![]() Not much academic research has been carried out on the impact of homework for children in primary school. ![]() The panel report found that, for many parents, homework was a significant source of stress and negatively affected family life. However, the 2018 Ofsted Parents’ Panel – which surveyed the views of around 1,000 parents in England on educational issues – found that 36% of parents thought that homework was not helpful at all to their primary school children. Homework can also act as a point of communication between home and school, helping parents feel part of their child’s schooling. Charity the Education Endowment Foundation suggests that the uses for homework at primary school include reinforcing the skills that pupils learn in school, helping them get ready for tests and preparing them for future school lessons. The homework done by primary school children can include reading, practising spellings, or revising for tests. While there is not much data available on how much homework primary school pupils do, a 2018 survey of around 1,000 parents found that primary pupils were spending an average of 2.2 hours per week on homework. In 2018 then education secretary Damien Hinds stated that “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”. There are no current guidelines on how much homework primary school children in England should be set. However, it is less clear that homework is useful for children at primary school (ages 5 to 11) or in early years education (ages 3 to 5). It can be used to consolidate material learnt in class or to prepare for exams. There is evidence that homework can be useful at secondary school. And for primary school children at least, it may be that schools setting homework is more trouble than it’s worth. Homework: a word that can cause despair not just in children, but also in parents and even teachers. Paul Hopkins, Lecturer and Researcher in Education, on the usefulness of homework for primary school pupils.
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