Working out what's best for the pupils

The questioning by school principals of the value of homework has struck a chord with parents and children

SECOND ONLY to the pleasure of not having to get the children out of the house for school in the morning during half-term last week was relief at the absence of homework.

The boys’ afternoon could roll on from lunch into football with friends or a trip out, without the hurdle of homework having to be cleared first. There was no need for constant reminders to “get on with it”; no Irish spellings to test everybody’s patience; and no frustration over a page of sums.

To be fair, they generally don’t get excessive amounts of homework and they are both reasonably good at “getting on with it”, but it can be a pain nonetheless – for me, never mind them. I know other parents feel the same, but we presume it is a necessary part of our children’s education.

It is no wonder, then, that the recent questioning of the value of homework, by none other than the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN), struck a chord.

“The role of homework in our education system requires serious research and analysis,” its director, Sean Cottrell, told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education last month. “There is little evidence to suggest that homework as we currently know it has any real benefit.”

It was only one point out of 12 that the IPPN made in its submission on curriculum reform, but it was the one that grabbed all the headlines the next day and has fuelled much debate. It noted that “homework causes a lot of stress between parents and children” and that “it often erodes the short length of ‘quality time’ that parents have with their children”.

The public reaction has been 95 per cent positive and 5 per cent negative, says Cottrell. The 5 per cent of people opposed to this questioning of the value of homework in primary school would be parents who are very driven and have high expectations for their children, he suggests.

“They see homework as a necessary part of preparing kids for the life ahead of them.”

Cottrell, however, thinks childhood should be preserved as much as possible. He believes homework “is the single greatest reason why kids do not like school”.

Generally homework is assigned Monday to Thursday in primary-level schools. While the time it takes varies from child to child, most schools’ homework policies include guidelines on the maximum amount of time that should be spent on it by the different age groups.

A comparison of homework policies in a dozen schools shows that these time guidelines vary. For sixth class, it ranges from 40-45 minutes in Booterstown National School, Co Dublin, to two hours at the Stonehall National School in east Clare.

A lot of teachers give homework because they feel it impresses the parents; there are also parents who judge teachers’ quality by the amount of homework they set, says Cottrell.

“In my experience of working in five schools in this country, I would say the best teachers give the least homework.”

The curriculum at primary level is now very broad and enriching, he says, whereas second level “is an inferior education experience”, being more about preparing children for exams than teaching the subjects.

“At the upper end of primary, teachers have this moral dilemma: do I do with the kids what I should do or do I help them get ready for this awful system which is ahead of them?”

Since the submission to the Oireachtas committee, Cottrell says he has been contacted unofficially by a number of inspectors within the Department of Education “saying it is the right question to ask right now”.

However, he stresses that it would be foolish to suggest a complete ban on homework. “There are no simple answers at the moment; we have to research it.” He believes homework “should be less in quantity and certainly higher in quality”.

Áine Lynch of the National Parents’ Council (Primary) welcomes the opening of the debate on homework.

“Traditionally, what has made it difficult to question homework is that it is such an institution. We have all experienced it and we automatically think it must have some benefit or we would not have been doing it for so long,” she says.

The council believes the benefit of homework should be the development of the home-school link but parents are asking whether – if it does develop that link – it is a positive one.

In a presentation to that same Oireachtas committee, the parents’ council focused on the importance of parental involvement in children’s learning.

“All of the most recent research has been saying that previous research [showing] that socio-economic factors were the key driving force in outcomes for children were actually incorrect,” says Lynch. “The key driving force is parental involvement.”

But that involvement has to be positive – and fighting over homework is not. Lynch says some parents report that Monday to Thursday is a nightmare in their house. Firstly, they find it hard to get children to sit down and do homework after a day at school and then, once they have them sitting down, problems arise around the work.

“Sometimes if a child is struggling in the classroom, homework just reinforces that struggle,” she says.

The parents’ council is not advocating doing away with homework. “We feel at the moment it is the most systematic dialogue there is between schools and parents around a child’s learning,” says Lynch.

“What we would like to see is research and analysis on the best way of developing that home-school link in a positive way for the parents, the school and the child.”

If parents consistently find their children spending more time on homework than the guidelines indicate, they should contact the school, says teacher Mary O’Flaherty.

“Either there is a problem with the timing or there is a genuine difficulty that the child is having.”

O’Flaherty teaches at Scoil Mhuire in Clondalkin, Dublin, where the staff has just reviewed the homework policy.

“We have always tried to keep homework as a balance and have been conscious that it should not intrude on family time, that it should be a positive experience. We have always set time limits and we reduced those times to 15-20 minutes for first and second class; 20-30 in third and fourth and 30-45 in fifth and sixth.”

For junior and senior infants, reading folders are sent home with prompt cards for the parents to help them talk to the child about what they are looking at in a book. The emphasis is on collaboration and the feedback has been very positive, she reports.

Homework is very child-friendly these days, says O’Flaherty. “The old-fashioned sweating, crying and panicking over homework is, I would hope, a thing of the past. If it isn’t, parents need to communicate to teachers that there is a problem, which certainly should be addressed.”

She encourages parents to “embrace technology” to make homework fun. “Sometimes children don’t realise they are learning their tables when they are clicking on a button.”

Most parents support homework, she adds. “I think from the parents’ points of view – and when my own children were in primary school – you can see what they are doing and where they are going.”

WHAT'S THE ANSWER? THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST HOMEWORK IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

FOR

• Acts as a link between home and school

• Helps reinforce what the child has been learning that day

• Gives the parent a good idea of how the child is coping with schoolwork

• Develops discipline and study habits in a child

• Allows for one-on-one attention from a parent which a teacher cannot give in a big class

• Prepares the child for the homework load that awaits them in secondary school

AGAINST

• Puts the child off learning

• Makes the child feel the school day is extended late into the afternoon

• Causes tensions between parents and children

• Interferes with hobbies such as music, sport and drama

• Keeps the child indoors when they should be getting outside after being cooped up in a classroom

• There is no evidence that homework benefits younger children, according to Alfie Kohn in his book The Homework Myth

MUM'S THE WORD: DO PARENTS THINK HOMEWORK IS GOOD FOR THEIR CHILDREN?

Mary Curtis does not see any benefit in her eight-year-old son Thomas doing homework, and believes it certainly should take no longer than 20 minutes.

But, come the holidays, she thinks 15 minutes of homework a day is a good idea. “I want some reading done, or some writing or sums because by the end of the summer they don’t know what end of a pencil will work.”

At the beginning of summer she buys a textbook – not one that is used in Thomas’s school – “just to consolidate what he has done.

I am not giving him applied maths or anything like that,” says Curtis, a self-employed technology tutor.

Thomas, who is now in third class at Whitechurch National School in Cappagh, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, hates doing this in the summer, she admits. However, she believes it helps him get back into the swing of things more quickly in September.

Currently, Thomas spends about 20 minutes a night on homework – “if I sit down with him; if I leave him by himself it is about an hour”.

If he did not have homework, Curtis would make it her business to find out how he was doing at school. “I don’t mind what they get and I think 20 minutes is okay, but it should not be more than that.”

She likes to introduce a fun element. For example, when he has finished his maths homework she shows him how to do it on spreadsheets on the computer.

“I am trying to get the balance of saying, ‘Once you know how to work these things out, then you can see the benefits of doing the technology side’,” she says.

Curtis concedes that if Thomas is going to have two or three hours’ homework a night at secondary school, he’ll have problems if he’s not used to doing it. But she thinks homework in fifth and sixth class would give him time to adjust.

In a straw poll of parents, the consensus is that less homework would be better. As one mother says, doing two or three sums well demonstrates that a child understands a maths concept, so why give him a dozen to do?

A mother of two in Co Donegal, whose nine-year-old daughter has been getting up to two hours of homework since third class, says it would be better if written work were kept for school and learning work for home.

Another mother, who moved to Co Cavan, sees a big difference in homework policies between the Dublin primary school her son attended and the one her daughter is in now.

When he was in third class, he usually spent an hour on homework, whereas in the Cavan school her daughter routinely spent two hours on homework in third class. She believes both children have similar academic capabilities.

Now that her daughter is in sixth class, homework takes up to three hours a night “at which stage she’s exhausted”. It has forced her to cut back on after-school activities.

Lauren Fox, whose 11-year-old son is in fifth class in a Co Roscommon school, says his homework takes between 40 minutes and one hour, and she believes it is important.

He struggles with maths and English, so her one-on-one attention at home helps.

“Also, I can put a note in to his teacher to say, ‘He is just not getting this – can you explain to him again?’,” she says.

Homework is not contentious in their house as it has become routine. “He comes home from school, changes his clothes, has dinner and then it is homework.

“It has been like this since junior infants so it is easy for him to get it over and done with.”

Fox believes it is good for parents to see what level their child is at and what they need help with, so she would not be in favour of no homework.

“I don’t think there are very many parents who would sit down and do reading and maths with a child if they didn’t have to,” she adds. “I know I wouldn’t.”

swayman@irishtimes.com