Why HW improves learning
Homework is an assessment for learning tool. It provides the teacher with another stream of information about the students' capacity to be able to continue with the next learning sequence. Tasks would engage the students in either consolidating skills and knowledge delivered in class, or can begin to extend students' understanding of the knowledge and move towards more independent learning. This may take on the form of applying knowledge to new contexts, or creating new contexts entirely. Homework could involve retrieval practice, or it may be somewhat less traditional and simply mean work done somewhere outside of the classroom like in a supported study type environment. Also, homework can provide a student with their first opportunity to engage with a topic or learning sequence on their own, without any scaffolding from either the teacher or peers. This provides them with the space to be able to reflect on their understanding of the work and their ability to engage with it. The opportunity then for real self-reflection is very strong, and this is perhaps homework's greatest justification.
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The key to successful homework however, certainly relies on the skill of the teacher setting it. Work must be carefully designed to satisfy three essential elements: the quality of the work; the timing of the task; the amount of time needed relational to spare time. Without these taken into care or consideration, the validity of the homework task is questionable. These 3 elements are explored in great depth in the 'What' section.
An often uncited reason for giving homework is the opportunity it presents for parents to engage in some way with their child’s education. Many parents experience a sense of isolation when it comes to their child's learning, often adding weight to a perhaps aalready felt feeling of distance from their adolescent child; after all, their child spends a significant proportion of the day out of their sight and care. The expectation is not to outsource the learning to the parent, an immediate indication of a poorly designed task, but more so to provide a window of insight into the type of tasks undertaken, and the topics covered. This is felt the most when homework consists of revision, with parents being able to help manage revision and study habits. The result gained in the assessment then becomes more tangible ad meaningful to the parent, furthering the opportunity for a three way partnership: parent, teacher, student, to thrive.
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For so long, homework has very much experienced a negative perception from the community, and one of the main reasons why is because poor design has got in the way of the validity of the tasks. This website aims to break that perception through the discussion of researched concepts and understandings about learning, as well as through the experience of those immersed in the field, and to be proactive in applying such a finding by Cooper (2003):
'Therefore, we think it would not be imprudent, based on the evidence in hand, to conclude that doing homework causes improved academic achievement.'
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HW advocates
HW research
