Homework in Room 101

A new series of the popular TV show Room 101 began last night, with a new format whereupon three guests offer up an item for banishment and new host Frank Skinner decides which item is selected for disposal. The first category for the guest to choose was "School Days" and TV "personality" and the face of Ryvita, Fern Britton chose homework, which ended up being voted in.

Her argument was that children should work hard at school but be allowed to be children in the evenings whilst at home. I have some time for this opinion, I have to say, as long as the children actually do work hard in school.

As far as I can see it, the pros for homework are these:

1. It gives children the opportunity to practise the things they've learnt in class, relying on their notes and own understanding of the work - those are what they'd revise from after all. If they struggle then they know they need to get help to get over these issues.
2. It gives teachers some marks on different topics to see how each child in ttheir class is getting on, which helps the teacher plan for future lessons.
3. This is the main one: people expect it to be set, even if it's totally pointless, they want to see that their child is being set something to do. It is a way that parents can find out what their children are learning at school.

The cons for homework would be:

1. Teachers spend a huge amount of time chasing incomplete homework, time that could be better spent planning lessons or exciting activities to enthuse their classes rather than phoning home or sitting in detention with half a dozen miscreants.
2. Any child with half a brain will realise quite quickly (as I did) that if you do a little bit of a homework task and then say you got stuck you won't get detention because you "had a go", and you didn't waste your entire evening on pointless tasks.
3. It would save every school in the land tousands of pounds in photocopying every year. For a class of 30 children a teacher will have to produce around 45 worksheets due to loss of original, hungry pets, spillages in school bag and anything else they can think of. Could the money be spent better elsewhere?

It looks like it's here to stay whatever Frank Skinner thinks, as I noticed in Michael Gove's new document "Teachers' Standards" that was sent around this week that teachers must "set homework and other out-of-class activities to consolidate and extend the knowledge and understanding pupils have acquired." This document will feature in future posts having read it.

I just think that homework is set purely due to expectation rather than any education value, which is ultimately, a total waste of time for all involved!