Focus on...have you done your homework?

6th March 2012

Head Teachers who have been doing their homework this week will know all about Education Secretary Michael Gove’s plans to scrap homework guidelines. From now on homework policy will be at the discretion of the Head Teacher. The move, according to a Government spokesperson, is designed to free Head Teacher’s from ‘unnecessary bureaucratic guidance’ and follows complaints from campaigners, including TV presenter Kirstie Allsop, that homework ‘limits family time together and the real ways kids learn.'

 

A Department for Education spokesman said ‘We trust Head Teachers to set the homework policy for their school. They know their pupils best and should be free to make these decisions.’

 

Under the guidelines, which came into force in 1998, primary schools are supposed to set one hour of homework a week for pupils aged five to seven, rising to half an hour per night for pupils aged seven to 11. In secondary schools, homework should be 45 to 90 minutes per night for students aged 11 to 14, while those aged 14 to 16 should be given 90 to 150 minutes per night.

 

Despite removing the guidance the Department has said that it continues to believe that homework is ‘part and parcel’ of a good education, and the Teaching and Learning section of the new Ofsted framework includes criteria on ‘the extent to which teachers enable pupils to develop the skills to learn for themselves, where appropriate, including setting appropriate homework to develop their understanding’.

 

Education commentators have responded to the announcement by stressing the importance of quality over quantity in relation to homework. Russell Hobby, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers stated ‘If homework is properly connected to lessons, and regularly marked, it works. Just setting large volumes of homework for the sake of meeting targets doesn't work. Sensible discretion on the part of Head Teachers, to ensure the schools' homework policy reinforces their teaching strategy, is fine.’

 

Some critics have raised concerns about the unintended consequences of the policy change. Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, in The Sunday Telegraph argued that ‘The danger is that schools will use this as an excuse to dilute the amount of homework. Middle-class children will do their homework anyway. Guidance for children who are coming from more deprived backgrounds is probably more important.’

 

For Head Teachers planning to revisit their schools homework policy there are countless reports, blogs and websites to inform your thinking.
The Sutton Trust’s Pupil Premium Toolkit, which analyses the cost and impact of a wide range of ‘interventions’, assesses that homework has a moderate impact for a low cost, whilst the research strongly suggests that it is more valuable at secondary school level and much less effective for children of primary school age. The toolkit highlights that there is an optimum level of 1-2 hours per school day (more for older pupils) but that the effects of homework tail off as the time students spend increases and stresses the importance of effective feedback and integration with lesson time. With one study discovering that A-level students who spent seven hours or more on homework per week achieved results that were only a third of a grade higher than students of the same sex and ability who did homework for less than two hours a week. These findings are backed up by a review of homework by the National Foundation for Educational Research in 2001.

 

In the Guardian, blogger and Assistant Head Teacher Eugene Spiers shares the outcomes of a number of homework experiments he conducted in his school and the Guardian’s Teacher Network includes tips from practitioners to improve homework provision.

 

If you are looking for international evidence, Focus on Effectiveness, a website that summarises educational research and evidence from the US, has compiled a list of essential features of effective homework, and the OECD’s PISA assessments make interesting reading in relation to the potential negative impacts of parents helping with homework.

 

With Gove suggesting extending the school day to give more time for supported study in school and a 2009 poll by The Association of Teachers and Lecturers' annual conference voting in favour of abolishing homework for primary school pupil’s, some Heads may be questioning the value of setting any homework at all.  The Innovation Unit urges Head Teacher to explore three ideas for homework including scrapping it altogether.

 

What’s your view? What have you found to be the most effective approaches to homework?  Has your school introduced new or innovative methods of setting homework? How do VLE’s and web based systems such as I am Learning enhance the impact of homework? What do parents at your school think of homework – do they think there is too much, too little or is it just right? Email your thoughts to think@schoolsnortheast.com