Homework?

Our parent and friends association, like every other school parent and friend association, has an issue with the way the school sets homework. It’s not consistent: nothing comes for weeks then there’s four pieces in for tomorrow; it’s not challenging as length and scope are not specified; and it’s not relevant – tacked-on little tasks to appease anxious parents.

Truth is, in a highly diverse inner-city school where English (in my case) is taught in mixed-ability groupings, no homework a classroom teacher could reasonably set and mark would allow access to those students at the bottom of the ability range whilst stretching those at the top. It’s a logistical impossibility (my colleague, who teaches some 7 year 8 history groups a week, calculated that 5 minutes spent marking each pupil’s weekly homework task would take him around 14 hours) and the fractious arguments with pupils whose homework is missing impacts negatively on those who have completed the task by impinging on contact time with their teacher.

So, homework gets fudged. A creative and industrious department might co-ordinate homework tasks to fit in with subsequent lesson starters, allowing some brief feedback in class to avoid horrendous marking overload, but an average department will set homeworks now and again, get kids to finish off tasks at home, and try and take a look at the books once or twice a term.

So let’s take homework out of the classroom. It doesn’t belong there anyway – the clue’s in the name after all. Cross-curricular projects completed at home and supervised during targeted tutorials at school have the scope to push pupils without limiting access and can be assessed meaningfully at key points during the school year. Exercise books stay in school, and informed teacher will intuitively link their lesson content to the project which their kids are working on. At least, that’s the theory we’ll be piloting next year. And I’ve got some homework to do this weekend – writing the proposal. And yes, it will stretch me.