Homework in UK a "waste of time"

[arthurhu@comcast.net]

z75\clip\2004\02\homewaste.txt
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1143574,00.html
Homework fails to make the grade
Mark Townsend
Sunday February 8, 2004
The Observer
"Current [uk] government guidance ranges from at least one hour a week
of homework for five-to seven-year-olds to two-and-a-half hours a day
for students aged 14 to 16."

Children have long suspected it, and now research confirms it:
homework is a waste of time. Anxiety, boredom, fatigue and emotional
exhaustion are all side-effects of bringing schoolwork home, according
to a review of 75 years of study into the issue. ...report by the
Institute of Education

Even those who believe homework improves their performance in the
classroom resent the encroachment on their spare time.

And the best place for extra study may not, in fact, be at home. The
report by the Institute of Education makes a case for out-of-hours
study to be done in after-school learning clubs, away from the
potentially disruptive influence of parents.

Tensions are the most pronounced in middle-class families where the
pressure to succeed can create a volatile atmosphere. Parents who are
overbearing can undermine any pleasure children derive from study.

The report's author, Dr Susan Hallam, said: 'Parents have the most
positive influence when they offer moral support, make appropriate
resources available and discuss general issues. They should only
actually help with homework when their children specifically ask them
to.'

Current government guidance ranges from at least one hour a week of
homework for five-to seven-year-olds to two-and-a-half hours a day for
students aged 14 to 16. Yet Hallam found that homework tended to boost
achievement only when done in moderate amounts.

Her findings follow comments from David Bell, chief inspector of
schools, who said that parents have a key role to play in tackling an
endemic anti-learning culture in society.

'Early support from parents is crucial. A very significant investment
in the early years has got to be right, even though we are still not
100 per cent sure what the biggest single influence is in these
years,' he said.

Book chapter 09.02.2004: Pupils' perspectives on homework