Homework is a topic so frequently raised on the helpline run by the National Parents’ Council Primary (NPCP), that the council is currently preparing an information leaflet about it
FOR EVERY parent who breathes a sigh of relief when their child starts back at school in September, there is an equal number who grit their teeth at the resumption of homework.
“A disaster”, “nightmare”, “hate it”, were some of the responses in a quick straw poll of parents in the third week of the new school year. After the summer holidays, it can be a struggle to establish the all-important routine for relatively pain-free homework.
Parents are divided on whether it is best to have their children doing their homework as soon as they are in the door and refuelled, or to allow them an hour or so to relax before tackling it. Whichever you choose, try to make a habit of it.
Homework is a topic so frequently raised on the helpline run by the National Parents’ Council Primary (NPCP), that the council is currently preparing an information leaflet about it.
Parents generally want to know how long it should take and how involved they should be, explains the chief executive officer of the NPCP, Áine Lynch. The homework policy of your child’s school should answer at least the first question.
All schools should have homework policies that have been developed and agreed with parents’ involvement, such as through the parents’ association, she explains. “Clearly a homework policy has a huge effect on children and on parents and families, so if you haven’t got a policy everybody is buying into, it won’t work best for the child.”
The policy should give time guidelines for homework in the different classes. “If your child is spending a lot more time than that policy states, have a conversation with your teacher,” Lynch advises.
You’d need a stopwatch sometimes to measure exactly how long homework takes – after time is deducted for a rant about the unfairness of having to do it, sharpening of every pencil in the schoolbag, the making and eating of toast and settling a score with a sibling.
The considerable gap between teachers’ expectations of how long homework should take and the estimate by their parents of what it actually takes was highlighted when the first findings from the national longitudinal study of nine-year-old children, Growing Up in Ireland, were published this summer.
The majority of teachers, 64 per cent, said nine year olds should spend 16 to 30 minutes on homework each night, yet only 26 per cent of parents reported that their children met that time target.
While 31 per cent of teachers said it should take 31 to 59 minutes, 45 per cent of parents said that that was how long their nine year olds spent on homework, with another 19 per cent saying it took their children between one and one-and-a-half hours – a marathon recommended by just 1 per cent of teachers.
For every parent who complains about too much homework being set, there is another who says there is not enough, according to Peter Mullan of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.
“What the vast majority of schools will advise is, if there is an issue, take it up immediately with the teacher. Don’t wait until a formal parent-teacher meeting is called, take it up directly with the teacher.”
Homework is the main form of home-school communication, he points out, so it is essential that parents take an interest and become involved.
“With very small children, aged four to eight, the idea of homework is not something that they have to get through; it is a shared activity, reading, discussing something, rather than simply answering questions in a copy book, although there will be a small bit of that. It is an opportunity for the parent to work with the child, see what they’re doing in school and discuss it.
“In fifth and sixth class, independence is the aim. The parent should still keep an eye and talk to the child about what they are learning.”
The other thing he would say to parents is: be positive. “Many parents in the past may have had bad experiences with learning a particular subject. But the last thing a child needs to hear is, ‘I was never any good at Irish in school, so don’t worry about it’, or ‘I could never do the sums’, because that sends the wrong message.”
Most teachers have children too, so they do understand the difficulties, he adds. “We have all had days when homework was the most stressful bit of the day!”
Mother of three Nuala Ní Chonghaile admits homework does not always run smoothly at her home in the Connemara Gaeltacht, especially now her eldest child, Eoghan Scott (10), is beginning to rebel. She has noticed that his homework has “definitely upped” since he started fifth class at Scoil Náisiúnta Cholmcille in Tully earlier this month.
She allows him and his seven-year-old sister Kate to play for an hour or so when they come home, before getting them to sit down at either end of the kitchen table to do their homework while she is cooking.
“I think they need that break mentally and I find they don’t work straight away when they come in anyway. We get it done before tea in the evening; we’re usually finished by 5.30pm.” Kate, who is in second class, takes about 10 minutes at the most, while Eoghan takes half- an-hour or 45 minutes.
“I try to let them go at it themselves, but usually I am looking over their shoulder to make sure they’re doing it right.” Does she point out their errors?
“I know I shouldn’t!” she says with a laugh, but admits she can’t resist it, particularly if it is something glaringly obvious.
She sees the value of being there to explain concepts that they might not have quite grasped at school. “They don’t have the rest of the class to compete with. I find if they have that extra attention, it makes a difference.”
Parents should talk to the teacher if children are coming home with homework that they don’t know even how to begin without help, says Lynch.
“The purpose of homework is to have that connection between home and school, so the parents have an opportunity to be involved with their children’s learning.
“The other purpose is to reinforce what is happening in the classroom, so they should not be coming home with stuff that they have no idea how to do.”
The teacher needs to be aware if a child is having difficulty, she says. “There is no point in the child spending hours doing the homework and the teacher thinking there is no problem. It is just going to lead to further problems down the road.”
While it is important for all parents to show an interest and ask about homework, adds Lynch, it is not necessarily about having the time to sit down with the child if there are other arrangements for that, such as a homework club or childminder.
Ní Chonghaile appreciates the way homework gives her a good idea of how her children are doing in all their subjects, but she does sometimes wonder how effective it is.
“I know there is a school of thought that says homework does not help a child. What it is doing is helping them to hate the subjects they do.
“I am always aware of trying not to get them to hate homework,” she adds. “I know as a child myself I used to hate it, being dragged in to do homework.”
The manager of Parentline, Rita O’Reilly, says her heart goes out to fellow parents dealing with homework because she thinks everybody hates it.
“It is grand if the child is okay. If you have a very easy-going child or a child who needs support and help, it is hard, hard work. Another hour in school and no homework would just be a blessing!
“I know parents need to be involved, and it is important to know what they are doing, but if there was a homework club in school, I think an easy-going child would be much more attentive and interested there.”
She believes this would work from fourth class upwards, and she thinks study groups at secondary school are a really good idea. She acknowledges there has to be a parental link, whether it is signing the homework journal or asking the spellings, so responsibility is not all handed over to the school.
“The teachers say the reason for homework is that the repetition helps it sink in,” O’Reilly comments. “I think that could be done between 2pm and 3.30pm at school. It would make for an easier family life.”
But, she adds, it is important to create as positive an environment as possible for your child. Don’t be saying, “Here’s this bloody homework”, no matter how much you might feel like that.
swayman@irishtimes.com
National Parents’ Council Primary: www.ncp.ie or tel helpline 01-8874477
Parentline: www.parentline.ie or tel helpline 1890-927277
DO
Establish a routine for homework.
Make sure there is a comfortable , quiet place to do it – not in front of the television.
Be available to your child, without interfering.
Try putting siblings in separate rooms if they keep distracting each other.
Check that the homework is done and sign the homework journal if required.
Talk to the teacher if your child is taking a lot more time than recommended.
DON’T
Be negative and moan about “bloody homework”.
Give them the answers.
Let friends do it together if one child is much slower than the other.
Forget that oral work can be as important as the written work.
Leave it all to a childminder and never bother even inquiring about it.
