home

The subject of homework and its effectiveness or otherwise has come up as an ongoing discussion at our school.We do homework here using what I think is a reasonable approach (see []) but there is still a lingering feeling that we are doing it for the wrong reasons and that, if many commentators are right, we may be doing our children harm by setting homework or at least the wrong sort of homework. So, if we are to act ethically and morally we should have a look and see what people are saying about the subject and check out the evidence for and against it.

Ian Lillicote an Australian conmmentator on homework lists some of the reasons why parents support homework: 1. ‘It helps me to know what my child is doing in class.’ 2. ‘They have a great deal of homework in Secondary School and we need to prepare them for it.’ 3. ‘It teaches them good study habits.’

The last two reasons resonated with the parents I have spoken to about homework. This thinking was supported in a recent newsletter from a local high school which stated that "excellence is more likely to be achieved if your daughter puts aside a regular time for homework every day and creates her own plan of work to do during that time. It is the regular habit and commitment to work that raises the level of success." [|(Principals Desk Palmerston North Girls High School 2009)] Is this true? Does giving homework at primary school really prepare them for homework in secondary school and is homework really a factor in 'raising the level of success"? Teachers would say that homework gives children an opportunity to practice things learned at school. This would be especially so for reading and the times tables. However it may be that teachers give homework simply because they think parents demand it. This is what Ian Lillicote quotes some teachers as saying: 1. ‘We only set homework because parents demand it.’ 2. ‘Homework causes more problems than good.’ 3. ‘If homework is going to cause disruption and argument, it is alright not to do it.’  (see [])

So, let's open up the discussion to a wider body of research and opinion and see what comes of it.