- "A lot of people believe that the
benefits of homework have been clearly demonstrated, but at primary level
there's no evidence to support this."
-
- Homework for primary school children
is being questioned
-
- Teachers who set homework for younger
children could be causing unnecessary tensions within families, according
to research.
-
- It says that although there are proven
educational benefits to giving homework to secondary school children, this
is not the case with primary children.
-
- And while most parents want to help their
children with homework, this can sometimes strain relationships between
family members. A child's performance may not match up to parental expectations,
or may be compared unfavourably with siblings.
-
- The paper, which is due to be presented
to a British Psychological Society education conference in Exeter, conflicts
with the government's policy of encouraging primary schools to set maths
and English homework.
-
- Compiled by Dr Richard Cowan and Dr Susan
Hallam of the University of London's Institute of Education, the paper
reviews existing research on homework from across the world.
-
- 'No evidence'
-
- "The research shows that a lot of
parents want to help their children with homework, but if they already
have a difficult relationship then the process of sitting down to do homework
can cause even more tension," said Dr Cowan.
-
- "A lot of people believe that the
benefits of homework have been clearly demonstrated, but at primary level
there's no evidence to support this.
-
- "We are talking about young children
who come home from school exhausted. If you overload them, then their performance
will decline."
-
- The paper's other findings include:
-
- Girls spend more time than boys on homework.
-
- Listening to music while doing homework
seems to help pupils concentrate.
-
- There is little evidence that homework
develops responsibility in pupils.
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