Abstract
ABSTRACTThis study examines teachers’ views about and practices in homework in primary schools, based on questionnaire data from 235 primary teachers and 19 in-depth interviews. Findings suggest that teachers prioritise contradictory goals and act in ways that support only some of these. Reading with parents is a universal form of homework and other homework focuses either on English or mathematics or takes a project-led approach. Integration of homework into class learning is problematic. Teachers are concerned about the possible effects of homework on educational inequality and questions are raised about teachers’ perceptions of homework as a signifier of good parenting.
Highlights
Homework is a global phenomenon and children in primary schools spend increasing amounts of time on homework (Baker and LeTendre 2005)
Ofsted (1999) set guidelines which demanded that children aged five to seven should be set an hour’s homework a week, rising to half-an-hour a night for seven to eleven-year-olds, and that all schools should have a homework policy
Reviews of homework in English primary schools (Sharp et al 2001) have almost nothing to say about the nature of homework task setting or feedback frequency or content - the teacher end of homework
Summary
Homework is a global phenomenon and children in primary schools spend increasing amounts of time on homework (Baker and LeTendre 2005). Claims about the role and impact of homework are mired in partial understandings of a number of educational debates. These include the expectation that homework is a way for parents to support their children’s academic achievement, the belief that homework improves academic achievement and extrapolation from ‘high performing’ countries where high levels of homework are a cultural tradition. This extrapolation itself gives teachers mixed messages about homework. Asian countries such as Shanghai and Singapore use copious homework and after school classes, whereas Finland offers almost no homework or additional study in the primary years
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