAE for more than a decade, Tabitha is one of the region's shining lights in all that is education in the emirates. A mum herself, she is passionate about helping parents - and finding the stories in education that deserve telling. She is responsible for the busy 24x7 News Desk, our Advisory Boards and Specialist Panels - and Parents United's WHICHPlaydates - a regular meeting place for UAE parents to discuss the issues that matter to them, make friends and network with others. You can often find Tabitha too on Parents United - our Facebook community board, discussing the latest schools and education issues with our parent community in the UAE - and beyond.

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