•  On Nov, 07, 2017
•  Mary Keating
•   Blog

Homework – Relevant and Short

Homework – Relevant and Short sets out some important issues on this front.

Homework needs serious thought in primary school circles. We know, as teachers, that one of the most effective ways to teach is to correct the class’ work. Because this gives students immediate feedback, it is best done in the last ten minutes of a lesson.

And this is the way children learn fast. Professor John Hattie has confirmed this approach in his public comments.

Professor John Hattie of Melbourne Graduate School of  Education said in an interview with the BBC in 2014, ( http://education.unimelb.edu.au/profiles/profiles/laureate-professor-john-hattie/ )

>>”The worst thing you can do with homework is give kids projects.
>>The best thing you can do is to reinforce something they’ve already learnt.”

So true! In a fifteen minute homework task, children support their classroom learning.  It’s fresh in their minds.  And the job is effective and finished!

What this means for homework in Primary School :

>>The best way to give homework is to set short activities.
>>These aim to reinforce what is taught in the classroom.
>>Each child is given the best opportunity to practise a new skill.
>>What was learned at school is cemented into memory with a short practice worksheet to do at home.
>>But many schools are not doing this.

And … applying the same idea for home tutoring : 

>>Just as children can receive immediate feedback in the classroom the same applies to home tutoring.
>>Each literacy unit available on this website can be used by parents with their own child.
>>The parent provides immediate feedback while doing the lesson.

Very little research on the benefits of homework has been done in Australia. Most of it has been carried out overseas. The debate has been going on for a hundred years or more.

Pointless activities can be given to primary school children as homework. They lack realistic educational objectives. Examples: Make 15 small words from five long words. Given 20 words, homework is to do 15 drawings of 15 words. Even conjunctions!

We also see some schools overloading children with homework, including time-consuming projects. Include “enquiry” tasks here as well.

What should be done in class and not set for homework : 

>>If teachers set projects or enquiry, the basic work needs to be done in the classroom.
>>The teacher teaches in whole-class instruction. Some work can be carried out in the IT lesson.
>>And some work at home – but not most of it and definitely not all of it.

Children need direction and help with planning. They need help with collecting pictures or time to do their drawings. These are definitely not tasks to be set entirely as homework. The older the class is, the more steps they can undertake alone. But this is not the case with the lower and middle grades.

Ask your child’s school to justify the homework given: Professor Hattie encourages schools to think about outcomes. He has recommended that School Education Departments discourage schools from adopting homework policies. This is what he says:

“Rather than prescribing a particular way of doing it (homework)
let us ask them (the staff) to provide evidence that the homework policy the school is adopting
is improving the outcomes for kids.”

If you as a parent feel that the task is too much, or has limited educational benefits, then it’s time to talk with the school.  Tasks that have limited educational benefit could include

• • • un-jumbling twenty words and
    • finding little words inside big words. In this latter case, the small word can be pronounced entirely differently from the syllable in the big word.

If parents find themselves having to do half of their child’s enquiry task, it’s time to raise the matter with the school. If your child is not getting a weekend without work then it’s also time to say to the school that this doesn’t seem right. Here is a post about school projects, or enquiry tasks : Enquiry Learning Needs Overhaul, Post

Parents attended an Open Day at a school in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. A parent spoke to the Deputy Principal and asked: “Point me to the Grade 1 classroom so I can see my model of the heart”.  He was certainly making a point!

Steps you can take if you disagree with the homework.

• Raise the issue with the Classroom Teacher.
• If you have no joy, make an appointment to see the Vice/Deputy Principal, [Deputy Head Teacher].
• Set a limit of 15 to 20 minutes per school day for tasks at home.
• If the homework is so important then suggest that the teachers themselves mark the work. In many schools teachers still ‘swap books’. This practice demeans the sometimes enormous effort of the child (and often the parents).
• Insist that your child is not kept in for any homework reasons.

A final comment is that excessive homework is often at the insistence of parents or pushy parent groups. Parents pressure schools to do this even when the professionals don’t agree with it.

This is about taking control. It is about insisting on good practice in the classroom. It is about applying good homework tasks that are based on sound research findings. No research findings? Then let common sense prevail.