Sep 30, 2008

Lifestyle - Britain's biggest school scraps homework

The gains from homework do not justify the detentions and family rows it causes, say expertsLONDON: The biggest school in the UK has decided to scrap homework. The reason, according to the schoolnspokesmen, is that homework is very unpopular among children and it would be more difficult for children of ‘disadvantaged homes’ to do their assignments than those who come from ‘good’ homes, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Nottingham East academy, which will have 3,570 pupils when it opens, will replace homework with “an extra lesson and after-school activities.” Barry Day, set to become principal at the new academy, believes the move will help children from poorer or illiterate families or those whose parents do not speak English, the British daily reported.
“If you ask most heads what most detentions are for, they will tell you for non-completion of homework,” he said. “Homework causes an enormous amount of home conflict and parents and the community certainly won’t mind children coming home later. It is often set simply because there is an expectation it should be set. It does not help with education at all.”
Nottingham East will retain some homework for exam revision and coursework, but otherwise will simply encourage parents to read books in a relaxed way with their children and ask the pupils to report twice a term what they have read.
The academy is set to open next year, educating children from nursery age to 19.. The new academy aims to make its vast size manageable by sharing children around three mini-schools on different sites.
Last week, Tiffin boys' school in Kingston Upon Thames, south-west London, decided to scale back homework schedules amid fears it was leaving pupils "depressed". Tiffin, one of the top-rated grammar schools in England, has written to parents telling them it will limit homework to one 40 minute assignment, along with 20 minutes of independent study.

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