This is a very popular question these days and the answer is not as simple as many would like it to be. Gavin Keller, the principal at Sun Valley Primary School, has fuelled this debate with bold public statements in the press about the value of not issuing homework.
It is worth noting that while Keller refers to the successes of the Finnish education system as part of his model, it is a model he has refined to fit his primary school perspective, and is silent when it comes to high school application and appropriate preparation of the child for the rigors of high school.
Ultimately, it depends on what homework is being done and why it is being done.
Parents often start to panic when their child starts grade 4. Sometimes the panic begins in the final term of grade 3 in anticipation of what they “know is coming”. From grade 4 it seems that the homework is piled on, and this is when parents really start feeling the homework pressure. They find themselves re-teaching concepts at home, spending hours on completing classwork and assisting with assignments and projects.
Why does this happen? Well, consider that most schools have 30 to 45 minute classes and the sequence of events usually looks like this:
▪ Settle down, hand in homework – 5 minutes ▪ Review of previous work and presentation/explanation of new concept – 20 minutes ▪ Possibly classwork/worksheet/activity - 15 minutes.
Students are then given the bulk of the activity to do as homework. What that really translates to is that they are required to demonstrate their understanding of the new concept up to 5 hours after the concept was taught.
Most of them have forgotten what was taught by the end of the next class where the same process was repeated with a different subject. Parents or older siblings then have to re-teach the concepts at home before any activities that actually demonstrate the child’s understanding of the work can be completed.
To combat this, more and more schools are making their lessons an hour long so that the learners can benefit from a more complete learning process:
1. Review and link past concepts to the new one; 2. Present the new concept and give examples; 3. Ensure that the students demonstrate an understanding of the new concept by doing examples in the classroom; and 4. Practice the new concept in class with the teacher present to explain or catch students who don’t fully get it.
Any homework at this point is only to complete the fully explained and mastered activity that was not finished in class, to study for a test or to complete an assignment related to the body of work.
So back to the controversial question:
"Should my child be doing homework?"
If your child is doing work at home that should have, or could have, been completed at school, but wasn’t because time was not being utilised effectively, then the answer is no, they should not be doing homework.
If you are re-teaching concepts from school every afternoon because your child doesn’t pay attention in class only because they know that they will get a one-on-one lesson with mom or dad in the evening, and that dad or mom will “help” them with their homework, i.e. do the homework for them, then the answer is no, they should not be doing homework.
If your child is working on projects and studying for tests (even spelling tests), making study notes or practising important skills, then understand that this is not homework – this is an essential part of the study process and yes, they should be doing that.
We all want our children to have fond memories of their school days. I for one don’t remember doing homework in primary school, but I do remember reading every day and learning my times tables and spelling.
High school, on the other hand, was a blur of tests, assignments, sports matches, exams, socials and hostel antics. I never seemed to actually have any homework, but I did do my best (pathologically at times) to do the work in class so that it didn’t steal my precious personal time in the afternoons.
Yours in education.
Gershom Aitchison is the headmaster and co-founder of Education Incorporated Boutique Schools as well as the co-owner of Kip McGrath Extra Lessons Education Centres in Fourways & Midrand. Gershom has a passion for changing the way people think, particularly about education, and works tirelessly to promote academic excellence and respect for the teaching profession.
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