More than six hours a week is what a Spanish child takes on average to do homework. And maybe we should give thanks, since in 2003 it was more than seven hours a week. In Finland, on the contrary, they do not arrive at three hours. It might seem that more homework, better academic results, but nothing is further from reality.
So, if it has not been demonstrated that the duties, at least as they are usually conceived, have a positive effect, if they do not improve the child's knowledge in any way or improve the academic results, what is achieved thanks to them? Why this obsession in most schools and teachers to send homework every day? We want children to be responsible and constant, but can something beneficial be achieved when children suffer with so much work and no free time?
Spain has more teaching hours and more homework than most countries in our environment and yet its position is mediocre in the PISA report that evaluates the performance of students in OECD countries. Where, as you can imagine, Finland occupies the podium, along with South Korea, another country with almost non-existent duties.
Recently, the "homework yes - homework no" debate has been reopened, but remains unchanged, at least in most schools. Others, betting on methods that motivate the child and involve the child in a way that encourages their desire to learn, do not send homework, or not so many, or send other tasks.
That's why I think there may be nuances and I talk about them at the end of this topic, but I will start with nine good reasons why children shouldn't have homework.
Why eliminate homework
The school days are already long enough to add two or three hours. The school is "the work" of our children and can not be extended every day as if there was no border between work and leisure, relaxation. This issue is perfectly evident in a recent campaign in favor of the elimination of the duties we are commenting on.
Homework prevents spending time playing and interacting with other children, to do extracurricular activities that they like as a sport, music ... The game is a right of children but it seems that in a society obsessed with the extracurricular activities imposed, with competitiveness and with success, the space we dedicate to the game is minimized . Children doing homework miss playing with their friends, with their parents, something that should be done every day and often prevent these tasks.
Homework prevents spending time reading. We might think that when doing homework they also read, but we don't talk about exercises or compulsory readings, but about reading for pleasure, about taking a story or a comic that I feel like. Children also have the right to be told stories, but many times at the end of the day and having spent the afternoon doing homework with the children, there is no time or strength left to do storytelling.
Duties cause family tensions, since everyone's free time is conditioned. What could be an afternoon or a relaxed weekend becomes a tug of war with children because they have to do their homework and an obligation of ours when we have to sit with them to do them. It is possible that, if homework is added to exams, there are even families that are forced to suspend some leisure activity, a weekend outing or just a home movie session because of these tasks. If this happens one week after another and one weekend after another, and more when the children are young, coexistence suffers.
Autonomous work is not encouraged, since the small student has most of the time not acquired enough knowledge or skills in school to be able to carry out the task entrusted to him alone, outside of class. Then, parents (when they can) make their appearance to help children, but almost always without the children really have learned how to work or solve a certain problem autonomously.
From what we just commented, in a way parents are forced to practice as teachers, to try to explain to them what they have to do and even to do it for them, because they have told us that part of the student's grade will be the accomplishment of the tasks at home. This, in case parents are able to help them. But what is the point of the duties if we do the parents? Doesn't the child follow without really learning? And what is worse, won't he continue to hate these tasks that he doesn't understand and doesn't know how to do alone?
Homework promotes repetitive, mechanical, identical tasks, without attending to the diversity of students. Attention to diversity and individualized education are paramount, but in most duties that are sent home, these parameters are not met, so that homework is a way of "standardizing." To save or rather cover up the differences, students may be sent repetitive and mechanical tasks that will not help them learn. In the case of these duties, parents may not have to help children, but we get to the extreme of absurdity because we understand that they are useless and demotivating tasks.
Students hate study because of fatigue. We just said it and these points are related. Everything leads to the same thing: that the student does not get any pleasure from what he does, which, sooner or later, can lead to abandonment. We need motivated children to learn and, unfortunately, homework usually has nothing motivating.
Homework increases inequalities between families by cultural and economic level, as some parents may support students and others may not. Families with more resources or studies that can allow the child to go to an academy, have a private teacher or help their children to do their homework, compared to other families who have no chance of helping them due to ignorance or chances of others Help because it costs money.
And if we put homework, how should they be?
Ok, we've already made it clear why young children shouldn't have homework. But let's imagine a world in which they could not be eliminated, a world in which children have yes or yes duties. Good, let's change the type of duties so that they are not so harmful, so useless.
Let's start by pointing out that the duties should be non-assessable, that is, that they would not be part of the child's qualification. This would remove pressure on parents and children and would not affect the inequality of the students we have discussed above.
The duties should not be of concepts not explained above, not worked or not understood by the students, so that in any case they serve to expand or reinforce knowledge already acquired. This could mean that in the same class some students could carry out an exercise that for others is too advanced and impossible to solve for themselves, so that, if we attend to diversity, the duties would have to be different (something unthinkable with the ratios and reinforcements in the classrooms).
On the other hand, how different the duties would be if they were done through games! Because playing, the child is motivated and motivation is the key and basis of any learning. Involve the child in the task, being active, creating.
Of course, the textbook system that predominates in education is not the most suitable for this, but it is already seen in many books that incorporate practical exercises, with games, very experimental and that attract children. It is what is achieved by working on projects, when the child is really involved in the learning process and very motivated.
Finally i think teachers should coordinate when putting homework and also to put exams (which every time it seems that they begin to make checks before) so that children are not overwhelmed or saturated with so many tasks at the same time, or on the same weekend ...
In short, it would not be a question of demonizing the duties but of changing the concept. Yes we have nine good reasons to eliminate homework It is because the duties as they are usually stated have no benefit. But there can be other tasks that encourage children to learn, have fun and do not involve a family trance. Do you also suffer homework?
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In Babies and more | Should homework be prohibited? Children do not need to do homework to learn
