Homework

Another very annoying article in the TES provoked me into writing this reply.

Homework

Dr. Wendy Edwards criticizes teachers who set "finishing off" homework, especially for English, but it is often the case that a class of 30 (or more) students do not all complete a piece of work at exactly the same time. Perhaps she did not know that this does in fact happen. If a student gets most of the work done in the lesson, then asking that student to spend some time at home completing a comprehension exercise, writing a story, doing a piece of proof reading or whatever, is not an unreasonable thing to do. The student has already made a significant start on the work and knows what to do, but he or she just needs some more time to get it completed.

Yes, I am sure Dr. Wendy is right in claiming that many schools do not have "finishing off" as a reason for setting homework. On the other hand, many schools do boast about their high academic standards and that might perhaps suggest that pieces of academic work do need to be finished. In many subjects in senior school, students are required to write essays. "Finishing off" the essay is part of writing the essay, isn't it? Or is Dr. Wendy really suggesting that the student could learn many things by finishing off the essay at school, but he or she will learn absolutely nothing by finishing off the essay at home?

Dr. Wendy Edwards also mentions "the tension and stress caused by homework in some households". Well, in order to remove this stress completely, then perhaps the best thing would be not to set any homework at all and then, presumably, there would not be any of this terrible tension and stress. On the other hand, Dr. Wendy Edwards has not considered another possible scenario, namely that some parents might feel that their children are not getting enough homework (or maybe they are unhappy about their child getting none at all). This also might cause tension and stress for the parents, especially if they want their child to become a doctor or solicitor or to follow any other profession that requires a good education. Similarly, there might be further tension and stress for the parents if their child's teacher cannot be bothered to mark a student's homework properly. In fact, Dr. Wendy seems to suggest that teachers should not waste their time marking their students' homework. Well, if it is not worth marking, then why set it in the first place?

Dr. Wendy has also mentioned "equal access and equal opportunties". Unfortunately she has not explained how a student can have equal access and an equal opportunity when doing French homework, compared to another student whose mother is a French teacher or another student whose father is a native French speaker. How can a student have "equal access and equal opportunities" when doing his or her English homework, if both of his or her parents are illiterate? If a student is set an Internet-based homework, then might that be just a bit little awkward if a student does not have access to the Internet? Or if he or she has an older brother who is addicted to computer games?

Dr. Wendy has claimed that sometimes students do not understand things in class and this may then be a problem, if (or when) they get round to doing their homework. Yes, I think that most teachers would agree that it is indeed the case that not all students understand everything. But if a student has already started the work in class, then the teacher may have some opportunity to see if the student has understood what they are doing. If a teacher tells the class that they will be doing something for their homework, is it not then the responsibility of the individual student to show some initiative and make sure that he or she does know what to do?

Yes, it might be the case that not enough time is allocated to a particular subject and this is indeed a timetabling issue. The bad news, of course, is that most schools have limited budgets and at short notice they cannot arrange more classes for a particular subject. If some of the teaching staff are away for weeks or months at a time, perhaps with stress-related illnesses exacerbated by silly TES articles, then a cover teacher will have to set the homework - or not set it at all.