Why too much homework doesn't work...

What is this writer in the Ladies Home Journal describing as "A national crime at the feet of American parents"? It's the same thing as this writer, who despairs of it as the "means of nervous exhaustion and agitation, highly prejudicial to body and mind". Well, 10 out of 10 if you said homework. Those descriptions are from the 19th century, so it appears that homework has been a huge source of resentment for a very long time....

Perhaps it's time to ask why. The government is keen to promote homework and offers quite frightening guidelines on this subject (at least if you want your children to have a life), from one hour a week in Years 1 and 2, to one and half to two hours a day in Years 10 and 11. Homework has long been accepted as something you just have to get on with, and, because it reinforces what you learn at school, something that may be boring, but is at least beneficial. Yet times appear to be changing.

As Alexandra Frean reports in today's paper, a top rated state school (Tiffin boys' school) has decided to cut the amount of homework it assigns, suggesting that it's "taking over" the children's lives. Bravo. Let's hope that more schools follow.

Homework has many disadvantages. This is true for pupils (it can become far too much of a burden, and doesn't actually seem to enhance learning a great deal), parents (many of us would prefer to be doing something else with our children rather than helping or exhorting them to get down to their homework) and teachers (all that marking takes a big chunk out of their lives. Is it that advantageous, particularly when it's unclear how much is the child's effort, and how much the parents?). It's also worth flagging up because there is no definite link between homework and student achievement. In fact, for primary school children, there appears to be no link at all.

The government is quite definitely a homework enthusiast, with the DCFS website proclaiming positively that: "Homework and home learning can provide an excellent opportunity for parents to become actively involved in their children's learning, giving them a window on school work." But more and more people disagree.

A kind of backlash against homework has been building for the last few years. In Canada, parents recently lobbied the country's largest school board (Toronto) to ban homework during holidays and limit the amount of work children are given at other times. Meanwhile Alfie Kohn's book The Homework Myth got a very sympathetic press.

Earlier this year, Mary Bousted, from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers warned that instead of encouraging children from poorer homes and helping them, homework actually "sets up a circle of resistance to school because they don't have access to the cultural and emotional and learning support" which middle class children can get. Her words echo research which suggests that students from lower-income backgrounds don't benefit as much from homework because they have fewer resources and less assistance. Even our six-year-old's homework requires parental help and technological resources. She recently brought home an assignment requiring her to make a poster of a famous person. What if we hadn't had the Internet for research, or the time (or inclincation) to help her?

But all that parental involvement can have its own problems. In Homework: The Evidence, Dr Susan Hallam reviewed 75 years of research in a variety of countries. She found that, although homework did have some benefits, it also created anxiety, boredom, fatigue and emotional exhaustion in children, as well as damaging family relationships. Interestingly she also found that, although it could make a difference academically, this was only up a certain level. In other words, too much homework can diminish its positive effects (Harris Cooper from Duke University found that test scores actually fall after a certain point).

Author Carl Honore (who writes a good blog on this very subject) explains that homework "came back into vogue" after the Second World War, with fears that the Soviets were pulling ahead! Now even the youngest children get given work to take home, and few parents question this. In fact, homework sometimes seems to have become a kind of status symbol - private schools pile on more than state schools, and assignments often require very hands-on parental involvement (for whose benefit?). 

Personally I think there is something to be said for learning spellings or having a reading book when you are young. I also think that doing homework can help with exam preparation and possibly time-management skills. But I'm not convinced that children need so much of it, nor that young (primary aged) children need anything more than what I've mentioned. There's a real danger that it can turn children off school and learning.

And what if we didn't have homework, or at least had less of it? Our children would have more time, not just for extra-curricular activities, but even (dangerous talk this) to relax and play. And we parents would have a load off our backs. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't show an interest in what your child is up to at school, but there are ways to do this without poring over work-books. Why not talk to them about their day, and build on it in other ways if you have the inclination. You could go to the library together, visit a museum or discuss what's in the news. There are better ways for children, and adults, to use their time than on homework.

Read School Gate on:

Why homework is too hard - for parents.

Seven ways to get your children to do their homework

Numberlines explained!

When should summer babies start school?

And, from Body & Soul, read Leah Hardy on the struggles that parents have with their children's homework!

Comments

[Karen]

I'm writing from the USA. I have two girls in Highschool at the moment one is a freashman (just started her first year) and the other is a Junior (third year). They are sometimes up until 2am doing homework. What I was wondering is how do they funtion the following day trying to focus on the days work ahead. Both girls are "A" honour roll students. But I still think they need time to breath. They are also doing homework on Saturday and Sundays. At this school in the Northside school district in San Antonio Texas the children does 8 subjects a day. The children leave to go to each classes. What a meant is that they rotate. In junior they use to have block schedule which gives them much more time in the classroom with their teacher and I noticed they were less stressed.

[Elizabeth]

My comments are not spam! I'm a teacher of thirty years and mother too.I was simply reading the Times articles as usual

[Erynn]

homework, when I was at school, was a pointless and soul-sapping excersise. When I did it - and, to be honest, in later years this was virtually never - I gained nothing from it and lost what little of my time I actually had to do things for me. Result: when I did it, I ended up sleep deprived, stressed, and very, very unhappy.
The trade wasn't worth it. I learned nothing. It was all reveing. Only rarely were we given research, which could quite easily be done with half an hour in the school library but was supposed to take an hour and a half and come with a presentation.
I stopped doing it.
I wanted a childhood.
And you know what?
6 A*'s at my GCSE's.
Down with school homework: it's not worth it.

[grh]

At our school the parents hated the learning logs so much we petitioned the school to stop them.

[Henry]

This article is garbage. As far as my class goes homework is essential and necessary. The students who do it will learn much more than if they don't and the students who don't do it, fail my class. There is a HUGE correlation to learning the material.

[MM]

Too much homework is the result of sloppy teaching, as is the pointless 50 calculations to do that someone has mentioned. I've been a secondary school teacher, and working out decent useful homework to give involves thought and hard work - unfortunately the school where my 9 year old son spends from 9-5 every day, doesn't have that kind of ethos, so we're planning on moving him next year. I know I'm probably going against the 'Earth Mother' approach, but I refuse to sit down with my son for 90 minutes doing his homework with him, only to have to then start with my 6 year old. I pay too much money for teachers to teach my children without then having to do their job for them in the evenings. At one point, I was even told that they would get a 'negative' (really friendly chart that goes on the wall for the whole year) if their homework didn't come in perfect, so parents please give it the once over. Time for a new school, I think. And yes, Whimsey, the worst ones are those *!$(*&()! ones that they send you where you have to come up with a scale model of the Taj Majal using lentils and pieces of the Berlin wall (for the next day please!) The best one will get a prize! Argghhhhh!!!!

[Joan]

Ever since my days at school (1960's)I have fervently believed that homework should be banned. I travelled a long way to school each day, leaving home at 7.20am and returning at 5.40m at night. That gave me 20 minutes to have tea before I had to start 3 hours of homework. At 9pm I went to bed exhausted. In the winter I often had two miles to walk to get the school bus as the road to the farm was impassable due to snow, but no teacher would take this into consideration when setting homework.
Weekend homework took till early Saturday afternoon to complete.
And the truth was that I couldn't care less what the standard of the work was as my aim was to get it finished as soon as I could.

[Eleanor]

Nobody seems to have mentioned that the school day here in UK has been significantly reduced, with secondary children out through the gates by 2:30 pm in many cases - at least they are near here.

The lunch break is pared to the minimum and after school activities are for the selected few - those who are good at sport etc.

As a country we are, apparently, "concerned" that academic standards are falling - levels of illiteracy are rising - and now it, apparently, isn't a good idea to give learners anything to do in the many hours between them getting out of school and going to bed at night.

I know that people who read the Times are more likely to be actively involved with their children's learning, but it might be worth, for just a moment, sparing a thought for the many who are disenchanted with the idea of formalised learning even before they are shoved through the school gate by their illiterate and ill-educated parents on their first ever day at school. These children don't know how to "work" when they're in school and aren't likely to do anything outside either, not unless they're given some support from the system by way of proper after school clubs, even homework clubs would be very useful for some of them, because it would at least keep them off the streets until a reasonable time each day.

Schools aren't meant to be childminding facilities, they are centres of learning. But a developing child needs a great deal more attention than the few hours daily cramming given by most schools, more especially those children with less-effective parents.

I think the system needs to be expanded and I certainly believe that secondary students need to be on site for a proper "working day", otherwise how else will they cope if/when they enter the world of work?

[Bob]

Most of the homework we got was assigned for the sake of it - teachers had targets they were supposed to meet. The kids were often aware the teacher didn't value it, so how are they themselves supposed to take it seriously?

Of course a lot of kids then end up thinking school as a whole is something you have to do because you're told rather than something with any value.

[owen]

homework is something that people can quite often be ignorant about. Who is to say that more homework makes children learn more. The real learning is done in the classroom with the teacher. Homework merely frustrates children.

[Matthew]

As "hippy" as an idea as it might be, when was the last time your child learnt something about the following at school (remember not all children have parents who teach them these values):

Love
Tolerance
Generosity
Curiosity
Inclusivity
Equality
Family
Respect
Friendship

Notice the list did not include:

Lust
Envy
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

But would you like to put money on which list your child knows more about? Or which set of values they will act on throughout their lives?

As much as I am an atheist, I admire religions for the values they try to instill in people. If only schools took a leaf out of their book. But of course, there'd be an argument about which religions should be used and learnt from... well... is it better to teach no values or to at least try and teach a set of good values?

But sorry... how much homework your child gets is clearly much more of an issue than core values.

[James]

Trust me, as a y10 student just starting GCSE, homework is a mixed blessing. Taking a quick look in one of my less filled homework logs, I have to do:

1, Chemistry.
Learn the reactivity series.
Don't the teachers understand that the reactivity series is fourteen atoms long! Nobody will learn that off by heart, and the people that do will only be learning an anagram, and therefore forget what the words actually mean!

2, English
Do a poster on 'my culture and the community.
Aargh! These ones are horrible! Design this, draw that, make a poster of these! They are meant to be fun, energetic things to do that are better than essays, but what they don't tell you is that it will take one hundred times longer, convey much less information than an essay and be all copy and pasted from Wikipedia?

3, Food Technology
Design 12 Healthy Layered Salads (with carbohydrates, fat, proteins and vitamins. At least six colours each)
For starters, nobody ever designs twelve layered salads this way. You don't classify food as food groups, you don't have 'fat' in a salad, layered or not, and most people in the food technology class are simply full of arrogant poofs (note that that wasn't an insult to homosexuality, as there is a difference between a simple 'gay' person and an annoying, impossible-to-work-with e.t.c poof) who only chose the subject as it is easier to do than design technology. Plus, we did F.T because some of us actually want to cook, not design adverts about ridiculous salads that people make and throw away.

4, Geography
Find out what happened at hallsands (>>insert five-line-long description about what the homework is supposed to have)
These are just like food tech. salad designs, but with these, you have to spend days working on a big A3 sheet, trying to find as many ways to fill up the paper without doodling everywhere and writing large!

As you see, hardly any of this homework matters! Why not stop these state-school-teach-to-the-test hypocrites handing out masses of un-needed homework! Something like:-

1, Chemistry.
Determine the acidity/alkalinity of six foods in the fridge with litmus paper.

2, English
Look up emotive words to do with 'culture'

3, Food Technology
Have a go at cooking a layered salad

4, Geography
Bring some rocks into school

These homeworks, although they are much quicker, easier and unmarkable, can give a child interest in a subject and an A*!

[Charles]

We (the US) are falling behind the rest of the World. It's crazy. We perform at a fractional level of what Chinese and Indian kids do.

[James]

My primary school daughters get mounds of homework. During the school day, they are regularly off on school trips. Result - they have fun days out with the teachers and parents do the teaching in the evenings and we don't even get a long summer break!!

[Deb Clark]

Come to Australia. At our local school in Far North Queensland it is policy to give students only 10 minutes homework per day, plus encouraging them to read for about 20-30 minutes - book of their choice. This has only changed in the last few years. Sometimes I wish my 15 year old had more homework, but it is certainly much more relaxing for the younger ones!
Deb

[Jess]

My 11 year son started secondary school this September. Within 2 weeks he was given 'Independent Learning' (the new word for homework) projects for English, geography, science, history, ICT, art and maths all to be completed by this half term. Then a new batch will be issued for the next half term. Most of it requires a lot of access to the Internet, good quality printers, DVD writers and a considerable amount of help from us as it covers new material he has not yet done at school (e.g. IVF, the causes of cancer, the development of a human foetus). It seems a massive leap from KS2 science and so soon. I feel his homework has become ours and the temptation just to do it all for him is very great. The workload is far too much and will damage our relationship with him should we force him do it all on his own. He is a typical boy who loves to spend all his time with friends poking about in the woods. I feel sad that he should miss out on any of those wonderful moments of childhood because of homework.

[Ashley]

I live in the States and I was shocked that my first grader was being given mounds of homework every day. He has been given 50 math problems, ten spelling words (test weekly), two pages of sentence completion and two reading comprehension assignments....this is EVERY DAY and it takes us about 1 hour and half to complete it, sometimes more.
That is just too much for a 6 year old. I try to make it fun....and lucky I only work part time, so we can tackle it as soon as we arrive home, but seriously...a six year olds attention span is just not that vast...and most of the work is only geared to get the kids ready to take standarized tests that here in the States detemines funding for the schools....so the question is...."Is he learning or just becoming a test taker?" The education system in America sucks, we have to go the private school route as the quality schools here are based on racial lines and economics.
We are giving him this year....after that....it's private school for us....where a child can enjoy learning..

[Chris]

School is a place where children and teens go, they learn, then they come out of school later in the day and come home. School shouldn't continue on through the day and night, through the weekends, through the holidays.

[Angela Norton Tyler]

Not all homework is bad- it is the amount. For example, 50 math problems is ridiculous- for any age. Either they get it or they don't. You can determine if a child understands a concept with three or four problems. It's the same thing with writing spelling words you already know how to spell over and over again- why? A 6 year-old does not need to come home, sit still, focus, be on the clock and have his parent "chunk" more schoolwork for him to do. Parents know that their children and their family lives are suffering because of too much homework, but we are reluctant to demand change. I applaud parents that say, "Enough!"
http://www.family-homework-answers.com/too-much-homework.html

[Gareth Jones]

I used to be a teacher and saw very little value in home work - the children who could do it did, and the children who couldn't ended up in detention (not my policy but 'school policy' that I had to enforce). What did this do, the children who could do it didn't need it and those who couldn't were only alienated from school. We had parents pressuring the school for more homework and the school would pander to them, when it should be explaining the benefits of other activities, scouting for example. Two hours spend in a scout meeting would be much more beneficial for most children than two hours slaving away over something that they and the teacher know is really quite worthless. Now that I have a son about to start school I despair at the pressure and boredom they are going to pile on him just so they can say they set homework!

[Sarah]

I think teachers have come to rely on increasing amounts of homework because the school day has gotten shorter and shorter. When I was in school, classes started at 9 (we had to be at school by 8:30) and my last class ended at 4:30. Now, in Canada anyway, kids go to school for 9 and get out between 2:30 and 3:00 pm. And they get a lunch time and two recesses, morning and afternoon. How can teachers cover the required curriculum in that short timeframe. No to mention all the Personal Development (PD) days, and other days off.

[Martin (York, U.K.)]

I think homework which shows you can apply what you have learnt in class to problems successfully is extremely important (especially with math and science) however, when I was at school (Im 22 now) much of the homework I had to do involved reading a few pages of a text book and answering questions. Exercises like this have no benefit at all as you do the complete opposite. You read the questions and then skim the text book looking for the answers, not taking in any information at all!

[RC]

I'm seventeen, and sometimes I prefer my job to school because at least it doesn't come home with me! But I do think that by the time you get to A Level, homework is important because it reiterates what you have learnt in class. And that's fine, because we have free periods in which to do it. However, up to GCSE, I would say that homework has limited benefits. It made me pretty stressed as nowadays students do a lot of subjects at GCSE. Every teacher thinks their subject is the most important and would be offended if you don't do it. Personally, I wouldn't introduce homework (or "extended learning" as it's called at my school now!) until post-16 when the students have the time and inclination to do it.

[Peter]

I've got 4 children at primary school and I struggle to understand the level or benefit of the homework that they are given. School for primary aged children is about a far greater learning than purely academics -it gives our children a social interactive grounding as well as the basic literacy and numeracy skills required to succeed in life. Some reading, spelling and maths homework everynow and then may be of benefit (I'm still dubious of this however), but is it more beneficial than the rest or recreation they may get from having the time to relax or to play?

When I studied my Engineering degree at University the path to success was indeed to learn smarter and more efficiently, not to pummel yourself on the desk with hours of brain sapping reading and calculations. Simply loading children (and teachers) up with homework isn't the way to improve performance. The brain simply switches off at some point when it becomes overloaded or is tired. The point made with regards the EU working directive shows just how far off the mark our schooling has come. Do you function better at the end of a 40hr week at work or a 60 hr week? The same goes for our children, except at such a young age they need even more time than we do to relax and play.

Their needs to be a balance struck between re-inforcing the lessons (and in some cases actually instructing our children so that they indeed do understand the concept due to overworked teaching staff not having the time/facilities) and letting our children indeed be children.

For me I'm afraid the education authorities have lost the path and need to come back to something far more reasonable. A 40 hr week for all learning and homework perhaps?

[Sho]

Ah homework. Ours started getting homework in the 1st grade (age 6/7) and have had it ever since. #1 is now in 6th grade (age 11) and goes to an all-day school (unusual here, but getting more popular) and gets little or no homework because they are at school from 8 to 4 daily. However, English vocabulary has to be learned, and reading assignments are given. As I'll only accept an A-grade in English for both of mine (British in a German school - it's not as mean as it sounds) I am an absolute stickler for what we would call spelling tests.

#2 is in 5th grade (age 10) and goes to a different - half-day - school. She goes to the after school club where they can do homework if they want. It's her decision but generally she does - especially for history/politics and German as the help at home is laughable (my knowledge of German history is non-existant and my written German would result in us being ejected I think)

She does have work to finish at home, but again it's mostly vocab learning (French and English) and reading. Although I do have to scratch my head at German-maths on occasion. It is all manageable.

When I think back to my (70s / 80s) schooldays we had no homework at junior school. I went to boarding school and we had prep every evening and Saturday mornings. By the time we got to the upper sixth we were expected to work nearly all the time. But then, trapped at school there wasn't much else to do.

[Josh]

Of course we give our kids too much homework. Under the EU Working Time Directive it would be illegal to expect workers to spend as much time working as we expect from our GCSE and A Level students.

That 'hour and a half to two hours per night' is per subject as well, you realise? Often when I was at school we'd be given two or three assignments in the same night.

Even leaving that aside, we send kids to school from (usually) 8.30 until 4.00 - 7.5 hours. When they get home, they have another couple of hours work to do; makes at least ten hours per day, not counting travel times and so on. 50 hours a week breaches the EU Working Time Directive maximum, and that's not even counting the 6-8 hours expected at the weekend.

It's not surprising that all the brightest people I was at school with left with poor or no qualifications; we were all bored to tears by the mountains of worthless makework.

[mumofthree]

Er Annabel, how do you know you are going to have a book in the house about that famous person. If a six year old is choosing, then it will probably be a celebrity or similar, so the library may not help either - I understand totally why the internet might be needed.
And are you honestly suggesting that a six year old should get on with creating a poster with a simple book and no parental help at all? I'm guessing your children a bit older - my oldest is five and he definitely needs my assistance with school projects.

[Annabel]

"She recently brought home an assignment requiring her to make a poster of a famous person. What if we hadn't had the Internet for research, or the time (or inclincation) to help her?"

Er? How about giving her a simple book (or go home via the library), some pens and paper? How does her learning benefit from using a computer or being helped?

[Ray Dickenson]

I'd be more supportive of the UK's education establishment if it showed an ability to teach basic skills - but it generally doesn't. UK's results lag Europe's and even some of the USA's. Or if the establishment could recognize talent - but it generally can't.

I just checked the establishment's record in my own case -

i) skills - have had a working lifetime of successfully using various `logics' and pattern recognition for trouble shooting, for communications projects, and for adult education in European and Arab countries. But this learned ability was definitely not acquired from my schooling in the UK.

ii) talent - have an ability to draw animals and humans bodies and faces which, in the opinion of others, accurately capture individual `character' and `mood' of the subject. But I sat through years of `Art' lessons without any teacher picking that up - quite the reverse.

So it seems that UK's education establishment fails in its two basic tasks. And the heaping of `homework' on past and present generations of kids is a symptom of the establishment's lack of ability - a bad workman blaming his tools (the kids, in this case).

[mandy]

If you are going to have my child for 7 hours a day, and still need to send them back with home work, then I might as well home educate them really.

[Gipsy]

LOL J, I'll have to remember that one.

My only experience of after school clubs is my niece's, and at hers they started with home work. Only after homework were they allowed to take part in the other activities (not that they had to get it done, more that there was a set time during which they weren't allowed to be disruptive or they wouldn't be allowed to do the fun stuff). During homework time, assistance was given to the kids, and it wasn't expected that they had to get it all done (some of it would go home with them). I guess I just assumed that all after school clubs were like this.

[j]

the other thing about a homework club is, it's a long day if your mother and father both work, you get home from afterschool club around 6, have tea and then start homework with mummy and daddy either all grumpy cos they want their wine but they have to hover and help you, or worse, relaxing with wine in front of freaky eaters while you learn French irregular verbs...

My younger ones have their homework done with their childminder before their tea, only Mr 6th Former has to slave all evening, moan moan, I tell him that working all evening for no money is *exactly* how his life will be, if he blows his A levels and has to get a crummy job, so either way it is useful experience ;)

[whimsey]

I agree with FC. If homework is an automatic habit and assumption from an early age then it doesn't come as such a nasty shock when you hit secondary school.

One other great benefit of homework is that it gives parents an opportunity to see just how well, or not, their children are coping with schoolwork.

Except for those children whose home conditions are dire (sadly, all too many), then the whole point of homework is to do it at home, under one's own self-discipline. Doing it at school defeats that object of 'forcing oneself' to do what you don't naturally want to do.

For children with dire home circumstances, however, a homework club at school has to be a good idea.

[FC]

Too much homework might be OTT, but I think it's important for primary school children to have *some* sort of homework (maybe practising and writing out a few words a day to learn how to spell them properly etc.) as an exercise -even as handwriting practice! Some repetition does help with building up memory and a larger vocabulary, and it can be a bonding exercise rather than a chore.

[SB]

My children attend an International School and study the International Baccalaureate (from the age of 3). For me,knowing how good the British curriculum was, it was a nerve wracking transition. My husband and I are both very well educated through state and private British eduation and are passionate about our children's education. After getting to know the basis of this International system and how it works, we really,truly could not be happier with the results. Our children (ages 3, 5, 8, 10) do an average of 1- 1.5 hours of homework a week and spend the reast of the time swimming in the pool, playing tennis, playing their instruments, generally playing and socialising. They are all well advanced in their years and our youngest could both read and write by the start of reception year and even though formal spelling doesn't start until yr 2 , can spell long before-but without the stress. We have realised that, yes dedicated schooling is important, however, good all round balance with little stress and more social skills will better prepare these children for the pressure they will undoubtably encounter as adults. You must let children have time to be children.

[whimsey]

No, don't shut up! It's your views which are most important. If you don't cooperate with what adults dump on you, there's no point us dumping it, is there?

I'm surprised your school calls it 'revision' as it can't be, can it? ie, you haven't learnt it yet! It's just working through the syllabus, which, is, yes, a two year programme. I know the actual GCSEs seem a long way off, but learning to work towards distant goals is an essential life-skill you'll need as an adult. eg, planning your career moves, when you want promotion by, and how to go about it. Gradually, your life is 'getting longer' and increasingly you will be planning ahead for the longer term, not for the immediate term.

And as the syllabus contents gradually start to 'soak in' you'll find it becomes automatic knowledge, just like, say things like the times table is now automatic knowledge - you'll know it without having to think about it, and it will therefore be much easier.

Also, with the coursework element of the syllabuses you can actually start to eat into the GCSE cake, and start accumulating marks, which surely has to be a good thing, as it steadily gets more and more of the work out of the way.

In 'my day' (so long ago it's part of your history syllabus...) it was a make or break, all or nothing, sudden death exam in June.

Year 10 Heads of Year bang on about 'working hard' and 'respnsibility' and 'vital importance' blah blah blah, but usually only succeed in putting pupils off, not inspiring them. GCSEs are the first gateway to what you really want to do in life, so see them as an opportunity, not a burden.

As for homework, the great trick is self-discipline, and getting it out of the way ASAP. Don't go down the route of 'fiddling' and 'prevarication' because that neither gets the work done, nor do you enjoy the time as the homework is always hanging over your head.

As for your comments about Sats marks and GSCE selection, I'm somewhat shocked, I have to say. Surely the teachers know perfectly well which pupils are good at their subjects, plus which pupils enjoy their subjects? They've got three years (Year 7,8,9) of studying you studying them to go by! Sats scores should never supersede teachers' own knowledge of their pupils. Plus, any pupil WANTING to do sciences should be welcomed with open arms. The UK is DESPERATE for scientists and engineers! No pupil with the slighest enthusiasm for any aspect of science should be deterred for any reason (other than say if the enthusiasm is for trashing science labs, poisoning or electrocuting fellow pupils, and an unhealthy interest in just how hot Bunsen burners can be and how quickly they can set fire to the hair of the person sitting next to you on the bench.....)(or, of course, how to distil alcohol from yeast fermentd orange juice, how to make your own drugs or how to make bombs....)

(The first is dead easy, actually, but alas, you don't get just get ethanol off, and the distillate can therefore kill you. Bummer.)

Anyway, time for me to shut up now.

[year 10 student]

ive barely started yr10 (age 14-15), and all our homework/schoolwork is alreay'revision' for our GCSEs.Which are in 2010. it may only be 18 months, but it certainly sounds like a long time to most people. Surely, that will have a detremental affect on those less motivated student who place less importance on their exams. You tell people to start revising for something that is literally years off, then one of two things is likely to happen
a) you terrify the more able students whose self confidence isn't astronomical into thinking that they can't hope to pass
OR
b) other students will take this as an excuse to slacken off in their efforts. After all, they've got years. Why bother now?

Finally, after the debacle over our SATs results last year, half of us could well be in the wrong sets for core subjects as it is. One of my friends was expecting (and had got in a previous mock) a high level seven (roughly equivilent to an A grade) science exam, and instead got a low six (roughly a middle B). My marks also slipped simmilarly. Luckily, these were enough to get us into the higher (triple) science course. But, still, you've got to wonder.

I'll shut up now

[Sleepycat]

I agree that there can be too much homework - so what is given needs to be of value. Independent learning, study skills ARE what is required.

I gather that this article was really about a secondary school. As usual Sec schools are not taking note of the advancements and good practice in Primary education.

Learning logs are the answer - for the school/teacher and pupils
why not visit
www.learninglogs.co.uk
find out more.
I was a cycnic but after a year, I am a huge fan of learning logs - especially good for G&T pupils!!

[Huw Sayer]

Homework just ends up as a battle between parents and children and a competition between parents and parents - success merely demonstrates which houses are the most authoritarian and competitive.

It does little for the child and certainly does not help it relax (which is the best way to process the average 3-4 hours of learning that they complete at school).

Let them play. Or as David Bowie once sang "and if the homework brings you down we can throw it on the fire and take the car down town!"

[JM]

I have to say I was not sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw the article stating that Tiffin Boys school is cutting the amount of homework they set to Year 7 boys.

They are obviously perfectly happy to turn a blind eye to the hours and hours of tutoring that boys need (and are being given) in Years 5 and 6 to have any chance of getting into their school via their very specific and unique selection process of Verbal and Non- Verbal Reasoning papers!!

Talk about taking a morally superior view AFTER these boys have been through that arduous process.

[Shammi]

Oh for heaven's sake - all this whingeing about homework! Kids (and parents) here have no idea what pressure is REALLY like... try being a school kid in India!

[Michaela]

We lived for ten years in the UK and my son went to a prep school from the age of 2.5. Some mornings we used to joke who had done the best homework as our poor children had way to much to be able to cope on their own. Considering that our children are going to spend many more years in school and university I can't se the point in burning them out at an early age.We parents focused to much trying to get our darlings in to the "right" schools. Today my son goes to a International School and finds it refreshing and fun. Overall I still think that the schools in the UK are very good.

[Sarah]

I think there's value in spending time on independent study and practice, because that's how information sinks in - there's no reason that couldn't be incorporated into the school day though, and in fact it often is, not all lesson time is spent on formal teaching. But I never had homework in primary school, that does seem excessive to me.

I would question whether homework 'requires parental help' though. If your child is unable to cope with the work she's been given, it would be better for her teachers to know. If she's struggling to keep up with her age group, she might need some remedial help. If the work being set is just too hard or too much, then she's probably not the only one struggling, and the school needs to know so they can adjust accordingly. 'Helping' or doing it for her just covers up the problem, whatever it is. Better to have it out in the open so it can be resolved.

[Gipsy]

why homework so early? It is manageable at secondary school, but utterly unfair at earlier ages. And unnecessary. Why can't this all be done during school hours? I remember that we had to do some reading, learn spellings and times tables (given at the beginning of the week and tested on Fridays) but that was it. When did it all change and why?

[Marie]

If my boss gave me two hours of extra work to do for when I get home in the evening I would tell him to get stuffed. It is my time for family, socialising, relaxing and doing the hobbies that make me who I am. I'm not a machine, I'm a person and our children are little people who just want to have fun too. Outside of school is a time for making their mark on the world as an individual just as we do after work.

[Richard]

I completely agree with Katy (comment below), our children need to be encouraged to get out and exercise after school not sit in doing homework.
The one subject that our nation's children should be doing much, much more of is physical education but there is no homework for that.
Children would love homework made up of making up a dance routine or throwing and catching practice at the simpler levels up to participating in team sports for those able to do so. Something simple like taking a walk and counting things or measuring distance would encompass having fun, maths, verbal reasoning, science and exercise.
Save the sitting indoors pouring over books for GCSEs etc. What matters most for our youngsters is developing healthy and active lifestyles.

[j]

I think homework can be a useful safety valve. If your child is a slower learner it gives her a chance to start the next day on a par with the rest of the class.

For older and brighter kids it is practice-makes-perfect time.

But I agree that 11 is young enough and 2 hours a night is 6th form stuff, not before.

[Katy]

We are constantly being told to get our children outside and exercising more, yet every day after school my nine year old is sat indoors ploughing through literacy, maths, science, history and reading journal homework. Although not all on the same day, it is a huge chunk of each day and I fear vitamin D deficiency may be setting in!
What is the punishment for not doing the homework? Being kept in at playtime and stopped from running around and exercising in the fresh air.
Scrap homework for children under the age of thirteen, get them outside and running about instead!

[Liz]

Yes we are giving children too much homework. My 5 year old has just started Year 1 and she has a book a night to read which we don't mind. However she also has to learn 10 words to spell a week (of which is tested) and maths homework. She is exhausted after her day, and is in bed by 7pm.

Getting her to do homework has already become a battle as she's so tired. As a result the bright happy child who adored school in reception is now tearful and starting to dislike even the smallest mention of writing or maths practice.

I just think it's ridiculous, we (1970's kids) didn't get homework until we started secondary school and I don't think that it did us any harm. Children should have time to play and relax after school and let off steam - not be doing more work that can be taught in school time.

[Andrew Piercy]

We are starting our children in school far too early, keeping them there for too many hours per week, over testing them and then giving them too much homework. The results are that we are actually still moving down the OECD education table. Lets stop this nonsense and start giving our kids rooms to breath and grow.

[whimsey]

I've always assumed the main function of homework is to teach the absolutely essential and indispensible life skill of self-discipline. There's nothing like leaving it all till 8 pm on a Sunday evening for teaching you time management.

My pet parental homework hate was always those wretched arty ones, where you had to draw a poster, or design a leaflet, or that sort of stuff. It was 'supposed' to be 'more fun' than just writing an essay, but it always ended up taking three times as long. Words are the fastest homework in the end, and focuss on the subject, not on whether the pupil is good at design/art etc. I think children should always be given the choice of an esssay OR the 'fun' one.