For two years now, French school students have not had to do homework, after French President Francois Hollande banned it in 2012. For everyone else the debate on the merits of homework are never far from the school gate or dinner table. It remains a contentious issue for parents, students and teachers.
The Conversation, an Australian online collaboration between editors and academics to provide informed news analysis, has this to say about homework:
"Research finds that homework doesn’t improve learning outcomes in primary school, and has a weak link to improved outcomes in junior high school. Those improvements are connected to parental involvement – but parents who are keen supporters of homework may be disappointed to hear that their positive contribution is largely just ensuring their children hand in their homework.
Parental involvement in the homework itself can actually reduce the child’s success at school. Parents rarely have the expertise to fill in gaps in their children’s understandings of concepts, and the predilection of some parents to take over the homework reduces the autonomy of the children, leaving them less able to work independently at school, and less confident of their own abilities.
There are many parents, dedicated and desperately interested in their children’s education, who cannot involve themselves in their children’s homework. They may not have had schooling opportunities themselves, they may speak English as an additional language, they may work long hours or shifts, or they may just be like most of us, and simply can’t remember what a quadratic equation is.
Those with spare cash buy the homework support, in the form of after hours tutoring. In high school, where homework tasks contribute substantially to the course grade, homework is the great unequaliser, contributing to the achievement gap."
theconversation.com/homework-whats-the-point-of-it-24123 Others see homework as offering significant benefits. For instance this research from Concordia, a US online tertiary college:
Homework provides an opportunity for parents to interact with and understand the content their students are learning so they can provide another means of academic support for students. Memphis Parent writer Glenda Faye Pryor-Johnson says that, “When your child does homework, you do homework,” and notes that this is an opportunity for parents to model good behavior for their children.
Pryor-Johnson also identifies four qualities children develop when they complete homework that can help them become high-achieving students:
Responsibility
Time management
Perseverance
Self-esteem
While these cannot be measured on standardized tests, perseverance has garnered a lot of attention as an essential skill for successful students. Regular accomplishments like finishing homework build self-esteem, which aids students’ mental and physical health. Responsibility and time management are highly desirable qualities that benefit students long after they graduate."
education.cu-portland.edu/blog/news/the-homework-debate-benefits-of-homework/ What do you think? A waste of time or time well spent?
Image:
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