Homework

Homework is a global phenomenon and children in primary schools spend increasing amounts of time on homework (Baker and LeTendre, 2005). Primary school children range from the ages of 3 to 11 years old. Should these children be made to do homework?

Ofsted (1999) set out guidelines that expected children aged five to seven to be set an hour’s homework a week and then rising to half an hour a night for 7 to 11-year olds. Ofsted (1999) also suggested that all schools should have a homework policy.

Homework, ideally just means tasks that are assigned to students by teachers that are meant to be carried out during non-instructional time (Bembenutty, 2011). For primary schools within the UK, this could include reading to or with parents (Brooks et al, 2008).

In England, many home reading projects have embedded home school reading into the practice of nearly all primary schools (Brooks et al, 2008).

What effect does homework have? There are small amounts of evidence that suggest the effects that homework has on the attainment of primary school children. Paschal et al (1984) in a meta-analysis established that homework had a positive effect on academic achievement, especially when commented or graded on although age was not differentiated. Another meta-analysis study done by Hattie (2008) determined that homework has a 21% chance of making a difference to pupils’ learning across both primary and secondary schooling, and that the effect is much bigger in secondary rather than primary.

Hutchison (2012) suggests that primary homework is normally supported by mothers and that parental involvement with the homework is evident as an aspect of ‘good’ parenting, although involving parents in their child’s homework may also have negative consequences if parents tend to have unrealistic expectations, apply pressure or use inappropriate methods. Parents may also tend to get too involved with their child’s homework leading to lack of independence or cheating (Cooper, Lindsay and Nye, 2000).

OCED (2014) portrays one problem with homework especially in primary schools is that it could be enlarging the differences between the more able and talented children and the lower ability children, due to the fact that high achievers tend to come from economically privileged backgrounds and they tend to have a greater level of parental support for homework, better settings and resources.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38383428

BBC Newsround (2017) have a video on their website called ‘the homework debate’ where they talk about the issues surrounding homework and some children give their opinions on the idea. They also have other videos on the same page which talk about the positives and negatives of homework and more children say what they think about homework.

They believe that homework is good to help support your learning and to enrich a child’s learning. However, there are also arguments against it such as they suggest that traditional is not beneficial because parents either have not got the time to help their children with it or they get too involved and then the teachers do not know if the child had help or who done the homework. They suggest that children probably already do things at home that can support their learning such as playing an instrument or sports, helping parents at home with the shopping etc. which are all good skills that you children will learn to support their learning and help them when they go into the world of work and to be a good citizen.

While on placement, the class I was in were given homework on a weekly basis. They were a mixed year 4 and 5 class. They were mainly given spellings to learn on a weekly basis along with a sheet stuck in their homework books which would vary each week. Although, it would be based on something they had learnt that week in school, whether it be a worksheet on subtracting or just to learn their 8 times table for example. 

Hinds (2018) has said that homework is a principal of school life and home life. He suggests that parents know this because at some point everyone has had to do homework at some point as a child (Hinds, 2018). However, Hinds (2018) as the Education Secretary says that schools are not obliged to set homework for their pupils, some do, and some do not. Although, Hinds (2018) states that if schools do set their pupils homework then the do need to do it. He says that they trust the individual head teachers to decide what the homework policy of their schools will be and what happens if pupils do not do what is set (Hinds, 2018). ‘Autonomy for schools, and the diversity that comes with it, is at the heart of this government’s approach to education’ (Hinds, 2018).

Cooper (2007) suggests that teachers should consider the vast benefits of homework. Three of the main benefits he emphasises are long-term academic benefits, such as better study habits and skills; nonacademic benefits, such as greater self-direction, greater self-discipline, better time management, and more independent problem solving; and greater parental involvement and participation in schooling (Cooper, 2007; Protheroe, 2009). However, a lot of the research that has been done is to support homework is aimed at older, secondary school age children.

Overall, there is a huge debate on whether homework is a good or bad thing to be giving to primary school children. However, as mentioned above it is solely down to the individual school whether they give it to their pupils or not. If it is related to the work that they have been doing in school, then I do not see why the older year groups cannot be given a weekly worksheet to do at home which will help the teacher to see if the child does actually understand the work they have been doing while they have not got the help of a teacher there. However, this relates to the negatives that have been mentioned because parent involvement can become too much, and they can end up doing the homework for their child which then does not help the teacher.

References

Baker, D., and G. LeTendre. (2005). National Differences, Global Similarities: World Culture and the Future of Schooling. Stanford, CA: Stanford University press. 

BBC Newsround. (2017). ‘Is homework a good idea or not?’ Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38383428 (Last accessed 6/3/19)

Bembenutty, H. (2011). The Last Word: An Interview with Harris Cooper – Research, Policies, Tips, and Current Perspectives on Homework. Journal of Advanced Academics, 22, pp. 342–351.

Brooks, G., K. Pahl, A. Pollard, and F. Rees. (2008). Effective and Inclusive Practices in Family Literacy, Language and Numeracy: A Review of Programmes and Practice in the UK and Internationally. Reading: CfBT Education Trust.

Cooper, H. M. (2007). Battle over homework: Common ground for administrators, teachers, and parents (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Cooper, H., J. Lindsay, and B. Nye. (2000). Homework in the Home: How Student, Family and Parenting-Style Differences Relate to the Homework Process. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25 (4), pp. 464–487. doi: 10.1006/ceps.1999.1036

Hattie, J. A. (2008). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. London: Routledge.

Hinds. D. (2018). ‘Education Secretary: I trust head teachers to decide their homework policies’. Available at: https://dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/28/education-secretary-i-trust-head-teachers-to-decide-their-homework-policies/ (Last accessed 6/3/19)

Hutchison, K. (2012). A Labour of Love: Mothers, Emotional Capital and Homework. Gender and Education 24 (2), pp. 1–18. doi: 10.1080/09540253.2011.602329

Ofsted. (1999). Homework: Learning from Practice. London: HMSO.

Paschal, R, A., Weinstein, T. & Walberg, H. (1984). The effect of homework on learning: a quantitative synthesis, Journal of Educational Research, 78, pp. 97-104.

Protheroe, N. (2009). Good homework policy = Good teaching. Principal, 89(1), pp. 42–45.