School Gate: Why too much homework doesn't work

A top-ranking state school has slashed the amount of homework set, saying that too much of it can be “depressing” and put children off learning.

Tiffin boys’ school, at Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, has called in all new Year 7 parents to explain that homework schedules are to be scaled back and replaced with a programme of independent learning.

“We felt that homework was taking over,” Gary James, the deputy head, said. “We had boys doing three or four hours a night at the expense of sports, music practice or simply having fun. Something’s not right when a boy can’t sit down and watch a nature documentary on TV because he’s too busy doing maths. Ultimately I don’t think we should set homework at all.”

Homework schedules of three or four hours a night are common at high-achieving schools, even for pupils aged 11 and 12. The Government recommends 45 to 90 minutes for that age, rising to a maximum of two and a half hours for older pupils.

But now Tiffin boys in years 7 to 11 have just one 40-minute assignment per night, plus 20 minutes of independent study, which they can use to play music, do sport or anything else that they feel might help their education. Suggested activities include watching a television documentary or visiting an art gallery.

The reforms are part of a wider trend in secondary schools to cut back on traditional teaching and learning. Schools are moving towards more independent study and so-called enrichment activities, with pupils learning at their own pace and focusing on what interests them most. That, in turn, is part of a global move towards personalising education and taking it back to the Latin root of the word, meaning “drawing out”.

At Brighton College, a leading co-educational independent school, Richard Cairns, the headmaster, has decided to teach less and to hold lessons at times that suit pupils best. The school used to have lessons virtually non-stop from 9.15am until 5.30pm. Now there are activity slots from 11am to 1pm twice a week and from 4pm to 5.30pm every day.

“We actually cut five lessons off the week and gave that time to enrichment activities — sport, public speaking and so forth,” Mr Cairns said. “Because the pupils had an outlet for their energies beyond the classroom, they were actually much more focused in the classroom.”

Other schools, particularly those in the state sector, are using web-based study aids to replace traditional homework. Jane Lees, president of the Association of School and College Leaders and head teacher at Hindley High School in Wigan, Greater Manchester, said the system was intended to persuade pupils to take greater responsibility for their own learning.

“We found one Year 10 girl put in 60 hours over one month because she was so interested in the work,” she said. “Others put in only one hour.”

Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which has called for an end to homework in primary schools and a scaling-back at secondary level, said that homework had been “mindlessly lauded by successive governments and pushy parents”.

He said: “All too often homework tasks are mechanistic and repetitive. Rarely do they encourage the free-range research and independent learning skills that employers would like to see.”

Time to swot

Government guidelines on how much homework pupils should do

Primary

Years 1 and 2 1 hour per week
3 and 4 1.5 hours per week
5 and 6 30 minutes per day

Secondary

7 and 8 45-90 minutes per day
9 1 to 2 hours per day
10 and 11 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day

Source: parentscentre.gov.uk

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