The homework debate has taken a back foot lately, considering that nearly all work has been homework for the last few months. Or “home learning” or “remote education” or whichever phrase you prefer. But as children return to school the traditional idea of homework will become a reality again so let’s take some time to think about it. In this article we will discuss the pros, cons, and efficacy of homework.

Do I have to?

In 2018 Damien Hinds outlined his position on homework:

“Just to be clear: schools are not obliged to set homework, and some don’t. But when schools do set homework, children do need to do it. We trust individual school head teachers to decide what their policy on homework will be, and what happens if pupils don’t do what’s set. Policy and approach won’t be the same in all cases. Autonomy for schools, and the diversity that comes with it, is at the heart of this government’s approach to education.”

This falls into the category, along with so many other things, of the government telling schools to do what they think is best, which on one hand is great. Every school and every child is different so I can’t think of a way a universal, statutory homework policy would work for everyone. However, this approach naturally creates a divide and makes it difficult to get a consistent picture of what educators should be doing and what works best with regards to homework.

Will it help?

Before talking about what homework works best, we need to discuss if homework even works at all. This article written by Youki Terada, explains the difference in the efficacy of homework on various age groups. The general trend being the older the person, the more useful homework becomes. However, setting too much homework and the associated risk is a factor for all ages, particularly for young adults in high school.

Another supporting piece of research for this argument comes from the Education Endowment Foundation which states,

“There is a relatively consistent picture that pupils in schools which give more homework perform better, although for primary age pupils the difference is small. However, there are only a small number of studies which have investigated whether this relationship is due to the homework itself, rather than other school factors”

This article in The Guardian further exemplifies the difference between homework for primary school children and secondary school children. Professor John Hattie says the effect homework has in primary schools is negligible but makes a bigger difference for secondary schools.

So, is it worth the hassle for primary school teachers?

Another interesting thing Hattie says is, “The worst thing you can do with homework is give kids projects; the best thing you can do is reinforce something you’ve already learned.”

I’m not sure I agree entirely with this, at least from my primary school teacher perspective. Homework can be a good method for reinforcing some previous learning. However, if you consider the average classroom, you have three broad levels of ability: the almost cliched ‘lower, middle, upper’. Realistically, we know each of these categories has their own subcategories. Like your “low-lows” and your “upper-middles”. So, for a piece of homework to be effective in reinforcing something, it still needs to be pitched at the correct level and scaffolded in some way. Especially since you may not know how much support they will be getting at home. How many iterations of this homework are you going to make? Each additional one takes up more time. Time that could probably be better spent planning work to do in the class or running an intervention session.

On the other hand, a “project” can mean many things. In my practice, a homework project was based around a topic that was relevant at the time, had a much longer time limit and was more open ended in how it could be completed. An example would be the World War Two project: I set this halfway through the topic to be completed at the end (so around 6 weeks to complete it). The instructions were simple “create something relating to our World War Two topic.” We talked about a few ideas before we went home that day and I could see the children were already excited to get started. This “project” allowed them to use their imaginations and practice a skill they knew they were good at and wanted to use. Some made sculptures, some wrote stories. One child wrote a song and performed it in front of the class!

When I set this project, I didn’t set it to fill any gaps in their knowledge or raise their history score. I set it so they could have some freedom in their own learning. Give them an opportunity to manage their own time. Take ownership over it and create something which gave them a sense of pride.

All parents were involved in some way or another, and because this was a homework project, they got to see their child working passionately on something.

Perhaps what Hattie was saying is that projects with no prior context, where the child has no solid ground to start, are not helpful. There I agree wholeheartedly. Whatever work you set needs to be set in a foundation otherwise it is very shaky ground for the child.

Will it hurt?

Another criticism of homework is that it actually widens the gap between higher and lower attainers. Generally speaking, it’s your higher attaining students who will be receiving more help from adults, have access to better resources and spend more time when doing homework.

If the only reason you are setting homework is to raise academic performance, then this isn’t the group that needs targeting. It’s your lower attainers who would benefit from the extra help. But is homework the best way to provide that extra help? I think in primary school, we shouldn’t be seeing homework as a tool to raise academic achievement. I don’t think the possible risks, pitfalls and time constraints make up for the reportedly small difference it can make. But that’s not to say it should be abolished completely. I think there are a lot of benefits to homework, we may just need to shift the focus of it slightly. Another practical reason why it’s hard to “fill gaps” of learning with homework is that these “gaps” often present themselves on the day of teaching. This is also when you want to try and fill the gap, so it doesn’t carry on and disrupt future learning. But when is the teacher supposed to plan and resource this homework so it can go out at the end of that day?

Parental involvement is key. And I don’t necessarily mean parents sitting down with their children and going through the homework every time. In my eyes, one of the most important reasons for setting homework is to give the adults at home another opportunity to be involved in their child’s learning. This involvement can range from checking over the homework and providing some positive reinforcement to sitting down and working through it together. Either way, it can help communicate to them what their child is learning and at what level. What the child is really good at and what they need to improve on. Basically, some of the things you try and squeeze into the 10-minute parents’ evening window, twice a year.

Additionally, as well as the research which shows the little impact homework can have for primary aged children, and the risk of widening gaps, and the inherent strain it puts on practitioners, there is worrying evidence to suggest the damaging effects it can have on young people’s mental health and well-being. This report from the Ofsted Parents Panel finds that the stress homework causes is overwhelming and becomes detrimental to their health, self-esteem and confidence.

A headteacher in this article from the Telegraph thinks homework and class learning working in tandem with one another can help to develop children’s independence. While I agree, as with all other work it would come down to the individual child. Depending on the content, frequency, difficulty, relevance - and a host of other factors - homework could easily become alienating for a child and detrimental to their confidence. Here is a quote from the article: 

“The experts disagree on the impact of homework on a child’s wellbeing. On the one hand, Balfour argues that homework encourages “independence and confidence” and “that sense that they can do it, and that their point of view is a valid one”. 

This may be true in small doses, but are children being asked to do too much homework at a young age? If so, there could be implications for a child’s mental health. “Too much homework, too much pressure, will have an impact on self-esteem: ‘Am I good enough? Can I keep up?’” Dr Fine explains.”

What now?

It is important for practitioners and SLT to know they control how it should work. They know their children and families best.

So, here’s your homework: start with the “why?”

Why are you setting this homework in the first place? Is it to fill gaps? Foster life skills? Engage parents?

Once you know that, you have a foundation. A strong ground on which to move forward and decide how best to help your children.

Your deadline is just before you sit down to plan your next homework activity.