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The Homework Debate 2021: Do Primary Schoolers Really Need Homework?

the homework debate

The homework debate resurfaces every year without fail. It is a popular topic with parents, primary school teachers, online tutors, and politicians alike. Should homework be banned? Is homework at primary school necessary? Do pupils receive enough education in class that homework is nothing but a waste of time? – These are all questions that you have no doubt heard before.

Is the homework debate even relevant in the context of COVID-19? As an  online maths tuition service  for KS1 and KS2 pupils, we believe so! Sometimes we set our students homework. We believe that this debate is more relevant now than it has ever been. Let’s discover why…

no homework policy uk

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“Homework should be banned!” – The call to action

Our children are too tired!

Is it the case that we put too much pressure on children these days? At the age of 7, UK primary school pupils are expected to sit their Key Stage 1 SATs test. This continues in primary school up until Year 6 when they are expected to prepare for and sit their Key Stage 2 SATs test.

Some parents argue that this leaves little time for kids to wind down at home. When can they find the time to indulge in sports, hobbies, and creative interests if their time is consumed by homework? Let’s not forget the added stress caused by the UK Coronavirus lockdown.

Primary school homework does more harm than good:

A BBC Newsround report from 2018 consulted education experts on their views of the homework debate. Nansi Ellis, Assistant General Secretary at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers argued that homework gets in the way of all the good things kids enjoy. It does not always boost performance in class.

She also highlighted that it demands a lot of parents, not only their time but also of their own educational understanding. This sometimes backfires as the methods of learning in school twenty or thirty years ago are likely not the same as those taught nowadays. This can risk causing further confusion.

BBC Newsround’s own survey of the homework debate and how much homework primary school pupils receive found that parents thought:

The results of a homework debate survey by BBC Newsround from 2018

Where is the proof?

The same BBC report saw Ellis claim that while teachers setting homework is in theory supposed to better results, there is no proof of this being the case. Rosamund McNeil from the teacher’s organisation NUT highlighted that cases abroad support this. In Finland, pupils are set minimal homework but it remains one of the most educationally successful countries in the world.

The homework debate is not just about students – it’s about teachers too!

Homework is time-consuming. Teachers must plan it and mark it, in addition to preparing their classroom lessons and reporting on pupils’ progress. Time constraints can force teachers to work late into the night at home which opens an entirely new can of worms. Overworked teachers are less effective in class. Perhaps it would be more efficient for schools to ban homework altogether.

The other side of the homework debate: Why our kids need homework

It has long been the view that homework acts as a supplement to what has been taught in class. It is an opportunity for pupils to review areas of work they might not understand, focusing their learning.

Homework for primary school students is a good thing!

Homework can be fun and imaginative, an opportunity for parents to bond with their children over education. Take the classic example of counting peas on the dinner plate to learn multiplication tables. Homework does not always have to be completed in a book or on a worksheet. It can often reflect the creativity of the teacher who can inspire children to take their learnings and apply them to the real world. Pricing a shopping list is an awesome way to practise maths while acquiring life skills!

In May 2021 we asked our social media community for their thoughts on this debate. More than two-thirds agreed that homework should not be banned. 

Think Academy instagram poll

The UK is falling behind the rest of the world:

Once upon a time the UK may have had the best education system in the world. Now is not that time. Studies suggest that  UK literacy and maths rates are falling  while in other countries they continue to rise.

As a result, many teachers and parents agree that our children require further encouragement. This is not the time to ban homework in the UK. Especially when we take into consideration the months of lost learning caused by the COVID-19 UK lockdown. This is the time to help primary school children catch up, and homework can support the effort.

The homework debate in the context of COVID-19

We touched on this earlier before considering both sides of the argument in the UK homework debate. However, with home learning more popular than ever, is there still a place for homework in UK primary school education?

The homework debate solution: Online tuition

It’s engaging for children; it reflects what they have been learning in class and saves time for both parents and teachers.  Online tuition has soared in popularity through 2020  and 2021, and could be the solution for people on both sides of the homework debate.

Read more :  How online maths tutors are helping KS1 & KS2 pupils succeed.

In the UK there are tons of tuition services helping to provide kids with a competitive edge using an extracurricular push. You can view a list of the top 15 here:  Discover the UK’s best online tutors.

If you have any comments or questions regarding this topic, please feel free to let us know in the comment below or in our Facebook group  UK Primary School Maths – Tutoring & Tips,  we will reply to you as soon as we can.  

You may also like to read:

How Think Academy’s Online Maths Courses can Help Your Child Better Prepare KS2 SATs?

Top 5 Back to School Tips  Compiled by Think Academy’s Education Experts for 2020

KS1 SATs – How to Prepare Your Little One for Their First Test!

Primary School Maths Tutors – Tips for Parents: How to Find the Right Tutor with the UK’s TOP 15 Online Maths Tutors!

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Blog The Education Hub

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/28/education-secretary-i-trust-head-teachers-to-decide-their-homework-policies/

Education Secretary: I trust head teachers to decide their homework policies

no homework policy uk

Education Secretary Damian Hinds has today written an op-ed for the Sunday Times setting out his position on homework, which has been followed up with a news story . He says that ultimately up to heads and school leaders to decide whether to set homework and what the consequences should be if children do not complete their homework set.

The Education Secretary said:

One of the tougher things I’ve taken on recently was solving a ‘part-whole model’, involving nine ducks and a jagged shoreline. This was, I should clarify, a piece of homework for one of my children, not something called for in my day job. Homework is a staple of school life, and of home life. Parents know this. After all, almost every one of us will have done homework ourselves as a child and most of us will be drafted in to help with it at some point as a parent, carer or grandparent. There has been some high-profile interest of late on social media suggesting that homework is bad for children, at least in the first half of schooling. There have even been subsequent questions about its legal status. Just to be clear: schools are not obliged to set homework, and some don’t. But when schools do set homework, children do need to do it. We trust individual school head teachers to decide what their policy on homework will be, and what happens if pupils don’t do what’s set. Policy and approach won’t be the same in all cases. Autonomy for schools, and the diversity that comes with it, is at the heart of this government’s approach to education. Of course, schools should, and do, communicate with parents. Parents need to know where they stand. Teachers obviously need to be realistic about expectations, and they know this. Obviously, no one wants children spending an inordinate amount of time every night doing homework. Clearly, there are other important things to do, too – like playing outside, family time, eating together. Good homework policies avoid excessive time requirements – focusing on quality rather than quantity and making sure that there is a clear purpose to any homework set. In 2011 we helped set up the Education Endowment Foundation as an independent expert body to study and advise on “what works” in education. It has established that, although there are more significant educational improvements derived from homework at secondary school, there can still be a modest but positive impact at primary level. Homework isn’t just some joyless pursuit of knowledge. It’s an integral part of learning. Beyond the chance to practice and reinforce what you’ve learned in class, it’s also an opportunity to develop independent study and application – and character traits like perseverance. Children need to know that what they do has consequences. At secondary school, if a pupil doesn’t complete their homework, they risk falling behind. They may also hold up others – clearly it is harder for the teacher to keep the whole class moving forward if some are doing the homework and others aren’t. At primary school, too, we all want our children to develop their knowledge – but we also want them to develop values. Homework set at primary school is likely to be of relatively shorter duration. But if a child is asked to do it and they don’t, for that to have no consequence would not be a positive lesson. Ultimately, of course, the responsibility for a child’s educational development is a shared one. Parental involvement makes a big difference, from the very earliest stage. In the early years parents can support their child’s development through story telling, singing or reading together. Later on, homework can give an ‘in’ for continued involvement in learning. Homework should not in general require adult help, and with today’s busy lives it certainly can be hard to find the time. But I know as a parent that we are called on as reinforcements if an assignment is especially challenging. Other times, it falls to parents just to give a nudge. I want all children to enjoy their progress through school and they will have a much better chance of doing this if they are not having to play catch-up during the day. Parents need to trust teachers, with all their experience of teaching and learning – and know that their child’s homework is not just proportionate, but will be of lasting benefit. From motivation and self-discipline to the wonder of independent learning, homework can teach children about far more than the part-whole model, some ducks and a jagged shoreline.

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The Great British Homework Debate 2024 – Is It Necessary At Primary School?

Alexander athienitis.

The homework debate is never much out of the news. Should homework be banned? Is homework at primary school a waste of time? Do our children get too much homework?

Not long ago, UK-based US comedian Rob Delaney set the world alight with a tweet giving his own personal view of homework at primary school. We thought, as an organisation that provides maths homework support on a weekly basis, it was time to look at the facts around the homework debate in primary schools as well as, of course, reflecting the views of celebrities and those perhaps more qualified to offer an opinion!

Here’s how Rob Delaney kicked things off

Gary Lineker leant his support with the following soundbite:

And even Piers Morgan weighed in, with his usual balance of tact and sensitivity:

A very experienced and knowledgeable Headteacher, Simon Smith, who has a well-earned following on Twitter (for someone working in education, not hosting Match of the Day) also put his neck on the line and, some might think controversially, agreed with the golden-heeled Crisp King of Leicester…

Fortunately Katharine Birbalsingh, Conservative Party Conference keynote speaker and Founding Headteacher of the Michaela School, was on hand to provide the alternative view on the importance of homework. Her op-ed piece in the Sun gave plenty of reasons why homework should not be banned.

She was informative and firm in her article stating: “Homework is essential for a child’s education because revisiting the day’s learning is what helps to make it stick.”

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How much homework do UK primary school children get?

Sadly, there’s little data comparing how much homework primary school-aged children in the UK and across the globe complete on a weekly basis. A study of teenagers used by The Telegraph shows that American high-schoolers spend an average of 6.1 hours per week compared with 4.9 hours per week of homework each week for UK-based teens.

Up until 2012, the Department of Education recommended an hour of homework a week for primary school Key Stage 1 children (aged 4 to 7) and half an hour a day for primary school Key Stage 2 children (aged 7-11). Many primary schools still use this as a guideline.

Teachers, parents and children in many schools across the land have seen more changes of homework policy than numbers of terms in some school years.

A ‘no-homework’ policy pleases only a few; a grid of creative tasks crowd-sourced from the three teachers bothered to give their input infuriates many (parents, teachers and children alike). For some parents, no matter how much homework is set, it’s never enough; for others, even asking them to fill in their child’s reading record once a week can be a struggle due to a busy working life.

Homework is very different around the world

We’d suggest that Piers Morgan’s argument for homework in comparing the UK’s economic and social progress with China’s in recent years based on total weekly homework hours is somewhat misguided – we can’t put their emergence as the world’s (if not already, soon to be) leading superpower exclusively down to having their young people endure almost triple the number of hours spent completing homework as their Western counterparts.

Nonetheless, there’s certainly a finer balance to strike between the 14 hours a week suffered by Shanghainese school-attendees and none whatsoever. Certainly parents in the UK spend less time each week helping their children than parents in emerging economies such as India, Vietnam and Colombia (Source: Varkey Foundation Report).

Disadvantages of homework at primary school

Delaney, whose son attends a London state primary school, has made it plain that he thinks his kids get given too much homework and he’d rather have them following more active or creative pursuits: drawing or playing football. A father of four sons and a retired professional footballer Gary Linaker was quick to defend this but he also has the resources to send his children to top boarding schools which generally provide very structured homework or ‘prep’ routines.

As parents Rob and Gary are not alone. According to the 2018 Ofsted annual report on Parents Views  more than a third of parents do not think homework in primary school is helpful to their children. They cite the battles and arguments it causes not to mention the specific challenges it presents to families with SEND children many of whom report serious damage to health and self-esteem as a result of too much or inappropriate homework.

It’s a truism among teachers that some types of homework tells you very little about what the child can achieve and much more about a parent’s own approach to the work. How low does your heart sink when your child comes back with a D & T project to create Stonehenge and you realise it’s either an all-nighter with glue, cardboard and crayons for you, or an uncompleted homework project for your child!

Speaking with our teacher hats on, we can tell you that homework is often cited in academic studies looking at academic progress in primary school-aged children as showing minimal to no impact.

Back on Twitter, a fellow teacher was able to weigh-in with that point:

Benefits of homework at primary school

So what are the benefits of homework at primary school? According to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) (the key research organisations dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement) the impact of homework at primary is low, but it also doesn’t cost much.

They put it at a “+2 months” impact against a control of doing nothing. To put this into context, 1-to-1 tuition is generally seen as a +5 months impact but it’s usually considered to be expensive.

“There is some evidence that when homework is used as a short and focused intervention it can be effective in improving students’ attainment … overall the general benefits are likely to be modest if homework is more routinely set.”

Key to the benefit you’ll see from homework is that the task is appropriate and of good quality. The quantity of homework a pupil does is not so important. In this matter Katharine Birbalsingh is on the money. Short focused tasks which relate directly to what is being taught, and which are built upon in school, are likely to be more effective than regular daily homework.

In our view it’s about consolidation. So focusing on a few times tables that you find tricky or working through questions similar to what you’ve done in class that day or week often can be beneficial. 2 hours of worksheets on a Saturday when your child could be outside having fun and making friends probably isn’t. If you really want them to be doing maths, then do some outdoor maths with them instead of homework !

At Third Space Learning we believe it’s all about balance. Give the right sort of homework and the right amount at primary school and there will be improvements, but much of it comes down to parental engagement.

One of our favourite ways to practise maths at home without it become too onerous is by using educational games. Here are our favourite fun maths games , some brilliant KS2 maths games , KS1 maths games and KS3 maths games for all maths topics and then a set of 35 times tables games which are ideal for interspersing with your regular times tables practice. And best of all, most of them require no more equipment than a pen and paper or perhaps a pack of cards.

Homework and parents

One of the key benefits cited by EEF is in regard to parental engagement. Time after time, the greatest differentiator between children who make great progress at school – and those, frankly – who don’t is due to the same factor in the same studies: parental engagement .

It is a fair assumption that if a parent is engaged in their child’s learning, they’re probably going to be the same parents who encourage and support their child when they’re completing their homework.

Whereas parents who are disengaged with their child’s school and schooling – for whatever reason (sorry, Piers, it’s rarely due to laziness), are highly unlikely to be aware of what homework gets set each week, let alone to be mucking in with making sure it gets handed in completed and on time.

We also encounter time and again, the issue of parents’ own lack of confidence in maths. A survey by Pearson found that:

  • 30 percent of parents “don’t feel confident enough in their own maths skills to help their children with their primary school maths homework”
  • 53 per cent insisted they struggled to understand the new maths teaching methods used in modern classrooms. Fortunately that’s what we’re here to address.

Setting the right homework at primary school can be tricky

Although we disagree with Piers, we can see what he may be driving at in terms of setting appropriate homework.

The question quickly becomes what would Piers think of as being ‘interesting’ homework, and if all four of his children would agree upon the same thing being ‘interesting’.

That’s the problem.

One would imagine Piers would find it hard enough finding one task to satisfy the interest of all of his four children – it’s almost impossible to find a task that will engage the interest of 30 or more children in their out of school hours.

Each with different emotional, behavioural and learning needs, then sprinkle in the varying levels of poverty each family suffers (be it financial or in terms of time), and you can see how it isn’t just about being a good or bad teacher – whatever that means – in regards to being able to set Morgan-approved homework tasks.

What does this mean for my child?

Ultimately, the question at the top of mind whenever a parent thinks about homework is a more general one – am I doing the best for my child?

Although the world is changing at a faster pace than ever before in human history, what’s best for children hasn’t changed that much (if at all).

One-to-one support is best, and young people benefit most from adult-child conversations where they acquire new vocabulary and language structures to form and share their thoughts and opinions.

These insights – that one-to-one support is best and that regular, structured adult-child conversations are life-changing within a child’s development – are what inspired us to create Third Space Learning.

A platform where children can engage with a community of specialist tutors in a safe, structured learning environment where they are able to engage in one-to-one conversations that enable them to progress in their learning with confidence.

  • How to help your child with their maths homework – A parents guide
  • The Best Homework Hacks: 18 Tips And Tricks To Help Busy Parents Get It Done Faster!
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Do you have students who need extra support in maths? Every week Third Space Learning’s maths specialist tutors support thousands of students across hundreds of schools with weekly online 1-to-1 lessons and maths interventions designed to address learning gaps and boost progress. Since 2013 we’ve helped over 150,000 primary and secondary students become more confident, able mathematicians. Learn more or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.

Subsidised one to one maths tutoring from the UK’s most affordable DfE-approved one to one tutoring provider.

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Should Homework Be Scrapped For Young Kids? Here's What Parents Think

Parents editor at HuffPost UK

Kirstie Allsopp

Homework is a lot like Marmite among parents – they either love it or hate it.

The matter of whether primary school children should be made to do it has been a matter of intense debate recently after TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp urged parents to skip doing homework tasks with their children.

“There is nothing better for children than spending time with you, talking, doing and learning at the same time,” she tweeted. “Following a recipe is reading, maths, science and fine motor skills in one activity.”

In a separate tweet, she revealed one of her “greatest regrets” was that she didn’t stop her kids from doing their homework. “The tears, the time together lost, for many families homework causes real, daily unhappiness to no good end,” she added.

Her comments come after the Irish president Michael D Higgins suggested homework should be banned in the country, saying work should “get finished at the school and people should be able to use their time for other creative things”.

A reduced emphasis on homework is something that’s been adopted in Finland, where – interestingly – the country ranks sixth place for reading and 12th for maths, compared to the UK which ranks 23rd and 26th respectively, the BBC reported. (It’s also worth noting that Finland is apparently the happiest country in the world.)

However many parents argue that 10 minutes of reading or maths here and there isn’t going to hurt. Plus, it helps ready children for self-learning when they reach secondary school.

Homework policies in the UK differ between primary schools, however it’s generally expected that children should be doing some form of home learning each week – whether reading, practising spelling or learning their times tables.

HuffPost UK asked parents and teachers whether they thought homework should be scrapped for young children. Here’s what they said.

‘I like homework as it lets me see what my children are doing’

Rhea Freeman

Rhea Freeman, who has two seven-year-olds, says she is a fan of “a little bit of homework” because it allows parents to keep track of what their children are doing at school and also helps them progress.

“The teaching day is packed,” she adds, “and if we can do a bit to help with things like learning spellings at the weekends, then surely that’s a positive?”

She notes, however, that excessive homework isn’t needed. “The school day is busy and if they’re having to do an hour’s extra work every night, that’s a lot and could well extinguish any love of learning, particularly if children don’t find it easy,” she adds.

Reading and spellings or times tables are “great” homework activities, says the mum-of-two, noting it should only really take about 10-20 minutes. “My children are very up for that and there’s still plenty of time for them to play and relax after the day,” adds the 38-year-old business coach and mentor.

‘Refusing to do homework is a bit of a privilege’

Claire Quansah

Mum-of-two Claire Quansah is pro-homework as long as it’s appropriate and relevant, “as it helps children to apply and solidify their learning”.

The 40-year-old, who has two sons aged seven and 14, says “refusing to do homework is a bit of a privilege”.

“I have two sons and I’m sure the impact of young Black boys refusing homework would be very different to their peers,” she says. “They already have enough to contend with.”

Quansah is a firm believer that homework can help children – and adults – to see if they’ve really understood what they’ve learned that day and how to use it in a different setting.

Like Freeman, she’s also keen to know what her children are currently learning at school, “because based on what my seven-year-old says, all they do each day is play football and eat”.

‘It has to be the right kind of homework’

Anna Masterson

“Homework is an incredibly useful way of consolidating children’s learning – but it has to be the right kind of homework,” says mum Anna Masterson, who has three children aged six, eight and nine.

If the task is too general, time-consuming or simply not linked to what’s being taught in the classroom, it’s unlikely to provide any real benefit, adds Masterson, who is also chief learning officer at Atom Learning and a primary school teacher with over a decade of experience.

“Research tells us that homework tasks that are linked to what’s being covered in school are much more effective. Likewise, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the impact of homework diminishes as the amount of time pupils spend on it increases, so timed exercises are often preferable.”

Homework is beneficial because there are some things that teachers just can’t fit into everyday schooling, she adds, offering the example that children in Key Stage 1 should be reading aloud to an adult each day to develop their fluency.

“Ultimately, parents should be discerning about their child’s homework tasks and approach the time they spend on each strategically,” she says.

It’s important to remember not all homework is of equal value. “There’s a lot to be gained from completing a worksheet with 10 maths questions on a single learning objective that’s already been introduced at school, for example, but less in a seemingly endless research task, like, say, researching and building a castle,” she suggests.

One parent who knows this all too well is dad-of-four Simon Harris, 39, from South Essex. Harris – a blogger known as Man Behaving Dadly – is in favour of banning homework when it is “massively time consuming” and ultimately a “parental contest to make huge art projects”.

“I’ve seen these spiral out of control,” says Harris whose children are one, four, six and eight. “Seriously. Half the time the kids haven’t been anywhere near the bloody things.”

‘We have a no homework policy’

Georgina Fuller

Two of Georgina Fuller’s three children are at primary school. The 45-year-old from Oxfordshire says they have a “no homework policy” in the house for the younger two, aged eight and 10.

“We did try and do it for a couple of years but found sitting down on the weekend to log into Teams, printing off worksheets and trying to make bug hotels was eating into our family time and causing unnecessary stress,” she tells HuffPost UK.

On top of that, her 10-year-old is autistic “and couldn’t see how or why he should be made to do school work at home,” she adds. “So we essentially gave up on it.”

Asked how the school responded to this decision, Fuller said they were fine about her middle child when she explained the “battles” they faced at home.

“There was no big announcement with my eight-year-old daughter’s teachers,” she adds. “I just told them that I made sure we read for half an hour a night instead and prioritised that over homework. That seemed to be acceptable and we haven’t had any sort of backlash.”

She does note that homework is useful for secondary school pupils. Studies have shown homework has a positive impact on pupils in secondary schools.

Her eldest child, who is 13 and at a grammar school, takes responsibility for his own homework and does most of it on an app. “I occasionally help him out but he mostly just gets on with it by himself,” she adds.

‘I’m keen my children don’t learn the habit of working at home after work’

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan, a mum to three autistic children – two of whom are aged eight and nine, and are at primary school – says traditional homework is, in her experience, “often an extremely stressful and distressing activity” for her children.

“So much so, that they rarely do any because they need a break from school and home is a safe space,” says Vaughan, who is based in Kent.

The qualified teacher, who now works as a holistic therapist, says learning does happen at home all the time, but she “follows the interests of her children”.

With many of us falling guilty to working at home after work as adults, Vaughan is keen that her children don’t learn this habit.

“I see so many adults who do extra unpaid work at home, after their work day has ended – especially teachers – and this cultivates a culture where we push ourselves beyond our limits to please our employers,” she says. “There are no boundaries between home and work. This is not healthy.”

She caveats that there are some children and families who enjoy homework, “so maybe a good solution, rather than a ban, is providing interesting optional activities that children can complete at home if they wish.”

What are your thoughts on homework for primary school children? Join the discussion on Twitter.

Not banned just appropriate. My son's school is always telling us to read with our kids as much as possible & then they send a list of activities related to the theme for the term. Kids pick 3/4 of them to do over the 6wk period. A mix of arts/crafts and writing/research. — #JusticeForChrisKaba (@JENDELLA) January 25, 2023
A better understanding that play is learning would go away to separating tasks that are demotivating vs actually beneficial. Some kids love reading and writing, but for those who struggle, forcing them to do more of it at home can be detrimental. (I went to a school with none) — Melissa Hogenboom BBC (@melissasuzanneh) January 25, 2023
My children are sent a list of homework: they have to complete 12 each over the 6 wk period. Three children, that means I have 36 homework's to assist with alongside reading with them, spelling and times tables practice and WORKING etc. Not sure how helpful it is for them or me! — Bev Boyle (@BevKnox) January 25, 2023
I don’t believe kids at primary age should have to do homework. At home parents are teaching other skills. Although I do engage in reading with my daughter, times tables and spellings as these are all important for life skills. Everything else we don’t bother with. — CC (@Call_Me_Cecelia) January 25, 2023
Yes. Let kids be kids. My husband is a teacher and we don’t put any pressure on our 6 year old to do hers — Punteha van Terheyden (@vTFeatures) January 25, 2023
My son had to do some maths homework this week. Took less than 10 minutes so hardly overwhelming. Add in a bit of reading and times table rockstars. It should NOT be banned, if anything, expanded. — Stephen Jury (@stephen_jury) January 25, 2023
Not needed for primary school. Family time should be fun. Lots of learning at home, games, cooking, etc. — Laura Henry-Allain MBE (She/her) (@LauraHAllain) January 25, 2023
In my view it should be optional. Open to parents to decide whether to engage with additional work. I have five children. A couple of them loved doing homework whilst others struggled and hated it. — Ryan Morrison (@RyanMorrisonJer) January 25, 2023
I want it banned now as before I loved it on pen and paper. I can’t take this technology as it’s to much for children doing homework online. It annoys me so much ! — Hattie Aydin (@hattie_aydin) January 25, 2023

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Education Endowment Foundation:Homework

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Should homework be banned?

Social media has sparked into life about whether children should be given homework - should students be freed from this daily chore? Dr Gerald Letendre, a professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, investigates.

We’ve all done it: pretended to leave an essay at home, or stayed up until 2am to finish a piece of coursework we’ve been ignoring for weeks. Homework, for some people, is seen as a chore that’s ‘wrecking kids’ or ‘killing parents’, while others think it is an essential part of a well-rounded education. The problem is far from new: public debates about homework have been raging since at least the early-1900s, and recently spilled over into a Twitter feud between Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan.

Ironically, the conversation surrounding homework often ignores the scientific ‘homework’ that researchers have carried out. Many detailed studies have been conducted, and can guide parents, teachers and administrators to make sensible decisions about how much work should be completed by students outside of the classroom.

So why does homework stir up such strong emotions? One reason is that, by its very nature, it is an intrusion of schoolwork into family life. I carried out a study in 2005, and found that the amount of time that children and adolescents spend in school, from nursery right up to the end of compulsory education, has greatly increased over the last century . This means that more of a child’s time is taken up with education, so family time is reduced. This increases pressure on the boundary between the family and the school.

Plus, the amount of homework that students receive appears to be increasing, especially in the early years when parents are keen for their children to play with friends and spend time with the family.

Finally, success in school has become increasingly important to success in life. Parents can use homework to promote, or exercise control over, their child’s academic trajectory, and hopefully ensure their future educational success. But this often leaves parents conflicted – they want their children to be successful in school, but they don’t want them to be stressed or upset because of an unmanageable workload.

François Hollande says homework is unfair, as it penalises children who have a difficult home environment © Getty Images

However, the issue isn’t simply down to the opinions of parents, children and their teachers – governments also like to get involved. In the autumn of 2012, French president François Hollande hit world headlines after making a comment about banning homework, ostensibly because it promoted inequality. The Chinese government has also toyed with a ban, because of concerns about excessive academic pressure being put on children.

The problem is, some politicians and national administrators regard regulatory policy in education as a solution for a wide array of social, economic and political issues, perhaps without considering the consequences for students and parents.

Does homework work?

Homework seems to generally have a positive effect for high school students, according to an extensive range of empirical literature. For example, Duke University’s Prof Harris Cooper carried out a meta-analysis using data from US schools, covering a period from 1987 to 2003. He found that homework offered a general beneficial impact on test scores and improvements in attitude, with a greater effect seen in older students. But dig deeper into the issue and a complex set of factors quickly emerges, related to how much homework students do, and exactly how they feel about it.

In 2009, Prof Ulrich Trautwein and his team at the University of Tübingen found that in order to establish whether homework is having any effect, researchers must take into account the differences both between and within classes . For example, a teacher may assign a good deal of homework to a lower-level class, producing an association between more homework and lower levels of achievement. Yet, within the same class, individual students may vary significantly in how much homework improves their baseline performance. Plus, there is the fact that some students are simply more efficient at completing their homework than others, and it becomes quite difficult to pinpoint just what type of homework, and how much of it, will affect overall academic performance.

Over the last century, the amount of time that children and adolescents spend in school has greatly increased

Gender is also a major factor. For example, a study of US high school students carried out by Prof Gary Natriello in the 1980s revealed that girls devote more time to homework than boys, while a follow-up study found that US girls tend to spend more time on mathematics homework than boys. Another study, this time of African-American students in the US, found that eighth grade (ages 13-14) girls were more likely to successfully manage both their tasks and emotions around schoolwork, and were more likely to finish homework.

So why do girls seem to respond more positively to homework? One possible answer proposed by Eunsook Hong of the University of Nevada in 2011 is that teachers tend to rate girls’ habits and attitudes towards work more favourably than boys’. This perception could potentially set up a positive feedback loop between teacher expectations and the children’s capacity for academic work based on gender, resulting in girls outperforming boys. All of this makes it particularly difficult to determine the extent to which homework is helping, though it is clear that simply increasing the time spent on assignments does not directly correspond to a universal increase in learning.

Can homework cause damage?

The lack of empirical data supporting homework in the early years of education, along with an emerging trend to assign more work to this age range, appears to be fuelling parental concerns about potential negative effects. But, aside from anecdotes of increased tension in the household, is there any evidence of this? Can doing too much homework actually damage children?

Evidence suggests extreme amounts of homework can indeed have serious effects on students’ health and well-being. A Chinese study carried out in 2010 found a link between excessive homework and sleep disruption: children who had less homework had better routines and more stable sleep schedules. A Canadian study carried out in 2015 by Isabelle Michaud found that high levels of homework were associated with a greater risk of obesity among boys, if they were already feeling stressed about school in general.

For useful revision guides and video clips to assist with learning, visit BBC Bitesize . This is a free online study resource for UK students from early years up to GCSEs and Scottish Highers.

It is also worth noting that too much homework can create negative effects that may undermine any positives. These negative consequences may not only affect the child, but also could also pile on the stress for the whole family, according to a recent study by Robert Pressman of the New England Centre for Pediatric Psychology. Parents were particularly affected when their perception of their own capacity to assist their children decreased.

What then, is the tipping point, and when does homework simply become too much for parents and children? Guidelines typically suggest that children in the first grade (six years old) should have no more that 10 minutes per night, and that this amount should increase by 10 minutes per school year. However, cultural norms may greatly affect what constitutes too much.

A study of children aged between 8 and 10 in Quebec defined high levels of homework as more than 30 minutes a night, but a study in China of children aged 5 to 11 deemed that two or more hours per night was excessive. It is therefore difficult to create a clear standard for what constitutes as too much homework, because cultural differences, school-related stress, and negative emotions within the family all appear to interact with how homework affects children.

Should we stop setting homework?

In my opinion, even though there are potential risks of negative effects, homework should not be banned. Small amounts, assigned with specific learning goals in mind and with proper parental support, can help to improve students’ performance. While some studies have generally found little evidence that homework has a positive effect on young children overall, a 2008 study by Norwegian researcher Marte Rønning found that even some very young children do receive some benefit. So simply banning homework would mean that any particularly gifted or motivated pupils would not be able to benefit from increased study. However, at the earliest ages, very little homework should be assigned. The decisions about how much and what type are best left to teachers and parents.

As a parent, it is important to clarify what goals your child’s teacher has for homework assignments. Teachers can assign work for different reasons – as an academic drill to foster better study habits, and unfortunately, as a punishment. The goals for each assignment should be made clear, and should encourage positive engagement with academic routines.

Parents who play an active role in homework routines can help give their kids a more positive experience of learning © Getty Images

Parents should inform the teachers of how long the homework is taking, as teachers often incorrectly estimate the amount of time needed to complete an assignment, and how it is affecting household routines. For young children, positive teacher support and feedback is critical in establishing a student’s positive perception of homework and other academic routines. Teachers and parents need to be vigilant and ensure that homework routines do not start to generate patterns of negative interaction that erode students’ motivation.

Likewise, any positive effects of homework are dependent on several complex interactive factors, including the child’s personal motivation, the type of assignment, parental support and teacher goals. Creating an overarching policy to address every single situation is not realistic, and so homework policies tend to be fixated on the time the homework takes to complete. But rather than focusing on this, everyone would be better off if schools worked on fostering stronger communication between parents, teachers and students, allowing them to respond more sensitively to the child’s emotional and academic needs.

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Case study: transforming your homework policy.

no homework policy uk

Homework. Love it or hate it, one thing is indisputable: it is one of the hottest topics of discussion within schools and among students and parents.

In recent years, many schools have overseen changes in their homework policies and our school – The King’s CE Academy in Kidsgrove – is no exception.

While we have found a “no-homework” policy pleases only a few, having a table of creative but generic homework tasks for teachers to choose from – differentiated using chilli peppers! – infuriates the masses.

For some parents, no matter how much homework is set it will never be enough. For others, trying to fit homework in between a 12-hour work shift, extra-curricular clubs, and family life is a logistical nightmare.

And even though our own internal data analysis shows, consistently, that those students who commit to homework in the long term go on to achieve significantly better outcomes at GCSE compared to those who do not, raising the profile of learning outside of school was proving to be an on-going challenge.

To this end, over four years, we compared a student's average commitment to homework grade when they were in year 11 to the outcomes they went on to achieve in their GCSE examinations. The values in the table below represent GCSE grades, where positive figures indicate over-performance and negative figures indicate under-performance.

no homework policy uk

For example, in 2021:

  • A student who averaged an “outstanding” commitment to homework (grade 1)achieved, on average, over half a GCSE grade better (+0.53) than the national average performance in each of their Best 8 GCSEs.
  • A student who averaged a “requires improvement” commitment to homework (grade 3) underperformed, on average, by more than one whole GCSE grade (–1.18) than the national average performance in each of their Best 8 GCSEs.

Rather than continuing the debate for and against homework, we decided to focus our attention on the quality of homework set, ensuring all stakeholders could recognise and appreciate the value it brings.

Drawing on research from Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering (2007), we concluded that homework should always add value to the learning process for teachers and students.

According to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), homework can have a positive impact (offering an additional five months of progress across a year) on the progress of disadvantaged students in secondary schools with very small cost implications.

As such, it would be remiss of us to discard this as a tool to support learning and progress. This is where “meaningful homeworks” came in to play.

Meaningful homeworks

When pulling together our new programme, we agreed that homework needed to be:

  • Meaningful work (not “busy-work”) linked to the key skills and knowledge being developed in lessons at that point in time and higher level skill tasks that move away from comprehension questions, poster-making, and spelling worksheets.
  • Set at the “right time” to reflect the learning journey of the students.
  • Framed with the “why” – so students become a part of the bigger picture.
  • Responded to with timely feedback.

How did we achieve this?

The first thing we did as a teaching and learning team was to remove the weekly homework rota, replacing it with the simple expectation that staff would set one to two homeworks each half-term (depending on the subject and allocated time).

Using their curriculum overviews as a guide, teachers now carefully plan a homework that aims to develop and extend the learning taking place in lessons, focusing explicitly on the application of key skills and knowledge that were being honed that term.

Most importantly, teachers have control over when the homeworks are set meaning they are aligned with the sequence of learning.

Documenting the meaningful homeworks on each subject’s curriculum overviews gave this new strategy gravitas – stakeholders could see how we valued the work completed at home and considered it to be as important as the work completed in class.

As a school, we expect parents and carers to participate in their child’s education by accepting their part in overseeing the work done at home. Publishing the homework overviews, with modelled examples on the website, has given parents and carers a clear overview of what homework their child should be receiving each term and a platform for them to engage in discussion about it.

A consistent approach

This was a whole-school effort, one which required a change of culture. As such, the approach needed to be consistent for all staff. When setting homework, staff are expected to allocate time at the end of the lesson to talk through the task and expectations. This is important because it allows teachers to articulate its relevance to current and future learning, highlight their expectations in terms of quantity and quality (displaying models), and where appropriate provide scaffolding and answer any questions students may have.

All homeworks are then recorded on the school’s management information system using the following three headings: Tasks. Guidance. Success Criteria.

Removing barriers

During the implementation stage, we considered the common barriers that our children face when completing homework: lack of clarity, lack of purpose, and a lack of space and resources.

To combat these, we have set up a homework club with a dedicated learning assistant who can provide both a quiet space and support for those students who need it to complete their work. Students can attend voluntarily or be referred by a member of staff, depending on their needs and circumstances.

Feedback to homework

Providing timely feedback has played a fundamental role in the success of meaningful homeworks across the school. Students need to see that their efforts have not been in vain and have been acknowledged, rewarded, and have supported learning in future lessons.

For staff, workload has decreased – instead of setting and marking a piece of homework every week, they are now setting one or two a half-term. As the homework is substantial, it means staff are also able to use this as an assessment piece to inform on-going progress.

Lessons learned

The main take-away for this difficult issue is that the clearer the person setting homework is about what the task is designed to achieve, the more likely it is to be of value.

Be transparent with staff and parents so that expectations are well managed. And remember that less is more and while the tasks set should be specific and focused, so too should the timely feedback.

Aimee Williams is d irector of school improvement at the Three Spires Trust, a multi-academy trust based in Staffordshire. She is also a Specialist Leader of Education for both English and teaching and learning.

Further information & resources

  • EEF: Homework, Teaching and Learning Toolkit, last updated 2021: https://bit.ly/3oYWpHZ
  • Marzano & Pickering : The case for and against homework, Educational Leadership (64,6), 2007: https://bit.ly/3JmS9sP
  • SecEd Podcast: Making homework effective, 2022.

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Getting homework right and developing independent learners, improving your homework provision, key stage 3: effective homework.

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The power of a good homework policy

Published 18th March 2019 by Frog Education

With the homework debate continuing to rage and be fuelled by all parties involved, could publishing a robust homework policy help take some of the headache out of home learning?

What is a homework policy.

The idea of a homework policy is for the school to officially document and communicate their process for homework. The policy should outline what is expected of teachers when setting homework and from students in completing home learning tasks. It is a constructive document through which the school can communicate to parents, teachers, governors and students the learning objectives for homework.

Do schools have to have a homework policy?

It is a common misconception that schools are required by the government to set homework. Historically the government provided guidelines on the amount of time students should spend on home learning. This was withdrawn in 2012 and autonomy was handed to headteachers and school leaders to determine what and how much homework is set. Therefore, schools are not required by Ofsted or the DfE to have a homework policy in place.

The removal of official guidelines, however, does not give pupils the freedom to decide if they complete homework or not. Damian Hinds , Education Secretary, clarified that although schools are not obliged to set homework, when they do, children need to complete it in line with their school’s homework policy; “we trust individual school head teachers to decide what their policy on homework will be, and what happens if pupils don’t do what’s set.”

The majority of primary and secondary schools do set homework. Regardless of the different views on the topic, the schools that do incorporate homework into their learning processes, must see value in it.

Clearly communicating that value will demonstrate clarity and create alliance for everyone involved – both in and outside of school. This is where the publication of a good homework policy can help. 5 Benefits of publishing a good homework policy

#1 Manages students' workload

Studies have shown a correlation between student anxiety and demanding amounts of homework. One study found that in more affluent areas, school children are spending three hours per evening on homework. This is excessive. Secondary school students’ study between eight and ten subjects, which means they will have day-to-day contact with a number of teachers. If there is no clear homework policy to provide a guide, it would be feasible for an excessive amount of homework to be set.

A homework policy that sets out the expected amount of time students should spend on homework will help prevent an overload. This makes it more realistic for children to complete homework tasks and minimise the detrimental effect it could have on family time, out-of-school activities or students’ overall health and well-being.

#2 Creates opportunity for feedback and review

The simple act of having an official document in place will instigate opportunities for regular reviews. We often consider the impact of homework on students but teachers are also working out-of-hours and often work overtime . One reason is the need to set quality homework tasks, mark them and provide valuable feedback. No-one, therefore, wants home learning to become about setting homework for homework’s sake.

A regular review of the policy will invite feedback which the school can use to make appropriate changes and ensure the policy is working for both teachers and students, and serves the school’s homework learning objectives.

#3 Connects parents with education

Parents’ engagement in children’s education has a beneficial impact on a child’s success in school. Homework provides a great way for parents to become involved and have visibility of learning topics, offer support where needed and understand their child’s progress.

A good homework policy creates transparency for parents. It helps them to understand the value the school places on homework and what the learning objectives are. If parents understand this, it will help set a foundation for them to be engaged in their child’s education.

#4 Gives students a routine and creates good habits

Whether children are going into the workplace or furthering their education at university, many aspects of a student’s future life will require, at times, work to be completed outside of traditional 9-5 hours as well as independently. This is expected at university (students do not research and write essays in the lecture theatre or their seminars) and will perhaps become more important in the future workplace with the growth of the gig economy (freelancing) and the rise of remote working .

A homework policy encourages a consistency for out-of-school learning and helps students develop productive working practices and habits for continued learning and independent working.

#5 Helps students retain information they have learned

A carefully considered and well-constructed home learning policy will help teachers set homework that is most effective for reinforcing what has been taught.

A good homework policy will indicate how to set productive homework tasks and should limit the risk of less effective homework being set, such as just finishing-off work from a lesson and repetition or memorisation tasks. What makes a good homework policy?

A good homework policy will determine how much homework is appropriate and what type is most effective for achieving a school’s learning objectives. Publishing the homework policy – although it might not unify everyone’s views on the matter – fosters good communication across the school, sets out expectations for teachers and pupils, and makes that significant connection between parents and their children’s education. But most importantly, if the policy is regularly reviewed and evaluated, it can ensure home learning remains beneficial to pupils’ progress, is of value to teachers and, ultimately, is worth the time and effort that everyone puts into it.

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no homework policy uk

Homework Policy

Homework is an important part of education and can add much to a child’s development. The government’s commitment to homework is demonstrated in the 1997 White Paper, ‘Excellence in Schools’, which views homework as ‘an essential part of good education’. Homework is also important because it flags up concerns – difficulties which a student may be experiencing understanding particular topics and practising key skills.

At YES we plan homework carefully alongside work that children do at the centre. We ensure that all activities are appropriate for individual children. We aim for our pupils to develop as independent learners and we believe that homework is one of the main ways in which children can acquire this skill. At YES we also believe that homework is essential in order to help our students make maximum progress academically with the work they have been studying at the centre.

Here are some suggestions to give you an idea of how much time your child should be spending on all homework (including work from YES), and how you can help them:-

  • Reception and Years 1 and 2:  15 minutes per day 5 days per week.
  • Years 3 and 4: 20 minutes per day
  • Years 5 and 6: 30 minutes per day
  • Years 7 and 8: 45 to 90 minutes per day
  • Year 9: one to two hours per day
  • Years 10 and 11: 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day

Please encourage your child to check their work thoroughly before handing it in. You can help by pointing out errors and asking them to correct them. Encourage your child to get their folders and books ready for Young Education Services the day before they are due to attend. Homework should not always be written work. For younger children it will largely be:

  • reading with parents or carers
  • informal games to practice mathematical skills

For older children homework activities may include:

  • preparing a presentation to the class
  • finding out information

YES is happy for you to support and help your child with their homework. Your child is likely to get more out of an activity if you get involved, as long as you don’t take over too much. If you’re unsure about what your role should be, please contact us on [email protected].

It is important that homework is completed by each child on a weekly basis. During the lesson the tutor will go through various aspects of English, Maths and sometimes Reasoning with your child. The aim is to make each student understand the principles behind the work set. The student is then required to finish this work pack at home under your guidance. You will note that with each lesson pack, a comments sheet is enclosed. This is for parents to use and return duly signed. Your comments are very helpful to the child’s tutor, as much information about his or her strengths and weaknesses can be gained from them.  Please look at your child’s marked returned work. We do try wherever possible to go through corrections or include them in the next week’s questions. It is not always possible in the short time to go through every possible correction. If this is the case, we would ask parents to be supportive in their child’s completion of corrections.

However, if it should be the case that your child hasn’t found time to complete their homework – perhaps because they have been working to finish a school assignment which must be handed in – please do not hesitate to explain to your child’s tutor, either by writing on the comments sheet, contacting us by email or verbally when you see the tutor at the next lesson. The tutor will be fully sympathetic. We are always striving to set the amount of homework which is appropriate for your child and always welcome your comments.

We therefore ask you as parents/carers to encourage your child to complete the homework tasks that are set.

Each week, a child hands in his/her homework to their tutor. It is not marked during that lesson. Sometimes homework takes up to half an hour to mark per piece. This would mean that your child would receive no tutelage! The tutor takes the work with them, marks it during the week and returns it to the child the next time they attend.

Thank you for your support.

Lin Potter and Staff at Young Education Services

To contact us please click this link: [email protected]

To enroll your child at YES please click here

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No Homework Policy: One Year Later

By Mary Montero

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no homework policy uk

.Last school year was a really big year in my classroom. We started flexible seating (you can read more about that adventure  HERE ), we implemented a Bring Your Own Device program, and we did away with homework. Like I said– BIG year!

While each of those three changes contributed to a very different feel in my classroom than years prior, I was particularly nervous about doing away with homework. I know that homework has its place, and I know there are concepts and skills (especially in 4th grade!) that require repetition to really grasp. Yet, I still felt like the reasons to do away with homework were more important than the benefits of homework itself.

Throughout the school year, I had many colleagues pop in and ask how our no-homework policy was going. “It’s going well!” I would respond, but I wouldn’t give many details. Now, after a full school year without it, I definitely have some reflections on how it went, what changes I would make, and if I would do it again!

After a Full Year of No Homework

Homework2BPhilosophy

You can see that we didn’t COMPLETELY do away with homework, but we did do away with 99% of it. We still STRONGLY encouraged students to be reading each night, and they were required to have a novel in progress at all times. We also continued our weekly letter writing, where students had to respond to us in letter form by the end of the week. You can read more about that idea  HERE . I’ll never have a classroom where I don’t do it!

We also had a disclaimer that if students did not complete their classwork in a reasonable period of time or were excessively off task during an assignment, they would need to bring it home to complete it.

How I Broke The News To My Students

Of course, when we first told students about this change, there was hooting and hollering and cheers galore! I let them have their moment and then gently pulled them back together. I reassured them that it was totally possible that they wouldn’t have homework, but that it would mean they had to give me their all every. single. minute of every. single. day. Their eyes got big, they sat up taller, and an air of confidence washed over them. “We’ve got this, Mrs. M.!” I remember one kiddo saying. In the beginning, it was as if they would do anything to keep this privilege.  We floated on clouds of no-homework bliss for a solid week…

And then here’s what really happened when I did away with homework…

Eliminating2Bhomework2Bno2Bhomework2Bpolicy

I expected more from my students than ever before.

When I was planning my lessons this year, I packed in more than I ever had before. While that might send like a negative effect of this little experiment, it was actually one of the best parts for me.

The Monster That Is Math

In math, in particular, this was a game changer for me. I knew that my students needed to deeply and fully understand these concepts and be able to compute with automaticity. I also knew they wouldn’t be going home and doing 20 extra problems each night like they had in the past. This meant that 1) I had to make sure they understood the concept like the back of their hand and 2) They could apply that understanding to a wide variety of problems…. Of course, these are two non-negotiables that any math classroom should have, but I was going to be doing it with less practice and repetition than before.

Therefore, when I was planning, I ended up with FAR more inquiry-based lessons and practice (so that they would really get the meat of the concept), and far less direct teacher instruction. I jammed as much as I could into my whole group time (10-15 minutes a day) and then jammed even more into their workshop time. Kids were collaborating, practicing, and learning more than ever… Simply because I had this sense of urgency that I was missing before.

But What About Spelling

A few people have asked about spelling and how this worked without homework and studying at home. We use a word study philosophy, similar to Words Their Way , which means that students are studying patterns in words rather than the words themselves. I incorporated this into my reading rotations and would occasionally devote some of our writing to it, and I would highly recommend it!

Another option to fit in what would have previously been homework is to rethink your morning routine. I usually use my  Think It Through  critical thinking packet as morning work, and when I did away with homework this year and had to give them some more “intense” morning work, I started using the packet during Morning Meeting instead. I used our morning work time this year to review and reteach grammar concepts some days and math skills other days. It was the perfect balance!

This brought out the best in some kids

When I say it brought out the best in them, I mean it changed their study habits permanently. They created habits that I hope will continue on with them for years and years to come. They knew that in order to continue having no homework, they truly had to give me their all during the day. It wasn’t easy. They had to not only complete their assignments, but complete them well. We had very, very little down time, and I expected more from this group of kids than ever before.  Some rose to the challenge and THRIVED under the challenge…

…and some kids didn’t care.

I did have a handful of students who were not at all motivated by a lack of homework. These were the kids who repeatedly ended up taking work home because they weren’t completing it in class. Usually due to them being distracted and not on-task. Some kids learned quickly that this isn’t what they wanted, and a few kids never did quite learn.

Some parents loved it. Others hated it.

On Back to School Night, when we handed out this homework policy, the general consensus was all the praise hands in the world! Parents thanked us for giving them FREEDOM in the evenings to take their kids to gymnastics without worrying about homework and some parents thanked us for eliminating the nightly homework battle they had fought for the past few years.

We also had a small number of parents who wanted their kids to have homework. They worried that they would become accustomed to not having homework and have a difficult time next year when their teacher required it again. They worried they wouldn’t get enough skill practice. These were valid concerns, and we reassured parents that, if they requested it, we would send home supplemental practice. Not one of the parents who initially expressed concern over the policy ever ended up asking for homework.

…but some KIDS asked for homework!

I’ll never forget the first time one of my kids ASKED for homework! It was about a month into the school year, and we were working on  Error Analysis  in small groups. One of my students looked up and said, “I LOVE this. Can you PLEASE give us some more to do at home!?” How could I deny them that opportunity!? 🙂 The rest of the kids in the small group chimed in that they wanted to bring some home too. During my lunch break, I printed a few more tasks out for those kids, and guess what? Every single student in that group brought it home and returned it the next day– BY CHOICE!

This happened multiple times throughout the year, primarily with my  math projects  and error analysis tasks. I never, ever denied them when they asked to bring something home for homework.

Some kids NEED homework.

Usually, these aren’t the kids who were requesting the extra homework, but I had another handful of students who needed homework. They needed skill practice, they needed reading fluency practice, and they needed fact practice. I talked to each of those students individually and contacted those parents privately. They (both students and parents) understood why I needed to send supplemental work home. Once a quarter, I put together packets based on those kids’ needs. I gave them free reign to complete it at any time throughout the quarter, and every single packet came back completed by the end of the quarter.

I would do it all over again.

At the end of the year, I had parents come up to me and thank me for this policy, telling me how they had enjoyed a better relationship with their student this year without the nightly homework battle. They had taken more walks, participated in more after school activities, and were generally so thankful for the reprieve.

As a teacher, I saw happy kids coming in every day and relaxed kids leaving every afternoon. There were no battles over missing homework, and kids worked hard to keep the privilege. I had no noticeable (anecdotally or with data) drop in achievement or growth over the course of the year. I felt like a better teacher because I worked even harder during the school day to make sure they were getting exactly what they needed while they were with me.

…Oh, and I had a lot less grading to do, too! 🙂 🙂

I would do it again a heartbeat!

Homework Policy

We strongly believe in the power of play and the importance of letting children be children. Further, research does not indicate significant benefits of homework at the elementary level. We believe that when students give us all of their day, they deserve to have all of their night. Therefore, we have eliminated the majority of our standing homework assignments. Eat dinner as a family and ask them how their day was, enjoy your child’s extracurricular activities without worrying about homework, and know that your child is working hard at school each day and has earned their evening playtime!

To foster community and self-reflection, your student will have a weekly letter from their teacher (more about that below!) to respond to, and we highly encourage you to read a book of choice with your child each evening. Please Note: If a student exhibits off-task behaviors during the school day and fails to complete an assignment, the assignment will be sent home for completion.

Mary Montero

I’m so glad you are here. I’m a current gifted and talented teacher in a small town in Colorado, and I’ve been in education since 2009. My passion (other than my family and cookies) is for making teachers’ lives easier and classrooms more engaging.

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We have spelling and vocabulary programs that each have a workbook. I've used those as homework assignments with the test on Fridays. Would you have the kids do these assignments in class rather than as homework? What homework did you use to give for Language Arts and how did that change? Do your kids take tests and do you have them study at home for those? I'm interested in having no homework – I'm just not sure how to fit everything in a short class period. Thanks in advance for providing more information!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! My team and I have been thinking through this possibility for us. I am wondering if you give spelling tests? If not, can you tell me did this go away at the same time or previously? Thanks!

I did not do homework in my fourth grade classroom last year either. I had very much the same reactions from parents and results with my class. I also felt that sense of urgency to get things accomplished and to make sure that kids really knew what they were doing in the time we had at school. I am definitely planning on implementing this again this year in my third grade classroom! I do like your idea of making it a privilege. Putting it to them that way also creates a sense of urgency with them to succeed. Thanks so much for sharing!

That was a fascinating read. Good to hear that most of the kids stepped up their game!

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18 Advantages and Disadvantages of Homework Should Be Banned

Homework has been a part of the schooling experience for multiple generations. There are some lessons that are perfect for the classroom environment, but there are also some things that children can learn better at home. As a general rule, the maximum amount of time that a student should spend each day on lessons outside of school is 10 minutes per each grade level.

That means a first grader should spend about 10 minutes each night on homework. If you are a senior in high school, then the maximum limit would be two hours. For some students, that might still be too much extra time doing work. There are some calls to limit the amount of time spent on extra limits to 30 minutes per day at all of the older K-12 grades – and some are saying that homework should be banned outright.

Can teachers get all of the lessons taught in an appropriate way during the 1-2 hours per subject that they might get each day? Do parents have an opportunity to review what their children learn at school if none of the work ever gets brought back home?

There are several advantages and disadvantages of why homework should be banned from the current school structure.

List of the Advantages of Why Homework Should Be Banned

1. Homework creates a longer day for students than what parents work. There are times when parents need to bring work home with them after a long day of productivity, but this time is usually part of a compensation package. Students do not receive the same luxury. After spending 6-8 hours at school, there might be two more hours of homework to complete before getting through all of the assignments that are due. That means some kids are putting in a longer working day than their parents. This disadvantage means there are fewer moments for going outside, spending time with friends, or pursuing a hobby.

2. There is no guarantee of an improved academic outcome. Research studies provide conflicting results when looking at the impact of homework on a student’s life. Younger students may benefit from a complete ban so that they can separate their home and classroom experiences. Even older students who perform projects outside of the school benefit from time restrictions on this responsibility. Design flaws exist on both sides of the clinical work that looks at this topic, so there is no definitive scientific conclusion that points to a specific result. It may be better to err on the side of caution.

3. Homework restrictions reduce issues with classroom burnout for students. Homework stress is a significant problem in the modern classroom for K-12 students. Even kids in grade school are finding it a challenge to maintain their performance because of the pressure that daily assignments cause. About 1 in 4 teachers in North America say that there are direct adverse impacts that happen because of the amount of learning required of students today. It can also cause older students to drop out of school because they can’t stay caught up on the work that they need to do.

When students have a chance to have time to pursue interests outside of the classroom, then it can create healthier learning opportunities in the future for them.

4. Banning homework would give families more time to spend together. One in three American households with children say that the homework assignments that teachers give are the primary source of stress in their home. When kids must complete their work by a specific deadline, then there is less time for families to do activities together. Instead of scheduling their time around their free hours, they must balance homework requirements in their plans. There are even fewer moments for parents to be involved in the learning process because of the specific instructions that students must follow to stay in compliance with the assignment.

5. Student health is adversely impacted by too many homework assignments. Kids of any age struggle academically when they do not have opportunities to finish their homework by a specific deadline. It is not unusual for school administrators and some teachers to judge children based on their ability to turn work in on time. If a child has a robust work ethic and still cannot complete the work, the negative approach that they might encounter in the classroom could cause them to abandon their learning goals.

This issue can even lead to the development of mental health problems. It can reduce a child’s self-esteem, prevent them from learning essential learning skills, and disrupt their ability to learn new skills in other areas of life outside of the classroom. Even the risk of self-harm and suicide increase because of excessive homework. That’s why banning it could be a healthy choice for some people.

6. Banning homework would help students get more sleep. Teens need up to 10 hours of sleep each night to maximize their productivity. Students in grade school can need up to 12 hours nightly as well. When homework assignments are necessary and time consuming, then this issue can eat into the amount of rest that kids get each night. Every assignment given to a K-12 student increases their risks of losing at least one hour of sleep per night. This issue can eventually lead to sleep deficits that can create chronic learning issues. It may even lead to problems with emotional control, obesity, and attention problems. Banning homework would remove the issue entirely.

7. It would encourage dynamic learning opportunities. There are some homework projects that students find to be engaging, such as a science fair project or another hands-on assignment. Many of the tasks that students must complete for their teachers involves repetition instead. You might see grade school students coming home with math sheets with 100 or more problems for them to solve. Reading assignments are common at all grades. Instead of learning the “why” behind the information they learn, the goal with homework is usually closer to memorization that it is to self-discovery. That’s why it can be challenging to retain the data that homework provides.

8. Banning homework would provide more time for peer socialization. Students who are only spending time in school before going home to do homework for the rest of the evening are at a higher risk of experiencing isolation and loneliness. When these sentiments are present in the life of a child, then they are more likely to experience physical and mental health concerns that lead to shyness and avoidance.

These students lack essential connections with other people because of their need to complete homework. The adverse impact on the well being of a child is the equivalent of smoking more than a pack of cigarettes each day. If kids are spending time all of their time on homework, then they are not connecting with their family and friends.

9. Some students do not have a home environment that’s conducive to homework. Although some kids can do their homework in a tranquil room without distress, that is not the case for most children. Numerous events happen at home that can shift a child’s attention away from the homework that their teacher wants them to complete. It isn’t just the TV, video games, and the Internet which are problematic either. Family problems, chores, an after-school job, and team sports can make it problematic to get the assignments finished on time.

Banning homework equalizes the playing field because teachers can control the classroom environment. They do not have control over when, where, or how their students complete assignments away from school.

10. It would eliminate the assignment of irrelevant work. Homework can be a useful tool when teachers use it in targeted ways. There are times when these assignments are handed out for the sake of giving out busy work. If the content of the work is irrelevant to the lessons in the classroom, then it should not be handed out. It is unreasonable to expect that a student can generate excellent grades on work that is barely covered in the classroom.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that given students just four hours of take-home assignments per week has a detrimental impact on individual productivity. The average U.S. high school already pushes that limit by offering 3.5 hours of extra assignments per week.

List of the Disadvantages of Why Homework Should Be Banned

1. Teachers can see if students understand the materials being taught. Homework allows a teacher to determine if a student has a grasp on the materials being taught in the classroom. Tests and school-based activities can provide this information as well, but not in the same way. If the data sticks outside of the educational setting, then this is an excellent indication that the process was effective for that individual. If there are gaps in knowledge that occur in the homework, then the learning process can become individualized to ensure the best possible results for each child.

2. Homework can reduce the stress and anxiety of test-taking. Students often study for tests at home to ensure that they can pass with an acceptable grade. Walking into a classroom only prepared with the notes and memories of previous lessons can create high levels of fear that could impact that child’s final result. Banning homework could place more pressure on kids to succeed than what they currently experience today. This disadvantage would also create more labels in the classroom based on the performance of each child in unfair ways. Some students excel in a lecture-based environment, but others do better at home where there are fewer distractions.

3. Assignments can be an effective way to discover learning disabilities. Kids do an excellent job of hiding their struggles in the classroom from adults. They use their disguises as a coping mechanism to help them blend in when they feel different. That behavior can make it a challenge to identify students who many benefit from a different learning approach in specific subjects. By assigning homework to each child periodically, there are more opportunities to identify the issues that can hold some people back. Then the teachers can work with the families to develop alternative learning plans that can make the educational process better for each student because individual assignments eliminate the ability to hide.

4. Parents are more involved in the learning process because of homework. Parents need to know what their children are learning in school. Even if they ask their kids about what they are learning, the answers tend to be given in generalities. Without specific examples from the classroom, it is challenging to stay involved in a student’s educational process.

By sending homework from the school, it allows the entire family to encounter the assignments that their kids are doing when they are in school during the day. Then there is more adult involvement with the learning process, reinforcing the core ideas that were discovered by their kids each day.

5. Homework provides opportunities for students to use deeper research. The average classroom in the United States provides less than 60 minutes of instruction for each subject daily. Generalist teachers in grade school might skip certain subjects on some days as well. When there are homework assignments going home, then it creates more chances to use the tools at home to learn more about what is happening at school. Taking a deeper look at specific subjects or lessons through independent study can lead to new thoughts or ideas that may not occur in the classroom environment. This process can eventually lead to a better understanding of the material.

6. The homework process requires time management and persistence to be successful. Students must learn core life skills as part of the educational process. Time management skills are one of the most useful tools that can be in a child’s life toolbox. When you know how to complete work by a deadline consistently, then this skill can translate to an eventual career. Homework can also teach students how to solve complex problems, understand current events, or tap into what they are passionate about in life. By learning from an early age that there are jobs that we sometimes need to do even if we don’t want to them, the persistence lessons can translate into real successes later in life.

7. Assignments make students accountable for their role in the educational process. Teachers cannot force a student to learn anything. There must be a desire present in the child to know more for information retention to occur. An education can dramatically improve the life of a child in multiple ways. It can lead to more income opportunities, a greater understanding of the world, and how to establish a healthy routine. By offering homework to students, teachers are encouraging today’s kids how to be accountable for their role in their own education. It creates opportunities to demonstrate responsibility by proving that the work can be done on time and to a specific quality.

8. It creates opportunities to practice time management. There can be problems with homework for some students when they are heavily involved in extra-curricular activities. If you give a child two hours of homework after school and they have two hours of commitments to manage at the same time, then there are some significant challenges to their time management to solve. Time really is a finite commodity. If we are unable to manage it in wise ways, then our productivity levels are going to be limited in multiple ways. Creating a calendar with every responsibility and commitment helps kids and their families figure out ways to manage everything while pushing the learning process forward.

Verdict of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Banning Homework

Some students thrive on the homework they receive from their teachers each day. There are also some kids that struggle to complete even basic assignments on time because of their home environment. How can we find a balance between the two extremes so that every child can receive the best possible chance to succeed?

One solution is to ban homework entirely. Although taking this action would require teachers and parents to be proactive in their communication, it could help to equalize the educational opportunities in the classroom.

Until more research occurs in this area, the advantages and disadvantages of banning homework are subjective. If you feel that your child would benefit from a reduced workload, then speak with the teacher to see if this is an option. For teens and older students, there is always the option to pursue a different form of education, such as a vocational school or an apprenticeship, if the traditional classroom doesn’t seem to be working.

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Opinion: Your kid is right, homework is pointless. Here’s what you should do instead.

Kids homework

Editor’s Note: Elissa Strauss writes about the politics and culture of parenthood. The views expressed in this commentary are her own.

We live, for the most part, fairly similar lives to our next-door neighbors. Both households have two working parents, two kids and an appreciation for the way California weather affords them unscripted, outdoor play year-round.

We are all busier than we want to be, but our neighbors have an extra, unnecessary hurdle that makes life more difficult.

Next door, the kids have homework. This involves 30 minutes of child-wrangling and patience-testing five days a week, pressure-cooking the little downtime they have together as a family.

Meanwhile, our family takes that time to enjoy our kids. No efficiency, no productivity, no agenda; just parents and children hanging out.

There’s been a lot of research and debate on the academic value of homework for school-aged children. The results, although somewhat mixed, generally conclude that homework provides no advantage for kids in elementary grades. As children get older, the potential benefits of homework grow, but less than you probably think.

Texas teacher's no homework policy goes viral.

Too much homework? Not in this class. None at all. None all year

Missing from the homework conversation is how no-homework policies benefit the whole family – parents and caregivers included.

School schedules and cultures were created for a different time, when moms were expected to be available to children during non-school hours. But today, the majority of families have either dual-working or single parents. Reconfiguring the education system to adapt to this current reality is a big project. We need to accommodate for the fact that nobody’s home to watch kids after school and during holiday breaks, or to spend four hours building a “Bridge to Terabithia” diorama on a Thursday afternoon.

The remedy to this would likely involve an overhaul of our paid leave and vacation policies, as well as modifications to our daily and yearly school schedules. This is not a quick fix.

Ending homework for elementary school-aged kids is, on the other hand, relatively easy. We just have to stop doing it.

We need to do less

Feeling overwhelmed is a defining trait of today’s parents and caregivers. We have too much to do, our kids have too much to do, and leisure and happiness are the prices we pay for it.

One recent survey of 2,000 parents commissioned by Crayola Experience found that more than half of parents feel they are too busy to enjoy the fun of parenting. A similar number told Pew Research Center they struggle to balance the responsibilities of home with the responsibilities of a family. We feel guilty, and we feel tired. We lack the energy to make it through the week, let alone figure out how to get ourselves out of this mess.

01 kid screen time

Why we should stop calling it 'screen time' to our kids

When every minute is accounted for, sometimes two or three times over, a reprieve from something as seemingly minor as homework can make a big difference.

“The time families have together is really short; it is much shorter than what people would like. And when you are together everyone is fried,” said Brigid Schulte, author of “ Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time ” and director of the Better Life Lab . “If you are stressed and cranky, and your kid has been in aftercare too long, and then you get home and have to force them to do their homework, it removes the sense that home is a supportive, loving place where you can connect.”

Schulte encourages parents and caregivers to resist homework. This might include fighting for no-homework policies at their children’s schools, and pushing back against unrealistic homework assignments. Reach out to a teacher and tell them why a particular assignment is burdensome or causing unnecessary stress and, if this is the case, why your child won’t be able to meet the teacher’s expectations, she suggested.

“The most important thing is to look for small wins right now,” she said, referring to the battle against busyness. Gaining roughly 30 minutes a night, or two-plus hours a week, has the potential to make a dramatic difference in family well-being, giving us an opportunity to remember why exactly we had children in the first place.

Teach your children, and yourself, to do less

It can feel scary to slow down. Rising income inequality has turned parenting into a competitive sport. It’s a winner-takes-all world and we want our kids to be the winners — unhappy, stressed-out winners.

There is so much out there telling your children they need to do more and be more, and that whatever they think is enough is most definitely not enough. This means that parents and caregivers provide what is likely kids’ only shot at learning about leisure and togetherness. The overwhelming message from decades of research has found these are the main ingredients to happiness and well-being.

Holidays - Siblings arguing in the car during a long car journey

Summer isn't a break for kids or parents

Getting rid of homework is a relatively simple way to combat this high-stakes problem. It gives parents and caregivers the opportunity to teach their children these essential – albeit systematically ignored and undervalued – skills.

“Kids should have a chance to just be kids and do things they enjoy, particularly after spending six hours a day in school,” said Alfie Kohn, author of “ The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing .” “After all, we adults need time just to chill out; it’s absurd to insist that children must be engaged in constructive activities right up until their heads hit the pillow.”

This isn’t to say that the downtime has to be mindless. Kohn suggests that parents and caregivers can, with their kids, cook, play board games, read or watch TV and then discuss what they read or watched. (Ideally, it’s something parents would enjoy as well.) All of these activities require logic or analytical skills, and can help uncover kids’ passions, as well as areas in which they might be struggling and need additional help.

0305 father kid phone RESTRICTED

Q: Am I a bad parent if I'm on my phone in front of my kids?

These activities can also help kids build the kind of skills we associate with homework, said Josh Cline, a public school teacher in Oakland, California. Perseverance and stamina, for example, are required to sit through a story and then discuss it, to complete a batch of brownies or play a game of checkers or chess. “It’s better to grow those skills doing things kids find interesting than forcing them to slog through worksheets,” he said. That said, if worksheets are your kid’s thing, Cline said to give them a shot — as long as it is clear they have a choice.

From an academic standpoint, Cline’s main interest is for kids to be reading at home. However, he says, forcing it is likely to backfire. Instead, parents and caregivers should try to encourage reading by giving their kids plenty of choices, and, whenever possible, integrating reading into a cozy routine (that may or may not include hot chocolate).

But ultimately, the best replacement for homework is, simply, a parent or caregiver’s attention.

“Spend time with them and see them as people. At school, they operate as a herd, and as hard as I try as a teacher, I can’t give them all the attention they deserve,” Cline said. “At home they should be seen as the unique, individual, interesting and brilliant people they are.”

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Is a No Homework Policy Academically Helpful to Learning?

Posted on: October 10th, 2017

Homework is a phenomenon which has endured the test of time in almost all calibres of educations. From an early age, students going to first grade to even university students, everybody is assigned homework by their academic institute. Has anybody even considered the reasons why there should be no homework other than the students? Is it actually helpful to the learning process? Is it conducive to administer homework to improve your concentration for younger students or older scholars? If it is not helpful why is it still being administered? If it is helpful, are there certain skills such as art coursework which are more suited for administering in homework? If a student completes all of their homework punctually with complete efficiency does it guarantee success in the latest exam? If completing your homework is the only way to get good grades, how do new students catch up so fast?

Is a No Homework Policy Academically Helpful?

Academic Benefits of No Homework Outweighs Disadvantages

How do Finnish students succeed academically with a no homework policy? Instead of discussing homework tips at the dinner table students in Finland are busy discussing their plans for the evening. In Finland students do not get any homework but still easily outperform there UK peers. Alfie Kohn conducted a research to deliberate if a no homework policy improves learning and whether or not standardised testing has any positive effects or not. He found out quite the inverse to be true, that homework is an unnecessary evil . Homework has more negative effects on students than it has positive effects. Frustration, anxiety, restlessness are just some the emotions which students claim are associated with homework. None of these emotions are productive to learning. Even the students which are at the top of the academic triangle consider it to be an academic burden rather than an enjoyable assignment.

The Purpose of Homework in the Educational System

According to psychologists, the negative effects of homework exceed the advantages of homework. If students are completing their homework thinking that this will somehow help them in the assessments they are sadly mistaken. Just like educational services are bought and sold similarly there is a huge market providing online coursework help to students depending on institutes to assign students with homework. In Finland they have a holistic approach towards education and learning. They believe that education should be family friendly. This may be one of the reasons why teenagers in Finland outperform their European peers. In the rest of the world where homework is regularly administered by educators there have been various researches but not a single investigation could provide any substantial evidence that homework directly effects the academic performance of a student.

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Home Essay Examples Education Homework

No Homework Policy: My Arguments Against

  • Category Education
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  • Topic Homework

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“No Homework Policy”

Introduction.

In the present day, Filipinos are beginning to complain on everything. Even the simplest task that we used to do, often receive a negative reaction from us. From the childhood, parents taught their children to be responsible for their actions. But what is the responsibility? What does it mean for everyone?

The responsibility is the understanding of the consequences, which can be caused by the actions of the person. It is setting goals and their reaching. It means to be responsible for all your words, actions and even thoughts. It is one’s responsibility for their own improvement and professional development. Every year, people get a lot of responsibility. For example, parents are always responsible for their children, the head of the organization is always responsible for the workers. The interesting fact is, that even if the person is wise and have a lot of talents, but do not have the responsibility, he will not reach the success. He will lose the support of other people. They will not trust him, because he is unreliable.

Our writers can write you a new plagiarism-free essay on any topic

The 21st Century generation of students is one of the best example on portraying the responsibility. It has also been said on Dr. Rizal’s quotation, “Youth is the hope of the nation”. The youth, the students are carrying a heavy responsibility realizing the fact that we are the only hope of our country. But what if doing a single task appears as a burden to us?

Homework is a vital part of education. Homework is a waste of time. Homework is a burden. These are the thoughts of some students whenever they feel stressed on doing a task assigned to them at home. I, myself is one of those students who think ill of homework but I know the bright side of doing it. Homework is important. It is necessary and a must. We all know that it is a part of school life. Some people think that homework is an effective way to reinforce the concepts and knowledge that were learned at school. Others feel like the time homework demands would be better spent with a meaningful activity that brings the family together.

In the past month, two members of Philippine Congress presented their own respective measures seeking to ban homework. According to House Bill 388, teachers are prohibited from giving assignments to their students if they will be done during weekends. Homework is also prohibited in House Bill 3611 for the health of the children. The Department of Education (DepEd) has also expressed their support for the “No Homework Policy” bills proposed by our lawmakers at the House of Representatives. It said that the policy would allow students to find ways to balance between their academic development and personal growth by having ample time for enjoyable activities with family.

Some people suggest students must be spared from homework so they can get into any sports or get to have more bonding time with their families and friends. In other countries like America, homework is guided by what is called, ‘the ten-minute rule’ which recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level.

As much as I want to be free from extra works at home, I know that doing homework will help students like me, to retain what I have learned in school and to get advanced lessons. Home works also helps us be responsible even at a small task. It encourages the discipline of practice. Answering questions and solving problems over and over can be boring and difficult, but it also reinforces the practice of discipline. It gets parents involved with a child’s life and it seems favorable. There are situational problems we can ask to our parents because they are more experienced than us. It teaches time management skills. Homework goes beyond completing a task. It forces children to develop time management skills.

To be responsible for your future, family and actions, it is the important quality of a successful person. It means that such person will do everything, that he or she promised to him/herself. The possibility to promise something and to fulfill it is one of the fact, that this person is reliable. It is the ground of the leadership and professional growth. If the person does not want to take any responsibility, it means that this person cannot do a lot in the real life. These people will not be able to reach the success in this life or create the family, because the family is a huge responsibility.

But people that are not afraid of the responsibility and can take it are successful and can control the situation and even the life of other people. They increase their opportunities and they are doing their best to reach the success.

I totally disagree to the “No Homework Policy” because it will only makes us, students, lazier on doing tasks and will only let students be less prepared for higher education or the workforce, and ultimately the entire country will suffer the consequences.

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  4. Let’s have a discussion about Flipped Classroom and a No Homework

    no homework policy uk

  5. Thinking About a No Homework Policy? Here's What You Should Know

    no homework policy uk

  6. The Impact of No Homework Policy: A Comprehensive Analysis

    no homework policy uk

COMMENTS

  1. The Homework Debate 2021: Should homework be banned in the UK?

    May 31, 2021 by admin The homework debate resurfaces every year without fail. It is a popular topic with parents, primary school teachers, online tutors, and politicians alike. Should homework be banned? Is homework at primary school necessary? Do pupils receive enough education in class that homework is nothing but a waste of time?

  2. Education Secretary: I trust head teachers to decide their homework

    Good homework policies avoid excessive time requirements - focusing on quality rather than quantity and making sure that there is a clear purpose to any homework set. In 2011 we helped set up...

  3. The Great Homework Debate In Primary Schools 2024

    A 'no-homework' policy pleases only a few; a grid of creative tasks crowd-sourced from the three teachers bothered to give their input infuriates many (parents, teachers and children alike).

  4. Should Homework Be Scrapped For Young Kids?

    Homework policies in the UK differ between primary schools, however it's generally expected that children should be doing some form of home learning each week - whether reading, practising ...

  5. Homework

    1. Homework has a positive impact on average (+ 5 months), particularly with pupils in secondary schools. 2. Some pupils may not have a quiet space for home learning - it is important for schools to consider how home learning can be supported (e.g. through providing homework clubs for pupils). 3.

  6. Is homework a good idea or not?

    Help from Bitesize What do you think of homework? For the last 100 years or so, experts have been trying to work out if it is beneficial to give homework to kids in primary schools. In the...

  7. Should homework be banned?

    Social media has sparked into life about whether children should be given homework - should students be freed from this daily chore? Dr Gerald Letendre, a professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, investigates.

  8. School Report: Do we get too much homework?

    A big report for the Department for Education, published in 2014, concluded that students in Year 9 who spent between two and three hours on homework on an average week night were almost 10 times ...

  9. Case study: Transforming your homework policy

    In recent years, many schools have overseen changes in their homework policies and our school - The King's CE Academy in Kidsgrove - is no exception. While we have found a "no-homework" policy pleases only a few, having a table of creative but generic homework tasks for teachers to choose from - differentiated using chilli peppers ...

  10. Parents in revolt at school's 'no homework' policy as they complain a

    It was meant to be an innovative policy, designed to foster independence and self-motivation. But parents at Philip Morant School and College are in open revolt at the "no homework" policy, as ...

  11. Why do Finnish pupils succeed with less homework?

    There is little homework, compared with UK schools, and there is no culture of extra private tuition. A key concept in the Finnish school system, says Mr Tuominen, is "trust". Parents trust...

  12. (PDF) Primary homework in England: the beliefs and practices of

    School policy for setting homework in the primary years homework, somewhat less than the 90% in Ofsted 1999, suggesting that mandating a policy was either ineffective or that the policy...

  13. 'Long homework hours' for UK families

    The weekly average for the UK was about five hours - but, the OECD said, this was because the figures included young people who appeared to do almost no homework at all. The gap between the ...

  14. The power of a good homework policy

    Damian Hinds, Education Secretary, clarified that although schools are not obliged to set homework, when they do, children need to complete it in line with their school's homework policy; "we trust individual school head teachers to decide what their policy on homework will be, and what happens if pupils don't do what's set."

  15. Homework Policy

    Homework Policy. Homework is an important part of education and can add much to a child's development. The government's commitment to homework is demonstrated in the 1997 White Paper, 'Excellence in Schools', which views homework as 'an essential part of good education'. Homework is also important because it flags up concerns ...

  16. No Homework Policy: One Year Later

    No Homework Policy: One Year Later By Mary Montero .Last school year was a really big year in my classroom. We started flexible seating (you can read more about that adventure HERE ), we implemented a Bring Your Own Device program, and we did away with homework. Like I said- BIG year!

  17. 18 Advantages and Disadvantages of Homework Should Be Banned

    List of the Advantages of Why Homework Should Be Banned 1. Homework creates a longer day for students than what parents work. There are times when parents need to bring work home with them after a long day of productivity, but this time is usually part of a compensation package. Students do not receive the same luxury.

  18. Thinking About a No Homework Policy? Here's What You Should Know

    Taking a stand to implement a no homework policy should be based on the needs of the students and not the opinions of fellow teachers or parents. However, teachers who want to put an end to...

  19. Here's Why No Homework Policies Don't Work

    The most common argument made for no-homework policies is that homework does not improve academic achievement. A Duke University meta-analysis of homework research was conducted looking at...

  20. Opinion: Your kid is right, homework is pointless. Here's what you

    Missing from the homework conversation is how no-homework policies benefit the whole family - parents and caregivers included. School schedules and cultures were created for a different time ...

  21. Petition · No homework for children in the UK · Change.org

    No homework for children in the UK Started 14 May 2019 Petition to UK Parliament Why this petition matters Started by Woody Hudson Our goal is to abolish homework for schools in the UK. We believe that homework is wrong and that if students want to study then they should make that choice to study.

  22. No Homework Policy Substantial Research and Evidence

    No homework policy is standard policy in Finland which helped the country outperform academically with a higher acceptance in to international universities.

  23. Schools in England given new guidance on stopping phone use

    Getty Images. Schools in England have been given new guidance intended to stop the use of mobile phones during the school day. The government said the move was part of a plan to "minimise ...

  24. No Homework Policy: My Arguments Against

    According to House Bill 388, teachers are prohibited from giving assignments to their students if they will be done during weekends. Homework is also prohibited in House Bill 3611 for the health of the children.