David Price recently wrote a fine piece about homework. His closing paragraph was particularly priceless (excuse the pun):
“And here's one final thought: if a parent comes back from a hard day's work, and is praised for refusing to bring work home, because time with the family is sacrosanct, how is it acceptable to ask a child to work 6 hours at school, and then forsake time with the family, to do another 2-3 hours at home?”
Personally I do not think I have set homework for any of my classes for what must be close to a decade. I am conscious that this goes against ‘official’ school policy but there you are. I’m aware too that I’m somewhat out of the spotlight because 1. I teach an Arts subject and no-one really cares about those, right? 2. these days I only teach GCSE groups and 3. I’m fortunate in that the subject I teach (graphic design) is not ‘content’ led.
But be that as it may, as David points out anyway, “there is no clear causal proof that links homework to improved student outcomes at secondary level”. That certainly reflects my own experiences. My evidence? In the past decade my GCSE class results (all mixed ability groups) have seldom fallen below 90% A*-C and student individual residuals have remained amongst the highest in the school. All with no homework being set.
Apologies if that sounds like my ego at work. It’s not meant to. I’m simply pointing out that students can get high level passes without doing any homework and that the positive gains from not doing so far outweigh the cons. And the most positive gain? By far it would be the fact that I am able to develop positive learning relationships with students in my classroom without the hovering spectre of potential conflict over incomplete homework and accompanying sanctions.
Outstanding teaching and learning has its foundations in trusted, focused relationships between learner and teacher. It comes from teachers having the confidence to take risks and to cede ‘control’ to the learner. As a teacher, the nurturing of these factors within the learning environment you have influence over is immeasurably more valuable than any work produced in one you don’t.
And the bonus? I think many of my students are more likely to want to continue learning in their own time as a result of all this. It’s a win/win. What’s not to like?
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