is homework banned in sweden

Students Rejoice! Swedish Town Could Ban Homework

Experts and school officials debating whether homework is helpful.

June 18, 2014— -- The Swedish town of Hallstahammars could become the envy of school children everywhere. It is debating whether to do away with homework in an effort to help students learn without being overly stressed.

Leena Millberg, the head of schools in Hallstahammars, said officials for the municipal government are still investigating if the proposal to ban homework makes sense. However, the students of Hallstahammars shouldn’t jump for joy just yet. Millberg said if the proposal does go through it’s likely that the school day would be lengthened.

“When children learn to read, for example ... we often give them homework to train,” Millberg told ABC News. “If we want to do that in the school day, we may need to make the school day a bit longer.”

The debate is not unique to the town hall of Hallstahammars, according to education experts.

Arguments for and against homework have raged on and off for decades according to Harris Cooper, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, who has researched how homework impacts families.

“It comes in waves,” said Cooper. “Generally it comes into public consciousness, giving kids too much or too little, depending on broader societal [news].”

Cooper said when a country’s reading or math comprehension is ranked lower than expected it can lead officials to want to ramp up homework. However, when studies show children are overworked or stressed, Cooper said officials will look at pulling back on assignments. In 2012, French President Francoise Hollande proposed banning homework in the country, though that proposal did not go through.

Cooper said he did not know of a country or region that has fully banned homework from schools. “Homework has been with us for a century,” said Cooper.

French President Calls to Ban Homework

Georgia School Investigates 'Slave' Homework Problems

Does More Homework Mean Better Grades?

According to experts in the U.S., homework can end up being a flashpoint for stress for both children and their parents if the emphasis is on the outcome rather than the process.

“You always praise process. You don’t worry about outcome when you praise children’s [work],” said Alan Kazdin, professor of Psychology and Child Psychiatry at Yale University. “We want the child to get used to studying outside of class.”

Some education experts say they have seen backlash against overly rigorous academic regimens. Matt Cruger, a psychologist and learning and diagnostic expert at the Child Mind Institute in New York, said he knew one elementary school that banned virtually all homework with varied reactions from the parents.

“The notion behind the ban is that the homework is not helping and it’s busy work and it’s causing stress,” Cruger told ABC News. “I think the reaction from the parents I see is mixed. Some parents have said this is great. ... There are parents who don’t like the idea of no homework because they feel like the challenges are not as high.”

Cruger said homework still serves a purpose but it’s up to the parents and educators to make sure the daily assignments actually help the student learn skills rather than just rote information.

“Rather than having homework or not having homework ... having teachers in school be more explicit about the skills you’re supposed to master,” would be helpful, Cruger said.

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Why do Finnish pupils succeed with less homework?

• Published 27 October 2016

Homework can be the cause of friction in families - but not in Finland

How do Finnish youngsters spend less time in school, get less homework and still come out with some of the best results in the world?

The question gets to the heart of a lot of parental angst about hard work and too much pressure on children in school.

Parents facing all those kitchen table arguments over homework might wonder about its value if the Finns are getting on just fine without burning the midnight oil.

As the OECD think tank says: "One of the most striking facts about Finnish schools is that their students have fewer hours of instruction than students in any other OECD country."

Long summer holidays

It also touches on another tension between schools and families - the increased cost of summer holidays.

Finland's school system is high performing, but pupils spend relatively few hours in school

While children in England and Wales are still toiling away in school into the middle of July, the Finns have already been on holiday for six weeks, in a summer break that lasts 10 to 11 weeks.

And completing this picture of less is more, Finnish children do not in theory have to start school until they are seven - although most will have been in classes from an earlier age.

But when it comes to the international Pisa tests, Finland is in sixth place and the UK is 23rd in reading; and Finland is 12th and the UK is 26th in maths.

Another set of OECD global rankings last year put Finland in sixth place for maths and science.

So what's going on? How do the Finns seem to start later, have fewer lessons and then finish ahead?

Finland, as part of its centenary commemorations next year, has a project to share what works in its schools with other countries.

Saku Tuominen, director of this HundrEd , external project, says parents in Finland don't really want longer hours in school.

He says there is a "holistic" approach to education, with parents wanting a family-friendly approach.

Why Sean wrote this article:

We asked readers to send BBC Education correspondent Sean Coughlan their questions on schools.

Sean chose four questions, and we asked you to select your favourite, which came from Lukas Milancius, a 16-year-old student.

Lukas asked: "How come Finland has shorter days and no homework for students and yet is achieving more?"

Lukas explained to us the thinking behind his question:

"I want to know why other countries are not adopting this education system. I find myself to be in a difficult situation where I am obliged to do a lot of homework and attend long school days which leaves me with hardly any time for me to do other activities."

Respect for teachers

There is little homework, compared with UK schools, and there is no culture of extra private tuition.

A key concept in the Finnish school system, says Mr Tuominen, is "trust".

Parents trust schools to make the right decisions and to deliver a good education within the school day - and schools put trust in the quality of their teachers.

Finland has systematically put an emphasis on improving education since the 1970s

Teaching is a high-status job in Finland and teachers are accorded a great deal of professional independence.

It's a different philosophy from the system in England, says Mr Tuominen, which he sees as being built around a check-list of tests, league tables, targets and public accountability.

He describes the amount of testing as the "tail wagging the dog".

But before making any assumptions that the laid-back Finnish approach must be the way forward, you could just as easily look to the educational hot houses of Singapore or South Korea.

Their children also do better than those in UK schools, but with an entirely different cultural approach, based on long hours and relentless pressure.

'Long-term planning'

This raises the question as to whether school systems, rather than shaping the next generation, simply mirror the society that's already there.

And in the case of Finland, Mr Tuominen says the Finnish school system is inseparable from the culture which it serves.

He says it's a "socially cohesive", equitable and efficient society, and it gets a consistently reliable school system to match.

This might sound as if countries are stuck forever with the school system that they've inherited.

But it's worth mentioning that there is nothing inevitable about Finland's success.

It's built on the foundations of reforms introduced in the 1970s and 1980s, which turned an ordinary school system into a world leader.

Russell Hobby, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, picks out this "stability" beyond the electoral cycle as the key difference.

"In Finland there's a long-term approach to education policy that means plans remain in place for a significant amount of time, giving them a chance to work," he says.

"In England the opposite is true. The government is constantly tinkering with policy and there's an obsession with structure - such as grammar schools and academies - rather than a focus on evidence."

By the beginning of June, schools in Finland are on summer holiday

But there are no signs of cutting back on days or hours in the UK.

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are already above the OECD average for the number of days taught.

And in England, this year's Budget in fact promised extra funding for extended days in secondary schools.

Pupils in England already get an average of 150 hours extra teaching per year than their Finnish counterparts.

Homework works

The OECD's education director, Andreas Schleicher, says extra hours are linked to better results.

"You teach one hour of science more per week and you will see that reflected in higher average scores," he says.

But that doesn't mean it's going to be enough to catch up - because countries such as Finland, he says, can "deliver greater value in learning in fewer hours".

There is another big question raised by this balancing act between quantity and quality.

If there were shorter hours and longer holidays for schools, what would it mean for working parents and the cost of childcare?

There's also bad news on the homework front.

Even if the Finns don't need it, research suggests it makes a positive difference.

Prof Susan Hallam from the Institute of Education says there is "hard evidence" that homework really does improve how well pupils achieve.

"There is no question about that," she says.

A study for the Department for Education found students who did two to three hours of homework per night were almost 10 times more likely to achieve five good GCSEs than those who did no homework

So back to the late night arguments over unfinished homework.

Do you think your children get too much homework? Join the conversation - find us on Facebook , external

Do you want to get involved with our coverage? Why not send us a question you'd like Sean to investigate? This time we're after your question on universities.

Take a look at some of the other questions you've wanted us to answer:

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More on this story

Is homework worth the hassle?

• Published 28 September 2016

You mean you're not on holiday yet?

• Published 11 June 2014

Tuesday, August 27, 2024 10:38 am (Paris)

Too fast, too soon? Sweden backs away from screens in schools

Based on doctors' advice, the center-right government wants to reduce the amount of time students spend in front of screens and bring textbooks back into the classroom.

By  Anne-Françoise Hivert   (Malmö (Sweden) correspondent)

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Did we go too fast, too far, too soon? For several months now, this sentiment has been growing in Sweden, which is questioning the place of screens and digital technology in the kingdom's schools, a concern raised by health professionals. On May 15, Minister of Schools Lotta Edholm reacted by burying the December 2022 strategy of the National Agency for Education (Skolverket), one which favors the pursuit of digital technology.

The minister had previously expressed her doubts, in an article published in the newspaper Expressen on December 21. In the piece, she described the use of digital technology in Swedish schools as an "experiment" and expressed her annoyance at the "uncritical attitude that casually considers digitalization to be positive, regardless of content," leading to the "sidelining" of the textbook, which she said had "advantages that no tablet can replace."

To address this, the center-right government announced that it would allocate 685 million kronor (€60 million) this year and 500 million (€45 million) per year in 2024 and 2025 in order to accelerate the return of textbooks to schools. "This is part of restoring reading to schools, at the expense of screen time," the minister explained. The goal is to guarantee one book per student and per subject.

This ratio is no longer the case today. For the past fifteen years or so, screens have gradually replaced textbooks in Sweden. From middle school onwards, students spend an increasing amount of time in front of computers, usually provided by the school. No matter the subject, they have to connect to the internet in order to search for information online, write an assignment or revise for their courses.

'Democracy and equality'

However, there are no statistics on the amount of time Swedish children spend in front of screens at school. It varies from one school to another, and depends on the teachers – including their interest in digital technology and their level of training, which fluctuates from one local authority to another, depending on the financial commitment of municipalities. In early December, in a survey of 2,000 teachers conducted by their union, nearly one in five teachers on average estimated that their students rarely or never wrote by hand. In middle schools, this represented 35.3% of teachers, and 56.8% in high schools.

In her crusade against screens, the Minister of Schools has blamed them for the decline in reading and comprehension skills among young Swedes, as highlighted by the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), carried out in 57 countries and published on May 16 – although the Swedish level remains above the European average. The omnipresence of screens also means that students have lost the habit of reading, that teachers use handouts (for lack of textbooks) and that parents are unable to help their children.

You have 53.95% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.

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Homework ban proposed by councillors in Swedish city of Hallstahammar

Children in hallstahammar may soon see the back of home study, article bookmarked.

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Louise Thomas

Members of a city council in Sweden have put forward a proposal to ban homework – a suggestion that is likely to make some over-worked school-children giddy with joy if it passes.

Authorities in the central Swedish city of Hallstahammar began discussing the merits of the idea at a meeting on Monday.

The ban was suggested by the Vänsterpartiet , or Left Party.

Its members believe that teachers should not have to assign pupils extra work, as they believe pupils should be taught comprehensively enough during school hours.

“We think it's an interesting idea, and one that should be investigated further to see if it's possible for Hallstahammar to become the first homework-free municipality in Sweden,” Christina Aspenryd, chairman of the city's children and education board, told the TT news agency.

But Education Minister Jan Björklund of the Liberal People’s Party slammed the idea, and said homework is not an issue for councils to decide upon.

“If this proposal is passed, I will take the initiative to change school laws so that cities will not be able to butt in and affect this kind of pedagogical decision,” Björklund said according to The Local .

Sweden is well-known for its liberal approach to teaching, and is widely considered to be the nation which pioneered free schools - a system championed by British Education Secretary Michael Gove .

In 2012, Gove scrapped the guidelines for home study introduced by Labour in 1998. Instead, head teachers now decide how much homework to set - if any.

Last year, Jane Austen College in Norwich made headlines when it announced it would not require its students to complete any work in the evenings or on weekends.

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Countries with Less Homework and Why More Countries Should Follow Them

Countries with less homework and why more countries should follow them: It may sound counter intuitive but studies are showing that less homework might be the right way to go in better learning. 

In an ideal world, students are entitled to an evening of some revision, rest and entertainment after a whole day of study. In many school systems, however, kids are assigned tons of assignments to handle in their free time in a bid to improve their grasp of themes and keep them occupied in books.

As much as the intentions are good, more homework only keeps children drowned in books and does little in achieving the latter. A testament to this, countries with fewer homework policies have better statistics of students that join campus and even lesser dropouts.

A testament to the benefits of fewer time commitment to homework, educational systems in powerhouses like Finland and USA have adopted the policies championing for least homework with the US recommending at most 10 minutes of assignment in any unit per night.

For proper insight, here is a list of countries that embrace the motion for least homework and reasons for other countries to emulate this move. For assistance on homework and clarity on concepts, engage experts on myHomework done , thus earning your student spurs and conceptualizing various classes better.

    1. Finland

On top of the list of countries giving less assignment is Finland. Apart from boasting of short school terms and extended holidays, the country limits the homework load to 2.8 hours total of homework per week.

Despite their educational system, Finland manages to rank among the top countries in math and science innovations and also with a smaller drop-out rate. Due to their approach on education, students feel a lesser burden imposed on them thus embracing learning.

Even better, Finland educational system discourages cramming of concepts and trains teachers to impart lessons to students in a matter that they all understand the information equally.

    2. South Korea

Like the former, South Korea limits its homework duration per week to a maximum of 2.9 hours. By reducing the burden on students, the country boasts of more educated persons per level of education and even lesser dropout rates.

Unlike other countries, South Korea majors on continuous assessments which excel at testing the understanding of students as opposed to daily homework.

     3. Japan

Among the leading countries in technology and science is Japan . Although it has the highest amount of hours for homework per week than its counterparts at 3.8 hours, the numbers are way low than the average.

Even better, the Japanese system of study trains students to gather information from social media platforms thus honing their research and creativity skills. By limiting the amounts of homework, students get to spend quality time with parents thus giving them a platform to instill morals and gain perspective for the upcoming classes.

Reasons why more countries should reduce the homework load on students

    1. By assigning more homework to students, the level of anxiety increases thus leading to low motivation in school work. As such, the productivity and attitude of kids towards education is lowered which in turn leads to more dropout rates and lesser grades.

    2. With alarming rates of obesity and immorality in kids, less homework creates more parent-kid time and allows kids to engage in more co-curricular activities. As such, parents get a chance to instill moral character in kids and also involve kids in sports and exercise.

    3. Time off books allows kids to relax their mind thus increasing the ability to grasp more concepts hence getting the most from every session.

Apart from denying students a change for co-curricular activities, students are also deprived of social time which in turn leads to less time for parents to instill morals in children and also spikes anxiety levels in kids.

Whether more homework is helpful or not is a debatable issue. However, the burden on students leads to daunting effects. Given that academic frontiers assign lesser homework; it shows the need for change in lesser ranking countries.

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Homeschooler Pro

What Country Has No Homework

Homework can be a lifelong nightmare for students, while others find it to be a necessary part of the educative process. Nonetheless, some countries have abolished the requirement of homework, while others have adopted it.

Table of Contents

This article will discuss which country has abolished homework and the reasoning behind such decision.

Overview of Homework in Different Countries

The opinion on homework is controversial. In some cases, students develop a sense of responsibility, organization, and improved grades by doing homework.

On the other hand, too much or too little homework can be a source of stress for students and parents, detracting from the quality of life. The amount of homework assigned and the amount of hours spent on it greatly vary from country to country. Students in Asian countries, like Japan, South Korea, and China, are amongst those who spend the most time on homework.

On the other hand, countries such as Finland and Denmark assign less homework, but still allow students to get enough practice on their academic skills to excel in exams.

History of Homework in Finland

Finland is a country located in the Nordic region known for its educational advancements and standards. During the eighties, Finland started an education reform. Since then, the country has abolished mandatory homework and included the practice of less is more into their school system.

Rather than assigning students hours of homework, teachers prefer to give more meaningful and creative tasks and projects. No longer must students worry about homework, as students can dedicate their time to leisure and extra-curricular activities while having the same grade level as students in countries where homework is mandatory.

Finns have a culture of knowing how to read, rather than what to read, and classroom activities and short exercises provide enough practice for students.

The Effects of Abolishing Homework

The decision to abolish homework has proved to be a successful and beneficial plan for the future of Finland. Students have more time to have a balanced life and to pursue activities, such as music, team sports, and part-time jobs.

Also, the decision gives more time and space to students to focus more on their studies and projects. For example, Finland implements a philosophy known as de-emphasis of testing. This means that the focus is not entirely placed on top results, but rather in the acquisition of knowledge.

Therefore, instead of focusing solely on grades, the emphasis is placed on learning how to think and how to learn.

International Recognition of Finland’s System

Finland has a universal, publicly funded educational system that is completely free and voluntary for students between the ages of 6 and 1 Other countries, such as Sweden and Denmark, follow the Finnish system and accomplishment of de-emphasizing on the testing and exam scores.

The policy of no-homework has even been recognized internationally. Books, such as The World’s Best Education System by Melinda Schawacher, and Pasi Silander’s book, The Education Revolution in Finland have given Finland’s system credit.

Criticisms of Abolishing Homework

Although Finland has achieved success with its system and educational advancements, there still remain some critics to the decision to abolish homework. For example, opponents argue that students are not compelled to sit down and study and that this decision allows students to succumb to distraction.

Moreover, some may argue that students develop better time management skills when managing their own time and dedicating it to homework; this way, they learn how to structure their studies and better manage their academic life.

Alternative Homework Policies

Not all countries are ready or willing to completely abolish homework. Therefore, other policy suggestions have been made to reduce the amount of homework assigned.

For example, in the United States, the Homework Policy Council suggests limiting homework to 10 minutes per grade level. In Brazil, the Justa Causa movement urges for the reduction of homework for primary school students. Also, in some countries, parents have started movements to reduce the number of hours spent on homework.

The Pros and Cons of Homework

Overall, some students receive beneficial results from doing homework while others find it to be a stressful obligation. Homework has both pros and cons, as it allows students to acquire more knowledge and practice, as well as improve their grades, but it also has shortcomings, as it takes away from the quality of life and social life of students.

The education system ultimately needs to address the needs of the students and address the proper amount and type of homework. Too much or too little homework can be a source of stress.

In conclusion, Finland has revolutionized the use of less is more in the educational system by abolishing homework. This decision has proven to be beneficial for Finland’s students, as they can dedicate their time to leisure and have more potential to excel academically.

The decision to abolish homework has also been recognized worldwide, as other countries have followed the Finnish system with similar results. Nonetheless, other countries have adopted alternative homework policies in order to prevent the burden of too much homework on students. Finland’s no-homework policy has pros and cons, from allowing the students to dedicate their free time to other activities, to not allowing the students to better manage their own learning process.

Despite the criticism, the decision to abolish homework has been a success for the Finnish; therefore, it is worth considering for other countries as well.

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The Swedish school system

Education is key in sweden. it is tax-financed, and compulsory from the age of 6..

In the Swedish school system, children go to school for at least ten years from the year they turn six, as mandated by the Swedish Education Act (link in Swedish). Sweden's long focus on education is quoted as one of the explanations for the country's capacity for innovation.

Nursery school

Förskola (nursery school, or preschool) is provided by Swedish municipalities for children ages one to five. The amount of municipal subsidy for preschool depends on the child’s age and whether the parents work, study, are unemployed or on parental leave for other children.

Swedish preschool emphasises the importance of play in a child’s development, with a curriculum aiming to ensure children’s individual needs and interests. Gender-aware education is increasingly common, striving to provide children with the same opportunities in life regardless of gender.

Compulsory schooling

Swedish compulsory schooling consists of four stages: förskoleklass (‘preschool year’ or year 0), lågstadiet (years 1–3), mellanstadiet (years 4–6) and högstadiet (years 7–9). Children between ages six and thirteen are also offered out-of-school care before and after school hours.

Compulsory education also includes sameskolor (Sami schools) for children of the indigenous Sami people.

Upper secondary school

Gymnasium (upper secondary school, sixth form or high school, years 10–12) is optional. There are eighteen regular national programmes of three years to choose from, six of which are preparatory for higher education such as university, and twelve of which are vocational.

While entrance requirements vary between programmes, all of them demand students to have passing grades in Swedish/Swedish as a second language, English and mathematics from their final year of compulsory schooling.

In 2023, 85.2 cent of Swedish ninth-year students qualified for either a higher education preparatory programme or a vocational programme.

In 2022 (latest statistics available), 79.7 per cent of the students who began a national programme during the 2019 autumn semester received a leaving qualification (diploma), thus finishing upper secondary school in three years.

Introductory programmes

For those whose grades don’t qualify for upper secondary school, there are four so-called introductory programmes to choose from. These programmes are individually taileored and aim to help students either move on to a national programme or find a job.

About 85 per cent of Swedish 1- to 5-year-olds attend nursery school, or preschool. Photo: Maskot/Folio/imagebank.sweden.se

Sweden is continuously striving to improve student results. Photo: Ann-Sofi Rosenkvist/imagebank.sweden.se

School is not all work. Photo: Ann-Sofi Rosenkvist/imagebank.sweden.se

Both publicly and privately run schools are tuition-free in Sweden. Photo: Maskot/Folio/imagebank.sweden.se

Independent schools

The Swedish school system includes a growing number of independent schools with public funding, friskola in Swedish. Following a law change in the 1990s, parents and their children can choose among tuition-free schools that are either municipal or private.

Although privately-run schools have been in existence for as long as there has been compulsory education in Sweden, they were not a wide-spread competitive alternative to municipal schools until the 1992 law provided them with public funding.

These publicly funded non-municipal schools are called friskola to differentiate them from tuition-based private schools (of which there are only a handful left in Sweden).

In Sweden, independent schools must be approved by the Schools Inspectorate and follow the national curricula and sylla­buses, just like regular municipal schools.

In 2022–2023, independent schools attracted 16.2 per cent of all compulsory school students and 31.3 per cent of all upper secondary school students.

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Student Opinion

Should We Get Rid of Homework?

Some educators are pushing to get rid of homework. Would that be a good thing?

By Jeremy Engle and Michael Gonchar

Do you like doing homework? Do you think it has benefited you educationally?

Has homework ever helped you practice a difficult skill — in math, for example — until you mastered it? Has it helped you learn new concepts in history or science? Has it helped to teach you life skills, such as independence and responsibility? Or, have you had a more negative experience with homework? Does it stress you out, numb your brain from busywork or actually make you fall behind in your classes?

Should we get rid of homework?

In “ The Movement to End Homework Is Wrong, ” published in July, the Times Opinion writer Jay Caspian Kang argues that homework may be imperfect, but it still serves an important purpose in school. The essay begins:

Do students really need to do their homework? As a parent and a former teacher, I have been pondering this question for quite a long time. The teacher side of me can acknowledge that there were assignments I gave out to my students that probably had little to no academic value. But I also imagine that some of my students never would have done their basic reading if they hadn’t been trained to complete expected assignments, which would have made the task of teaching an English class nearly impossible. As a parent, I would rather my daughter not get stuck doing the sort of pointless homework I would occasionally assign, but I also think there’s a lot of value in saying, “Hey, a lot of work you’re going to end up doing in your life is pointless, so why not just get used to it?” I certainly am not the only person wondering about the value of homework. Recently, the sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco and the mathematics education scholars Ilana Horn and Grace Chen published a paper, “ You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities .” They argued that while there’s some evidence that homework might help students learn, it also exacerbates inequalities and reinforces what they call the “meritocratic” narrative that says kids who do well in school do so because of “individual competence, effort and responsibility.” The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students. Calarco, Horn and Chen write, “Research has highlighted inequalities in students’ homework production and linked those inequalities to differences in students’ home lives and in the support students’ families can provide.”

Mr. Kang argues:

But there’s a defense of homework that doesn’t really have much to do with class mobility, equality or any sense of reinforcing the notion of meritocracy. It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background, which is why, I imagine, Calarco, Horn and Chen found that most teachers weren’t thinking in a structural inequalities frame. Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility. A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchist at this moment, but if we truly believe that schools should teach children lessons that fall outside the meritocracy, I can’t think of one that matters more than the simple satisfaction of mastering something that you were once bad at. That takes homework and the acknowledgment that sometimes a student can get a question wrong and, with proper instruction, eventually get it right.

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Swedish city mulls homework ban.

• Add a comment

The city council of Hallstahammar in central Sweden began an investigation on Monday to determine whether or not to abolish homework. 

"Students shouldn’t have to take home their work and burden their parents with it," Christina Aspenryd, chairman of the city's children and education board, told The Local.

"When the students come home they should be free to do what they like."

The homework ban was suggested by the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet), stating that students should learn everything they need during school hours. Aspenryd clarified that students would still be able to do extra work at home if they so desired, but that no homework would be assigned. 

"We are aware that children have very different situations at home," Aspenryd explained. "Some parents are not able to help their children. It’s better that all children get help in the classroom."

Aspenryd added that the investigation will continue this autumn, to determine what resources would be necessary to make such changes.

"We might need to make the school day a bit longer, for instance," she said.

Education Minister Jan Björklund was skeptical about the proposal, arguing that homework was not an issue for city politicians to decide.

"If this proposal is passed, I will take initiative to change school laws so that cities will not be able to butt in and affect this kind of pedagogical decision," Björklund told the TT news agency.

The Local/sr

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected] . Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in here to leave a comment.

• The Highlight

Nobody knows what the point of homework is

The homework wars are back.

by Jacob Sweet

As the Covid-19 pandemic began and students logged into their remote classrooms, all work, in effect, became homework. But whether or not students could complete it at home varied. For some, schoolwork became public-library work or McDonald’s-parking-lot work.

Luis Torres, the principal of PS 55, a predominantly low-income community elementary school in the south Bronx, told me that his school secured Chromebooks for students early in the pandemic only to learn that some lived in shelters that blocked wifi for security reasons. Others, who lived in housing projects with poor internet reception, did their schoolwork in laundromats.

According to a 2021 Pew survey , 25 percent of lower-income parents said their children, at some point, were unable to complete their schoolwork because they couldn’t access a computer at home; that number for upper-income parents was 2 percent.

The issues with remote learning in March 2020 were new. But they highlighted a divide that had been there all along in another form: homework. And even long after schools have resumed in-person classes, the pandemic’s effects on homework have lingered.

Over the past three years, in response to concerns about equity, schools across the country, including in Sacramento, Los Angeles , San Diego , and Clark County, Nevada , made permanent changes to their homework policies that restricted how much homework could be given and how it could be graded after in-person learning resumed.

Three years into the pandemic, as districts and teachers reckon with Covid-era overhauls of teaching and learning, schools are still reconsidering the purpose and place of homework. Whether relaxing homework expectations helps level the playing field between students or harms them by decreasing rigor is a divisive issue without conclusive evidence on either side, echoing other debates in education like the elimination of standardized test scores from some colleges’ admissions processes.

I first began to wonder if the homework abolition movement made sense after speaking with teachers in some Massachusetts public schools, who argued that rather than help disadvantaged kids, stringent homework restrictions communicated an attitude of low expectations. One, an English teacher, said she felt the school had “just given up” on trying to get the students to do work; another argued that restrictions that prohibit teachers from assigning take-home work that doesn’t begin in class made it difficult to get through the foreign-language curriculum. Teachers in other districts have raised formal concerns about homework abolition’s ability to close gaps among students rather than widening them.

Many education experts share this view. Harris Cooper, a professor emeritus of psychology at Duke who has studied homework efficacy, likened homework abolition to “playing to the lowest common denominator.”

But as I learned after talking to a variety of stakeholders — from homework researchers to policymakers to parents of schoolchildren — whether to abolish homework probably isn’t the right question. More important is what kind of work students are sent home with and where they can complete it. Chances are, if schools think more deeply about giving constructive work, time spent on homework will come down regardless.

There’s no consensus on whether homework works

The rise of the no-homework movement during the Covid-19 pandemic tapped into long-running disagreements over homework’s impact on students. The purpose and effectiveness of homework have been disputed for well over a century. In 1901, for instance, California banned homework for students up to age 15, and limited it for older students, over concerns that it endangered children’s mental and physical health. The newest iteration of the anti-homework argument contends that the current practice punishes students who lack support and rewards those with more resources, reinforcing the “myth of meritocracy.”

But there is still no research consensus on homework’s effectiveness; no one can seem to agree on what the right metrics are. Much of the debate relies on anecdotes, intuition, or speculation.

Researchers disagree even on how much research exists on the value of homework. Kathleen Budge, the co-author of Turning High-Poverty Schools Into High-Performing Schools and a professor at Boise State, told me that homework “has been greatly researched.” Denise Pope, a Stanford lecturer and leader of the education nonprofit Challenge Success, said, “It’s not a highly researched area because of some of the methodological problems.”

Experts who are more sympathetic to take-home assignments generally support the “10-minute rule,” a framework that estimates the ideal amount of homework on any given night by multiplying the student’s grade by 10 minutes. (A ninth grader, for example, would have about 90 minutes of work a night.) Homework proponents argue that while it is difficult to design randomized control studies to test homework’s effectiveness, the vast majority of existing studies show a strong positive correlation between homework and high academic achievement for middle and high school students. Prominent critics of homework argue that these correlational studies are unreliable and point to studies that suggest a neutral or negative effect on student performance. Both agree there is little to no evidence for homework’s effectiveness at an elementary school level, though proponents often argue that it builds constructive habits for the future.

For anyone who remembers homework assignments from both good and bad teachers, this fundamental disagreement might not be surprising. Some homework is pointless and frustrating to complete. Every week during my senior year of high school, I had to analyze a poem for English and decorate it with images found on Google; my most distinct memory from that class is receiving a demoralizing 25-point deduction because I failed to present my analysis on a poster board. Other assignments really do help students learn: After making an adapted version of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book for a ninth grade history project, I was inspired to check out from the library and read a biography of the Chinese ruler.

For homework opponents, the first example is more likely to resonate. “We’re all familiar with the negative effects of homework: stress, exhaustion, family conflict, less time for other activities, diminished interest in learning,” Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, which challenges common justifications for homework, told me in an email. “And these effects may be most pronounced among low-income students.” Kohn believes that schools should make permanent any moratoria implemented during the pandemic, arguing that there are no positives at all to outweigh homework’s downsides. Recent studies , he argues , show the benefits may not even materialize during high school.

In the Marlborough Public Schools, a suburban district 45 minutes west of Boston, school policy committee chair Katherine Hennessy described getting kids to complete their homework during remote education as “a challenge, to say the least.” Teachers found that students who spent all day on their computers didn’t want to spend more time online when the day was over. So, for a few months, the school relaxed the usual practice and teachers slashed the quantity of nightly homework.

Online learning made the preexisting divides between students more apparent, she said. Many students, even during normal circumstances, lacked resources to keep them on track and focused on completing take-home assignments. Though Marlborough Schools is more affluent than PS 55, Hennessy said many students had parents whose work schedules left them unable to provide homework help in the evenings. The experience tracked with a common divide in the country between children of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

So in October 2021, months after the homework reduction began, the Marlborough committee made a change to the district’s policy. While teachers could still give homework, the assignments had to begin as classwork. And though teachers could acknowledge homework completion in a student’s participation grade, they couldn’t count homework as its own grading category. “Rigorous learning in the classroom does not mean that that classwork must be assigned every night,” the policy stated . “Extensions of class work is not to be used to teach new content or as a form of punishment.”

Canceling homework might not do anything for the achievement gap

The critiques of homework are valid as far as they go, but at a certain point, arguments against homework can defy the commonsense idea that to retain what they’re learning, students need to practice it.

“Doesn’t a kid become a better reader if he reads more? Doesn’t a kid learn his math facts better if he practices them?” said Cathy Vatterott, an education researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. After decades of research, she said it’s still hard to isolate the value of homework, but that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned.

Blanket vilification of homework can also conflate the unique challenges facing disadvantaged students as compared to affluent ones, which could have different solutions. “The kids in the low-income schools are being hurt because they’re being graded, unfairly, on time they just don’t have to do this stuff,” Pope told me. “And they’re still being held accountable for turning in assignments, whether they’re meaningful or not.” On the other side, “Palo Alto kids” — students in Silicon Valley’s stereotypically pressure-cooker public schools — “are just bombarded and overloaded and trying to stay above water.”

Merely getting rid of homework doesn’t solve either problem. The United States already has the second-highest disparity among OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations between time spent on homework by students of high and low socioeconomic status — a difference of more than three hours, said Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University and author of No More Mindless Homework .

When she interviewed teachers in Boston-area schools that had cut homework before the pandemic, Bempechat told me, “What they saw immediately was parents who could afford it immediately enrolled their children in the Russian School of Mathematics,” a math-enrichment program whose tuition ranges from $140 to about $400 a month. Getting rid of homework “does nothing for equity; it increases the opportunity gap between wealthier and less wealthy families,” she said. “That solution troubles me because it’s no solution at all.”

A group of teachers at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, made the same point after the school district proposed an overhaul of its homework policies, including removing penalties for missing homework deadlines, allowing unlimited retakes, and prohibiting grading of homework.

“Given the emphasis on equity in today’s education systems,” they wrote in a letter to the school board, “we believe that some of the proposed changes will actually have a detrimental impact towards achieving this goal. Families that have means could still provide challenging and engaging academic experiences for their children and will continue to do so, especially if their children are not experiencing expected rigor in the classroom.” At a school where more than a third of students are low-income, the teachers argued, the policies would prompt students “to expect the least of themselves in terms of effort, results, and responsibility.”

Not all homework is created equal

Despite their opposing sides in the homework wars, most of the researchers I spoke to made a lot of the same points. Both Bempechat and Pope were quick to bring up how parents and schools confuse rigor with workload, treating the volume of assignments as a proxy for quality of learning. Bempechat, who is known for defending homework, has written extensively about how plenty of it lacks clear purpose, requires the purchasing of unnecessary supplies, and takes longer than it needs to. Likewise, when Pope instructs graduate-level classes on curriculum, she asks her students to think about the larger purpose they’re trying to achieve with homework: If they can get the job done in the classroom, there’s no point in sending home more work.

At its best, pandemic-era teaching facilitated that last approach. Honolulu-based teacher Christina Torres Cawdery told me that, early in the pandemic, she often had a cohort of kids in her classroom for four hours straight, as her school tried to avoid too much commingling. She couldn’t lecture for four hours, so she gave the students plenty of time to complete independent and project-based work. At the end of most school days, she didn’t feel the need to send them home with more to do.

A similar limited-homework philosophy worked at a public middle school in Chelsea, Massachusetts. A couple of teachers there turned as much class as possible into an opportunity for small-group practice, allowing kids to work on problems that traditionally would be assigned for homework, Jessica Flick, a math coach who leads department meetings at the school, told me. It was inspired by a philosophy pioneered by Simon Fraser University professor Peter Liljedahl, whose influential book Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics reframes homework as “check-your-understanding questions” rather than as compulsory work. Last year, Flick found that the two eighth grade classes whose teachers adopted this strategy performed the best on state tests, and this year, she has encouraged other teachers to implement it.

Teachers know that plenty of homework is tedious and unproductive. Jeannemarie Dawson De Quiroz, who has taught for more than 20 years in low-income Boston and Los Angeles pilot and charter schools, says that in her first years on the job she frequently assigned “drill and kill” tasks and questions that she now feels unfairly stumped students. She said designing good homework wasn’t part of her teaching programs, nor was it meaningfully discussed in professional development. With more experience, she turned as much class time as she could into practice time and limited what she sent home.

“The thing about homework that’s sticky is that not all homework is created equal,” says Jill Harrison Berg, a former teacher and the author of Uprooting Instructional Inequity . “Some homework is a genuine waste of time and requires lots of resources for no good reason. And other homework is really useful.”

Cutting homework has to be part of a larger strategy

The takeaways are clear: Schools can make cuts to homework, but those cuts should be part of a strategy to improve the quality of education for all students. If the point of homework was to provide more practice, districts should think about how students can make it up during class — or offer time during or after school for students to seek help from teachers. If it was to move the curriculum along, it’s worth considering whether strategies like Liljedahl’s can get more done in less time.

Some of the best thinking around effective assignments comes from those most critical of the current practice. Denise Pope proposes that, before assigning homework, teachers should consider whether students understand the purpose of the work and whether they can do it without help. If teachers think it’s something that can’t be done in class, they should be mindful of how much time it should take and the feedback they should provide. It’s questions like these that De Quiroz considered before reducing the volume of work she sent home.

More than a year after the new homework policy began in Marlborough, Hennessy still hears from parents who incorrectly “think homework isn’t happening” despite repeated assurances that kids still can receive work. She thinks part of the reason is that education has changed over the years. “I think what we’re trying to do is establish that homework may be an element of educating students,” she told me. “But it may not be what parents think of as what they grew up with. ... It’s going to need to adapt, per the teaching and the curriculum, and how it’s being delivered in each classroom.”

For the policy to work, faculty, parents, and students will all have to buy into a shared vision of what school ought to look like. The district is working on it — in November, it hosted and uploaded to YouTube a round-table discussion on homework between district administrators — but considering the sustained confusion, the path ahead seems difficult.

When I asked Luis Torres about whether he thought homework serves a useful part in PS 55’s curriculum, he said yes, of course it was — despite the effort and money it takes to keep the school open after hours to help them do it. “The children need the opportunity to practice,” he said. “If you don’t give them opportunities to practice what they learn, they’re going to forget.” But Torres doesn’t care if the work is done at home. The school stays open until around 6 pm on weekdays, even during breaks. Tutors through New York City’s Department of Youth and Community Development programs help kids with work after school so they don’t need to take it with them.

As schools weigh the purpose of homework in an unequal world, it’s tempting to dispose of a practice that presents real, practical problems to students across the country. But getting rid of homework is unlikely to do much good on its own. Before cutting it, it’s worth thinking about what good assignments are meant to do in the first place. It’s crucial that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds tackle complex quantitative problems and hone their reading and writing skills. It’s less important that the work comes home with them.

Jacob Sweet is a freelance writer in Somerville, Massachusetts. He is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, among other publications.

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No Tests, No Homework! Here's How Finland Has Emerged As A Global Example Of Quality, Inclusive Education

Others/world,  15 may 2022 3:40 am gmt, editor : shiva chaudhary  | .

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Student-oriented approach to education in finland has been recognised as the most well-developed educational system in the world and ranks third in education worldwide..

"A quality education grants us the ability to fight the war on ignorance and poverty," - Charles Rangel

The uniqueness of the Finnish education model is encapsulated in its values of neither giving homework to students every day nor conducting regular tests and exams. Instead, it is listening to what the kids want and treating them as independent thinkers of society.

In Finland, the aim is to let students be happy and respect themselves and others.

Goodbye Standardised Exams

There is absolutely no program of nationwide standard testing, such as in India or the U.S, where those exams are the decisive points of one's admission to higher education like Board Examinations or Common Entrance Tests.

In an event organised by Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat remarked, "It is because they teach their children to face life struggles and not score in an examination," reported The Print .

Students in Finland are graded based on individual performance and evaluation criteria decided by their teachers themselves. Overall progress is tracked by their government's Ministry of Education, where they sample groups of students across schools in Finland.

Value-Based Education

They are primarily focused on making school a safe and equal space as children learn from the environment.

All Finland schools have offered since the 1980s free school meals, access to healthcare, a focus on mental health through psychological counselling for everyone and guidance sessions for each student to understand their wants and needs.

Education in Finland is not about marks or ranks but about creating an atmosphere of social equality, harmony and happiness for the students to ease learning experiences.

Most of the students spend half an hour at home after school to work on their studies. They mostly get everything done in the duration of the school timings as they only have a few classes every day. They are given several 15 -20 minutes breaks to eat, do recreational activities, relax, and do other work. There is no regiment in school or a rigid timetable, thus, causing less stress as given in the World Economic Forum .

Everyone Is Equal - Cooperate, Not Compete

The schools do not put pressure on ranking students, schools, or competitions, and they believe that a real winner doesn't compete; they help others come up to their level to make everyone on par.

Even though individualism is promoted during evaluation based on every student's needs, collectivity and fostering cooperation among students and teachers are deemed crucial.

While most schools worldwide believe in Charles Darwin's survival of the fittest, Finland follows the opposite but still comes out at the top.

Student-Oriented Model

The school teachers believe in a simple thumb rule; students are children who need to be happy when they attend school to learn and give their best. Focus is put upon teaching students to be critical thinkers of what they know, engage in society, and decide for themselves what they want.

In various schools, playgrounds are created by children's input as the architect talks to the children about what they want or what they feel like playing before setting up the playground.

Compared To The Indian Education Model

Firstly, Finnish children enrol in schools at the age of six rather than in India, where the school age is usually three or four years old. Their childhood is free from constricting education or forced work, and they are given free rein over how they socialise and participate in society.

Secondly, all schools in Finland are free of tuition fees as there are no private schools. Thus, education is not treated as a business. Even tuition outside schools is not allowed or needed, leaving no scope for commodifying education, unlike in India, where multiple coaching centres and private schools require exorbitant fees.

Thirdly, the school hours in Finland do not start early morning at 6 am, or 7 am as done in India. Finland schools begin from 9.30 am as research in World Economic Forum has indicated that schools starting at an early age is detrimental to their health and maturation. The school ends by mostly 2 pm.

Lastly, there is no homework or surprise test given to students in Finland. Teachers believe that the time wasted on assignments can be used to perform hobbies, art, sports, or cooking. This can teach life lessons and have a therapeutic stress-relieving effect on children. Indian schools tend to give a lot of homework to prove their commitment to studying and constantly revise what they learn in school.

Delhi Govt's Focus On Education

The Delhi model of education transformed under the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) tenure in the capital. In line with the Finnish model, Delhi government schools have adopted 'Happiness Classes' to ensure students' mental wellness through courses on mindfulness, problem-solving, social and emotional relationships, etc., from 1st to 8th classes.

Delhi government also introduced 'Entrepreneurial Mindset Classes' in 2019 to instil business and critical thinking skills among students of 9th to 12th classes. The practical approach in this class is indicated in the 'Business Blasters', a competition started by the Delhi government to encourage students to come up with start-up ideas and students were provided with ₹1000. Approximately 51,000 students participated in the first edition of the competition, according to Citizen Matters .

Through these endeavours, India is steadily investing in creating human resources that can get employment and generate employment for themselves.

India is at its demographic dividend stage; more than half of its population is within the working-age group of 14 to 60 years. Education is an essential factor in utilising this considerable advantage to grow economically and socially. Finland's education model is how India can strive closer to its goal and progress as a nation.

Also Read: Connaissance! Delhi Board of School Education Pens MoU To Add French In Government Schools

We are an independent and public-spirited digital media platform for Indian millennials. We report news and issues that matter as well as give you the opportunity to take action.

Does Sweden have homework?

Yes, Swedish schools do give out homework. The Swedish education system places a strong emphasis on independent learning, so students are expected to take responsibility for their own education by completing homework and other independent study tasks.

Do they give homework in Sweden?

Although homework is a natural part of most children’s schooling in Sweden, there are currently no regulations regarding homework in the national governing documents for public schools.

Which country has the least homework?

Finland. On top of the list of successful countries that offer less homework and is Finland. Finland is a European country that prides itself on offering 2.8 hours of assignments per week, long holiday vacations, and short school days.

What country has the most homework in the world?

Students in Shanghai, a region in China that now leads the world in PISA test scores, do a whopping 14 hours of homework a week, on average.

How long is a school day in Sweden?

The year is broken up into two semesters. There is a long break in December from the middle of the month until early January. For younger kids, school hours are typically 8:30 to 14:30. Older students start at the same time and leave around 15:00 or 16:00.

Sweden’s Surprisingly Private (and Free) Education

What grade is a 15 year old in sweden.

After grade 9 (age 15/16), children can continue into Upper Secondary School (“gymnasium”), a non-compulsory 3-year program or take another form of educational program. Students can choose between schools located anywhere in the country and still receive benefits from government funding.

How long is a school day in Italy?

Compulsory education in Italy starts at age 6 and lasts till age 16, where school typically lasts from around 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., including five hours of academics and a lunch break. The school days may be shorter, but Italian children typically attend a full day of school on Saturdays!

Do children in Italy do homework every night?

Italian schools can be quite demanding. As children become teenagers, they might find part-time jobs for the evening, which means homework must be done when they return home late in the evening. Often teenagers do not get to sleep until 11:00 or so in the evening because of all the homework they must do.

How much homework do students get in Italy?

According to research conducted by the OECD, 15-year-old children in Italy have to contend with nearly 9 hours of homework per week – more than anywhere else in the world. Irish children have the second highest after-school workload – just over 7 hours each week.

Where did homework get banned?

In 1901 California passed a law abolishing homework!

Why did Ireland ban homework?

The President of Ireland has made his thoughts known about homework, saying it should be left at the gate and children should be able to use their leisure time for “creative things”.

What country invented homework?

Roberto Nevelis of Venice, Italy, is often credited with having invented homework in 1095—or 1905, depending on your sources.

Is Sweden school hard?

Students are expected to study and teach themselves the material outside of class. This means students study outside of class 34-37 hours a week. This is very difficult since there is little to no assigned homework. Students must find their own research materials to supplement their education.

Can you skip school in Sweden?

Education is key in Sweden. It is tax-financed, and compulsory from the age of 6. In the Swedish school system, children go to school for at least ten years from the year they turn six, as mandated by the Swedish Education Act (link in Swedish).

Is lunch free in Sweden?

Many countries around the world provide school lunches, but Sweden is unique in offering them for free. In Sweden, hot school lunches are provided to all students ages 6 to 16 and most students ages 16 to 19, five days a week.

Are schools in Italy hard?

The work is “a lot harder than English schools,” she believes; “the subjects in Italy included philosophy and Latin and the amount of homework was incredible.” Many of those who responded mentioned the amount of homework, often describing it as excessive.

Is there prom in Italy?

In Italy, the dance is more of a party organized by students and is called “I cento giorni” or “the one hundred days”. The equivalent of a Lithuanian prom is called Šimtadienis and is held one hundred days prior to their final exams.

What is high school like in Italy?

While the students attend school 6 days a week, their school day begins at 8AM and is over by 1PM. They receive a 15 min break between the 3 rd & 4 th class where they often meet their friends in the hallway or grab a snack from the vending machine. Students eat lunch when they return home in the afternoon.

What time do Italian go to bed?

11:00pm – Midnight.

What do people in Italy do for fun?

Though the popularity of home and wireless entertainment has grown, the use of public spaces remains important. Young Italians meet friends on a daily basis, often in the cities’ piazzas in the evenings, making frequent trips to bars, cinemas, pizzerias, and discos.

Is it legal to homeschool in Italy?

Families in Italy are frequently looking to home education options as an alternative to public school. In Italy, homeschooling is a fully legal educational option. If not homeschooling, attendance at Lower Secondary school is compulsory for ages 11-14.

What is English 6 in Sweden?

Most programmes and courses taught in Swedish at Lund University require English language proficiency level English 6 (advanced level), which is the equivalent of completed English studies at upper secondary school level in Sweden and IELTS overall score 6.5 (no section less than 5.5) or TOEFL internet overall score of …

Do they wear uniforms in Sweden?

Of course, there is no single answer, as details will vary from school to school, but broadly speaking there is no school uniform in Sweden, and a hot lunch is provided every day. Text books can be borrowed and stationery is provided. In terms of clothing and equipment, ask the school what they recommend…

How is English taught in Sweden?

The curriculum stipulates that “English as a first foreign language is taught from grade 1, 2 or 3 and in some schools from grade 4.” Each school decides when to start and how to allocate the time to English with the grades 1-9 students. The minimum guaranteed time for English is set at 480 hours (p.

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Homework – Top 3 Pros and Cons

Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates

From dioramas to book reports, from algebraic word problems to research projects, whether students should be given homework, as well as the type and amount of homework, has been debated for over a century. [ 1 ]

While we are unsure who invented homework, we do know that the word “homework” dates back to ancient Rome. Pliny the Younger asked his followers to practice their speeches at home. Memorization exercises as homework continued through the Middle Ages and Enlightenment by monks and other scholars. [ 45 ]

In the 19th century, German students of the Volksschulen or “People’s Schools” were given assignments to complete outside of the school day. This concept of homework quickly spread across Europe and was brought to the United States by Horace Mann , who encountered the idea in Prussia. [ 45 ]

In the early 1900s, progressive education theorists, championed by the magazine Ladies’ Home Journal , decried homework’s negative impact on children’s physical and mental health, leading California to ban homework for students under 15 from 1901 until 1917. In the 1930s, homework was portrayed as child labor, which was newly illegal, but the prevailing argument was that kids needed time to do household chores. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 45 ] [ 46 ]

Public opinion swayed again in favor of homework in the 1950s due to concerns about keeping up with the Soviet Union’s technological advances during the Cold War . And, in 1986, the US government included homework as an educational quality boosting tool. [ 3 ] [ 45 ]

A 2014 study found kindergarteners to fifth graders averaged 2.9 hours of homework per week, sixth to eighth graders 3.2 hours per teacher, and ninth to twelfth graders 3.5 hours per teacher. A 2014-2019 study found that teens spent about an hour a day on homework. [ 4 ] [ 44 ]

Beginning in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the very idea of homework as students were schooling remotely and many were doing all school work from home. Washington Post journalist Valerie Strauss asked, “Does homework work when kids are learning all day at home?” While students were mostly back in school buildings in fall 2021, the question remains of how effective homework is as an educational tool. [ 47 ]

Is Homework Beneficial?

Pro 1 Homework improves student achievement. Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicated that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” [ 6 ] Students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework on both standardized tests and grades. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take-home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school. [ 10 ] Read More

Pro 2 Homework helps to reinforce classroom learning, while developing good study habits and life skills. Students typically retain only 50% of the information teachers provide in class, and they need to apply that information in order to truly learn it. Abby Freireich and Brian Platzer, co-founders of Teachers Who Tutor NYC, explained, “at-home assignments help students learn the material taught in class. Students require independent practice to internalize new concepts… [And] these assignments can provide valuable data for teachers about how well students understand the curriculum.” [ 11 ] [ 49 ] Elementary school students who were taught “strategies to organize and complete homework,” such as prioritizing homework activities, collecting study materials, note-taking, and following directions, showed increased grades and more positive comments on report cards. [ 17 ] Research by the City University of New York noted that “students who engage in self-regulatory processes while completing homework,” such as goal-setting, time management, and remaining focused, “are generally more motivated and are higher achievers than those who do not use these processes.” [ 18 ] Homework also helps students develop key skills that they’ll use throughout their lives: accountability, autonomy, discipline, time management, self-direction, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving. Freireich and Platzer noted that “homework helps students acquire the skills needed to plan, organize, and complete their work.” [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 49 ] Read More

Pro 3 Homework allows parents to be involved with children’s learning. Thanks to take-home assignments, parents are able to track what their children are learning at school as well as their academic strengths and weaknesses. [ 12 ] Data from a nationwide sample of elementary school students show that parental involvement in homework can improve class performance, especially among economically disadvantaged African-American and Hispanic students. [ 20 ] Research from Johns Hopkins University found that an interactive homework process known as TIPS (Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork) improves student achievement: “Students in the TIPS group earned significantly higher report card grades after 18 weeks (1 TIPS assignment per week) than did non-TIPS students.” [ 21 ] Homework can also help clue parents in to the existence of any learning disabilities their children may have, allowing them to get help and adjust learning strategies as needed. Duke University Professor Harris Cooper noted, “Two parents once told me they refused to believe their child had a learning disability until homework revealed it to them.” [ 12 ] Read More

Con 1 Too much homework can be harmful. A poll of California high school students found that 59% thought they had too much homework. 82% of respondents said that they were “often or always stressed by schoolwork.” High-achieving high school students said too much homework leads to sleep deprivation and other health problems such as headaches, exhaustion, weight loss, and stomach problems. [ 24 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] Alfie Kohn, an education and parenting expert, said, “Kids should have a chance to just be kids… it’s absurd to insist that children must be engaged in constructive activities right up until their heads hit the pillow.” [ 27 ] Emmy Kang, a mental health counselor, explained, “More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies.” [ 48 ] Excessive homework can also lead to cheating: 90% of middle school students and 67% of high school students admit to copying someone else’s homework, and 43% of college students engaged in “unauthorized collaboration” on out-of-class assignments. Even parents take shortcuts on homework: 43% of those surveyed admitted to having completed a child’s assignment for them. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] Read More

Con 2 Homework exacerbates the digital divide or homework gap. Kiara Taylor, financial expert, defined the digital divide as “the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology and those that don’t. Though the term now encompasses the technical and financial ability to utilize available technology—along with access (or a lack of access) to the Internet—the gap it refers to is constantly shifting with the development of technology.” For students, this is often called the homework gap. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] 30% (about 15 to 16 million) public school students either did not have an adequate internet connection or an appropriate device, or both, for distance learning. Completing homework for these students is more complicated (having to find a safe place with an internet connection, or borrowing a laptop, for example) or impossible. [ 51 ] A Hispanic Heritage Foundation study found that 96.5% of students across the country needed to use the internet for homework, and nearly half reported they were sometimes unable to complete their homework due to lack of access to the internet or a computer, which often resulted in lower grades. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] One study concluded that homework increases social inequality because it “potentially serves as a mechanism to further advantage those students who already experience some privilege in the school system while further disadvantaging those who may already be in a marginalized position.” [ 39 ] Read More

Con 3 Homework does not help younger students, and may not help high school students. We’ve known for a while that homework does not help elementary students. A 2006 study found that “homework had no association with achievement gains” when measured by standardized tests results or grades. [ 7 ] Fourth grade students who did no homework got roughly the same score on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math exam as those who did 30 minutes of homework a night. Students who did 45 minutes or more of homework a night actually did worse. [ 41 ] Temple University professor Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek said that homework is not the most effective tool for young learners to apply new information: “They’re learning way more important skills when they’re not doing their homework.” [ 42 ] In fact, homework may not be helpful at the high school level either. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, stated, “I interviewed high school teachers who completely stopped giving homework and there was no downside, it was all upside.” He explains, “just because the same kids who get more homework do a little better on tests, doesn’t mean the homework made that happen.” [ 52 ] Read More

Discussion Questions

1. Is homework beneficial? Consider the study data, your personal experience, and other types of information. Explain your answer(s).

2. If homework were banned, what other educational strategies would help students learn classroom material? Explain your answer(s).

3. How has homework been helpful to you personally? How has homework been unhelpful to you personally? Make carefully considered lists for both sides.

Take Action

1. Examine an argument in favor of quality homework assignments from Janine Bempechat.

2. Explore Oxford Learning’s infographic on the effects of homework on students.

3. Consider Joseph Lathan’s argument that homework promotes inequality .

4. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the “other side of the issue” now helps you better argue your position.

5. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives .

More School Debate Topics

Should K-12 Students Dissect Animals in Science Classrooms? – Proponents say dissecting real animals is a better learning experience. Opponents say the practice is bad for the environment.

Should Students Have to Wear School Uniforms? – Proponents say uniforms may increase student safety. Opponents say uniforms restrict expression.

Should Corporal Punishment Be Used in K-12 Schools? – Proponents say corporal punishment is an appropriate discipline. Opponents say it inflicts long-lasting physical and mental harm on students.

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Natalie Leppard Managing Editor [email protected]

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Should homework be banned?

Social media has sparked into life about whether children should be given homework - should students be freed from this daily chore? Dr Gerald Letendre, a professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, investigates.

We’ve all done it: pretended to leave an essay at home, or stayed up until 2am to finish a piece of coursework we’ve been ignoring for weeks. Homework, for some people, is seen as a chore that’s ‘wrecking kids’ or ‘killing parents’, while others think it is an essential part of a well-rounded education. The problem is far from new: public debates about homework have been raging since at least the early-1900s, and recently spilled over into a Twitter feud between Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan.

Ironically, the conversation surrounding homework often ignores the scientific ‘homework’ that researchers have carried out. Many detailed studies have been conducted, and can guide parents, teachers and administrators to make sensible decisions about how much work should be completed by students outside of the classroom.

So why does homework stir up such strong emotions? One reason is that, by its very nature, it is an intrusion of schoolwork into family life. I carried out a study in 2005, and found that the amount of time that children and adolescents spend in school, from nursery right up to the end of compulsory education, has greatly increased over the last century . This means that more of a child’s time is taken up with education, so family time is reduced. This increases pressure on the boundary between the family and the school.

Plus, the amount of homework that students receive appears to be increasing, especially in the early years when parents are keen for their children to play with friends and spend time with the family.

Finally, success in school has become increasingly important to success in life. Parents can use homework to promote, or exercise control over, their child’s academic trajectory, and hopefully ensure their future educational success. But this often leaves parents conflicted – they want their children to be successful in school, but they don’t want them to be stressed or upset because of an unmanageable workload.

However, the issue isn’t simply down to the opinions of parents, children and their teachers – governments also like to get involved. In the autumn of 2012, French president François Hollande hit world headlines after making a comment about banning homework, ostensibly because it promoted inequality. The Chinese government has also toyed with a ban, because of concerns about excessive academic pressure being put on children.

The problem is, some politicians and national administrators regard regulatory policy in education as a solution for a wide array of social, economic and political issues, perhaps without considering the consequences for students and parents.

Does homework work?

Homework seems to generally have a positive effect for high school students, according to an extensive range of empirical literature. For example, Duke University’s Prof Harris Cooper carried out a meta-analysis using data from US schools, covering a period from 1987 to 2003. He found that homework offered a general beneficial impact on test scores and improvements in attitude, with a greater effect seen in older students. But dig deeper into the issue and a complex set of factors quickly emerges, related to how much homework students do, and exactly how they feel about it.

In 2009, Prof Ulrich Trautwein and his team at the University of Tübingen found that in order to establish whether homework is having any effect, researchers must take into account the differences both between and within classes . For example, a teacher may assign a good deal of homework to a lower-level class, producing an association between more homework and lower levels of achievement. Yet, within the same class, individual students may vary significantly in how much homework improves their baseline performance. Plus, there is the fact that some students are simply more efficient at completing their homework than others, and it becomes quite difficult to pinpoint just what type of homework, and how much of it, will affect overall academic performance.

Over the last century, the amount of time that children and adolescents spend in school has greatly increased

Gender is also a major factor. For example, a study of US high school students carried out by Prof Gary Natriello in the 1980s revealed that girls devote more time to homework than boys, while a follow-up study found that US girls tend to spend more time on mathematics homework than boys. Another study, this time of African-American students in the US, found that eighth grade (ages 13-14) girls were more likely to successfully manage both their tasks and emotions around schoolwork, and were more likely to finish homework.

So why do girls seem to respond more positively to homework? One possible answer proposed by Eunsook Hong of the University of Nevada in 2011 is that teachers tend to rate girls’ habits and attitudes towards work more favourably than boys’. This perception could potentially set up a positive feedback loop between teacher expectations and the children’s capacity for academic work based on gender, resulting in girls outperforming boys. All of this makes it particularly difficult to determine the extent to which homework is helping, though it is clear that simply increasing the time spent on assignments does not directly correspond to a universal increase in learning.

Can homework cause damage?

The lack of empirical data supporting homework in the early years of education, along with an emerging trend to assign more work to this age range, appears to be fuelling parental concerns about potential negative effects. But, aside from anecdotes of increased tension in the household, is there any evidence of this? Can doing too much homework actually damage children?

Evidence suggests extreme amounts of homework can indeed have serious effects on students’ health and well-being. A Chinese study carried out in 2010 found a link between excessive homework and sleep disruption: children who had less homework had better routines and more stable sleep schedules. A Canadian study carried out in 2015 by Isabelle Michaud found that high levels of homework were associated with a greater risk of obesity among boys, if they were already feeling stressed about school in general.

For useful revision guides and video clips to assist with learning, visit BBC Bitesize . This is a free online study resource for UK students from early years up to GCSEs and Scottish Highers.

It is also worth noting that too much homework can create negative effects that may undermine any positives. These negative consequences may not only affect the child, but also could also pile on the stress for the whole family, according to a recent study by Robert Pressman of the New England Centre for Pediatric Psychology. Parents were particularly affected when their perception of their own capacity to assist their children decreased.

What then, is the tipping point, and when does homework simply become too much for parents and children? Guidelines typically suggest that children in the first grade (six years old) should have no more that 10 minutes per night, and that this amount should increase by 10 minutes per school year. However, cultural norms may greatly affect what constitutes too much.

A study of children aged between 8 and 10 in Quebec defined high levels of homework as more than 30 minutes a night, but a study in China of children aged 5 to 11 deemed that two or more hours per night was excessive. It is therefore difficult to create a clear standard for what constitutes as too much homework, because cultural differences, school-related stress, and negative emotions within the family all appear to interact with how homework affects children.

Should we stop setting homework?

In my opinion, even though there are potential risks of negative effects, homework should not be banned. Small amounts, assigned with specific learning goals in mind and with proper parental support, can help to improve students’ performance. While some studies have generally found little evidence that homework has a positive effect on young children overall, a 2008 study by Norwegian researcher Marte Rønning found that even some very young children do receive some benefit. So simply banning homework would mean that any particularly gifted or motivated pupils would not be able to benefit from increased study. However, at the earliest ages, very little homework should be assigned. The decisions about how much and what type are best left to teachers and parents.

As a parent, it is important to clarify what goals your child’s teacher has for homework assignments. Teachers can assign work for different reasons – as an academic drill to foster better study habits, and unfortunately, as a punishment. The goals for each assignment should be made clear, and should encourage positive engagement with academic routines.

Parents should inform the teachers of how long the homework is taking, as teachers often incorrectly estimate the amount of time needed to complete an assignment, and how it is affecting household routines. For young children, positive teacher support and feedback is critical in establishing a student’s positive perception of homework and other academic routines. Teachers and parents need to be vigilant and ensure that homework routines do not start to generate patterns of negative interaction that erode students’ motivation.

Likewise, any positive effects of homework are dependent on several complex interactive factors, including the child’s personal motivation, the type of assignment, parental support and teacher goals. Creating an overarching policy to address every single situation is not realistic, and so homework policies tend to be fixated on the time the homework takes to complete. But rather than focusing on this, everyone would be better off if schools worked on fostering stronger communication between parents, teachers and students, allowing them to respond more sensitively to the child’s emotional and academic needs.

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25 Reasons Homework Should Be Banned (Busywork Arguments)

As students across the globe plow through heaps of homework each night, one question lingers in the minds of educators, parents, and students alike: should homework be banned?

This question is not new, yet it continues to spark lively debate as research findings, anecdotal evidence, and personal experiences paint a complex picture of the pros and cons of homework.

On one hand, proponents of homework argue that it reinforces classroom learning, encourages a disciplined work ethic, and provides teachers with valuable insight into student comprehension. They see homework as an extension of classroom instruction that solidifies and enriches learning while fostering important skills like time management and self-discipline. It also offers an opportunity for parents to be involved in their children's education.

However, some people say there are a lot of downsides. They argue that excessive homework can lead to stress and burnout, reduce time for extracurricular activities and family interactions, exacerbate educational inequalities, and even negatively impact students' mental health.

This article presents 25 reasons why we might need to seriously consider this radical shift in our educational approach. But first, lets share some examples of what homework actually is.

Examples of Homework

These examples cover a wide range of subjects and complexity levels, reflecting the variety of homework assignments students might encounter throughout their educational journey.

• Spelling lists to memorize for a test
• Math worksheets for practicing basic arithmetic operations
• Reading assignments from children's books
• Simple science projects like growing a plant
• Basic geography assignments like labeling a map
• Art projects like drawing a family portrait
• Writing book reports or essays
• Advanced math problems
• Research projects on various topics
• Lab reports for science experiments
• Reading and responding to literature
• Preparing presentations on various topics
• Advanced math problems involving calculus or algebra
• Reading classic literature and writing analytical essays
• Research papers on historical events
• Lab reports for advanced science experiments
• Foreign language exercises
• Preparing for standardized tests
• College application essays
• Extensive research papers
• In-depth case studies
• Advanced problem-solving in subjects like physics, engineering, etc.
• Thesis or dissertation writing
• Extensive reading and literature reviews
• Internship or practicum experiences

Lack of proven benefits

Homework has long been a staple of traditional education, dating back centuries. However, the actual efficacy of homework in enhancing learning outcomes remains disputed. A number of studies indicate that there's no conclusive evidence supporting the notion that homework improves academic performance, especially in primary education . In fact, research suggests that for younger students, the correlation between homework and academic achievement is weak or even negative .

Too much homework can often lead to increased stress and decreased enthusiasm for learning. This issue becomes particularly pressing when considering the common 'more is better' approach to homework, where the quantity of work given to students often outweighs the quality and effectiveness of the tasks. For instance, spending countless hours memorizing facts for a history test may not necessarily translate to better understanding or long-term retention of the subject matter.

However, it's worth noting that homework isn't completely devoid of benefits. It can help foster self-discipline, time management skills, and the ability to work independently. But, these positive outcomes are usually more pronounced in older students and when homework assignments are thoughtfully designed and not excessive in volume.

When discussing the merits and drawbacks of homework, it's critical to consider the nature of the assignments. Routine, repetitive tasks often associated with 'drill-and-practice' homework, such as completing rows of arithmetic problems or copying definitions from a textbook, rarely lead to meaningful learning. On the other hand, assignments that encourage students to apply what they've learned in class, solve problems, or engage creatively with the material can be more beneficial.

Increased stress

Homework can often lead to a significant increase in stress levels among students. This is especially true when students are burdened with large volumes of homework, leaving them with little time to relax or pursue other activities. The feeling of constantly racing against the clock to meet deadlines can contribute to anxiety, frustration, and even burnout.

Contrary to popular belief, stress does not necessarily improve performance or productivity. In fact, high levels of stress can negatively impact memory, concentration, and overall cognitive function. This counteracts the very purpose of homework, which is intended to reinforce learning and improve academic outcomes.

However, one might argue that homework can teach students about time management, organization, and how to handle pressure. These are important life skills that could potentially prepare them for future responsibilities. But it's essential to strike a balance. The pressure to complete homework should not come at the cost of a student's mental wellbeing.

Limited family time

Homework often infringes upon the time students can spend with their families. After spending the entire day in school, children come home to yet more academic work, leaving little room for quality family interactions. This limited family time can hinder the development of important interpersonal skills and familial bonds.

Moreover, family time isn't just about fun and relaxation. It also plays a crucial role in the social and emotional development of children. Opportunities for unstructured play, family conversations, and shared activities can contribute to children's well-being and character building.

Nonetheless, advocates of homework might argue that it can be a platform for parental involvement in a child's education. While this may be true, the involvement should not transform into parental control or cause friction due to differing expectations and pressures.

Reduced physical activity

Homework can often lead to reduced physical activity by eating into the time students have for sports, recreation, and simply being outdoors. Physical activity is essential for children's health, well-being, and even their academic performance. Research suggests that physical activity can enhance cognitive abilities, improve concentration, and reduce symptoms of ADHD .

Homework, especially when it's boring and repetitive, can deter students from engaging in physical activities, leading to a sedentary lifestyle. This lack of balance between work and play can contribute to physical health problems such as obesity, poor posture, and related health concerns.

Homework proponents might point out that disciplined time management could allow students to balance both work and play. However, given the demanding nature of many homework assignments, achieving this balance is often easier said than done.

Negative impact on sleep

A significant concern about homework is its impact on students' sleep patterns. Numerous studies have linked excessive homework to sleep deprivation in students. Children often stay up late to complete assignments, reducing the amount of sleep they get. Lack of sleep can result in a host of issues, from poor academic performance and difficulty concentrating to physical health problems like weakened immunity.

Even the quality of sleep can be affected. The stress and anxiety from a heavy workload can lead to difficulty falling asleep or restless nights. And let's not forget that students often need to wake up early for school, compounding the negative effects of late-night homework sessions.

On the other hand, some argue that homework can teach children time management skills, suggesting that effective organization could help prevent late-night work. However, when schools assign excessive amounts of homework, even the best time management might not prevent encroachment on sleep time.

Homework can exacerbate existing educational inequalities. Not all students have access to a conducive learning environment at home, necessary resources, or support from educated family members. For these students, homework can become a source of stress and disadvantage rather than an opportunity to reinforce learning.

Children from lower socio-economic backgrounds might need to contribute to household chores or part-time work, limiting the time they have for homework. This can create a gap in academic performance and grades, reflecting not on the students' abilities but their circumstances.

While homework is meant to level the playing field by providing additional learning time outside school, it often does the opposite. It's worth noting that students from privileged backgrounds can often access additional help like tutoring, further widening the gap.

Reduced creativity and independent thinking

Homework, particularly when it involves rote learning or repetitive tasks, can stifle creativity and independent thinking. Students often focus on getting the "right" answers to please teachers rather than exploring different ideas and solutions. This can hinder their ability to think creatively and solve problems independently, skills that are increasingly in demand in the modern world.

Homework defenders might claim that it can also promote independent learning. True, when thoughtfully designed, homework can encourage this. But, voluminous or repetitive tasks tend to promote compliance over creativity.

Diminished interest in learning

Overburdening students with homework can diminish their interest in learning. After long hours in school followed by more academic tasks at home, learning can begin to feel like a chore. This can lead to a decline in intrinsic motivation and an unhealthy association of learning with stress and exhaustion.

In theory, homework can deepen interest in a subject, especially when it involves projects or research. Yet, an excess of homework, particularly routine tasks, might achieve the opposite, turning learning into a source of stress rather than enjoyment.

Inability to pursue personal interests

Homework can limit students' ability to pursue personal interests. Hobbies, personal projects, and leisure activities are crucial for personal development and well-being. With heavy homework loads, students may struggle to find time for these activities, missing out on opportunities to discover new interests and talents.

Supporters of homework might argue that it teaches students to manage their time effectively. However, even with good time management, an overload of homework can crowd out time for personal interests.

Excessive workload

The issue of excessive workload is a common complaint among students. Spending several hours on homework after a full school day can be mentally and physically draining. This workload can lead to burnout, decreased motivation, and negative attitudes toward school and learning.

While homework can help consolidate classroom learning, too much can be counterproductive. It's important to consider the overall workload of students, including school, extracurricular activities, and personal time, when assigning homework.

Limited time for reflection

Homework can limit the time students have for reflection. Reflection is a critical part of learning, allowing students to digest and integrate new information. With the constant flow of assignments, there's often little time left for this crucial process. Consequently, the learning becomes superficial, and the true understanding of subjects can be compromised.

Although homework is meant to reinforce what's taught in class, the lack of downtime for reflection might hinder deep learning. It's important to remember that learning is not just about doing, but also about thinking.

Increased pressure on young children

Young children are particularly vulnerable to the pressures of homework. At an age where play and exploration are vital for cognitive and emotional development, too much homework can create undue pressure and stress. This pressure can instigate a negative relationship with learning from an early age, potentially impacting their future attitude towards education.

Advocates of homework often argue that it prepares children for the rigors of their future academic journey. However, placing too much academic pressure on young children might overshadow the importance of learning through play and exploration.

Lack of alignment with real-world skills

Traditional homework often lacks alignment with real-world skills. Assignments typically focus on academic abilities at the expense of skills like creativity, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence. These are crucial for success in the modern workplace and are often under-emphasized in homework tasks.

Homework can be an opportunity to develop these skills when properly structured. However, tasks often focus on memorization and repetition, rather than cultivating skills relevant to the real world.

Loss of motivation

Excessive homework can lead to a loss of motivation. The constant pressure to complete assignments and meet deadlines can diminish a student's intrinsic motivation to learn. This loss of motivation might not only affect their academic performance but also their love of learning, potentially having long-term effects on their educational journey.

Some believe homework instills discipline and responsibility. But, it's important to balance these benefits against the potential for homework to undermine motivation and engagement.

Disruption of work-life balance

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is as important for students as it is for adults. Overloading students with homework can disrupt this balance, leaving little time for relaxation, socializing, and extracurricular activities. All of these are vital for a student's overall development and well-being.

Homework supporters might argue that it prepares students for the workloads they'll face in college and beyond. But it's also crucial to ensure students have time to relax, recharge, and engage in non-academic activities for a well-rounded development.

Impact on mental health

There's a growing body of evidence showing the negative impact of excessive homework on students' mental health. The stress and anxiety from heavy homework loads can contribute to issues like depression, anxiety, and even thoughts of suicide. Student well-being should be a top priority in education, and the impact of homework on mental health cannot be ignored.

While some might argue that homework helps students develop resilience and coping skills, it's important to ensure these potential benefits don't come at the expense of students' mental health.

Limited time for self-care

With excessive homework, students often find little time for essential self-care activities. These can include physical exercise, proper rest, healthy eating, mindfulness, or even simple leisure activities. These activities are critical for maintaining physical health, emotional well-being, and cognitive function.

Some might argue that managing homework alongside self-care responsibilities teaches students valuable life skills. However, it's important that these skills don't come at the cost of students' health and well-being.

Decreased family involvement

Homework can inadvertently lead to decreased family involvement in a child's learning. Parents often feel unqualified or too busy to help with homework, leading to missed opportunities for family learning interactions. This can also create stress and conflict within the family, especially when parents have high expectations or are unable to assist.

Some believe homework can facilitate parental involvement in education. But, when it becomes a source of stress or conflict, it can discourage parents from engaging in their child's learning.

Reinforcement of inequalities

Homework can unintentionally reinforce inequalities. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds might lack access to resources like private tutors or a quiet study space, placing them at a disadvantage compared to their more privileged peers. Additionally, these students might have additional responsibilities at home, further limiting their time to complete homework.

While the purpose of homework is often to provide additional learning opportunities, it can inadvertently reinforce existing disparities. Therefore, it's essential to ensure that homework doesn't favor students who have more resources at home.

Reduced time for play and creativity

Homework can take away from time for play and creative activities. These activities are not only enjoyable but also crucial for the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children. Play allows children to explore, imagine, and create, fostering innovative thinking and problem-solving skills.

Some may argue that homework teaches discipline and responsibility. Yet, it's vital to remember that play also has significant learning benefits and should be a part of every child's daily routine.

Increased cheating and academic dishonesty

The pressure to complete homework can sometimes lead to increased cheating and academic dishonesty. When faced with a large volume of homework, students might resort to copying from friends or searching for answers online. This undermines the educational value of homework and fosters unhealthy academic practices.

While homework is intended to consolidate learning, the risk of promoting dishonest behaviors is a concern that needs to be addressed.

Strained teacher-student relationships

Excessive homework can strain teacher-student relationships. If students begin to associate teachers with stress or anxiety from homework, it can hinder the development of a positive learning relationship. Furthermore, if teachers are perceived as being unfair or insensitive with their homework demands, it can impact the overall classroom dynamic.

While homework can provide an opportunity for teachers to monitor student progress, it's important to ensure that it doesn't negatively affect the teacher-student relationship.

Negative impact on family dynamics

Homework can impact family dynamics. Parents might feel compelled to enforce homework completion, leading to potential conflict, stress, and tension within the family. These situations can disrupt the harmony in the household and strain relationships.

Homework is sometimes seen as a tool to engage parents in their child's education. However, it's crucial to ensure that this involvement doesn't turn into a source of conflict or pressure.

Cultural and individual differences

Homework might not take into account cultural and individual differences. Education is not a one-size-fits-all process, and what works for one student might not work for another. Some students might thrive on hands-on learning, while others prefer auditory or visual learning methods. By standardizing homework, we might ignore these individual learning styles and preferences.

Homework can also overlook cultural differences. For students from diverse cultural backgrounds, certain types of homework might seem irrelevant or difficult to relate to, leading to disengagement or confusion.

Encouragement of surface-level learning

Homework often encourages surface-level learning instead of deep understanding. When students are swamped with homework, they're likely to rush through assignments to get them done, rather than taking the time to understand the concepts. This can result in superficial learning where students memorize information to regurgitate it on assignments and tests, instead of truly understanding and internalizing the knowledge.

While homework is meant to reinforce classroom learning, the quality of learning is more important than the quantity. It's important to design homework in a way that encourages deep, meaningful learning instead of mere rote memorization.

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What Countries is Homeschooling Illegal and Legal?

• January 31, 2023
• Homeschooling FAQS

Affiliate links are used on this website.

In What Countries is Homeschooling Legal?

Homeschooling is legal in many countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Austria, Italy, Norway, and many others .

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here .

However, the laws and regulations surrounding homeschooling vary from country to country, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with the specific laws in your jurisdiction.

Note: It’s not possible to provide a complete list of countries where homeschooling is legal as it changes frequently , but here are some countries where homeschooling is legal:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• The Netherlands
• Switzerland
• South Korea
• The Philippines

Note: Laws and regulations surrounding homeschooling vary from country to country, so it’s always best to consult the local authorities and check the most up-to-date information.

In What Countries is Homeschooling Illegal?

Homeschooling is illegal or restricted in some countries, including:

Here is a list of 20 countries where homeschooling is either illegal or restricted:

• Norway (for children under the age of 12)
• Austria (for children over the age of 15)
• Czech Republic
• Spain (unlegislated)

Please note that the legality of homeschooling can vary within each country and can change over time, so it’s always best to consult with local authorities for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Homeschooling in Germany Illegal

Homeschooling is illegal in Germany except for in exceptional circumstances.

The German government strictly regulates the education system, and homeschooling is seen as a threat to the socialization and integration of children into society .

Homeschooling is only allowed in cases where the child has a physical or mental disability that cannot be accommodated in a public or private school.

Parents who violate the law face fines, and in extreme cases, their children may be taken away .

Despite these restrictions, a small but growing homeschooling community in Germany is advocating for greater freedom to choose their children’s education .

Homeschooling is also Illegal in Sweden

In Sweden, homeschooling is generally not permitted, and children are required by law to attend school.

Homeschooling may be allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as if a child has special educational needs that cannot be met by the public school system, or if the family is traveling abroad for a short period of time.

In such cases, parents must apply for an exemption from the school attendance requirement.

The decision to grant an exemption is made by the local municipality and is subject to review. Penalties for failing to comply with the school attendance requirement can include fines and court-ordered compulsory school attendance.

Spain – an Unlegislated Grey Area

Illegal homeschooling in greece.

Homeschooling is illegal in Greece and the government requires that all children attend a formal school.

There are strict laws and penalties in place for families who attempt to homeschool, including fines and potential removal of the children from the family.

Despite these laws, there are some families who still homeschool in Greece and are part of a growing homeschooling community.

These families often face challenges and obstacles, but remain committed to providing their children with an alternative education.

It’s Legal to Homeschool in America

The United States is one of the best countries to homeschool in . Homeschooling has been legal here since the 1980s.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was a parent’s constitutional right to homeschool their children in the landmark case Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925) .

Homeschooling is widely practiced in the U.S., with approximately 2-3 million students being homeschooled.

However, regulations regarding homeschooling vary from state to state .

Some states, such as Illinois and Texas, have few restrictions on homeschooling and do not require parents to register or have their children take standardized tests.

Other states, like New York, require parents to submit a letter of intent and syllabus plan each year and have their children take annual standardized tests during high school.

Despite these differences, homeschooling remains a popular and widely accepted option for families in the United States who want to take control of their children’s education.

Legal Homeschooling in Australia

In Australia, homeschooling is legal, but regulations vary by state.

Parents who choose to homeschool their children must follow the requirements set by their state or territory education department, including registering their homeschooling program and following a curriculum recognized by the state.

Some states also require homeschooled children to participate in standardized testing.

Despite these regulations, homeschooling is a growing option in Australia, providing families with more control over their children’s education and more flexibility in how and what they learn.

Why Do Governments Make it Illegal to Homeschool?

Governments make homeschooling illegal for various reasons, including concerns about:

• social cohesion,
• standardization of education, and
• accountability.

However, research has shown that homeschoolers tend to perform significantly above average on standardized tests and have strong socialization skills , countering the concern that homeschooling results in poor education or socialization.

Despite this evidence, some governments remain wary of homeschooling and continue to regulate or restrict the practice.

Additionally, some governments ban homeschooling because they’re concerned that it could be used to limit or restrict children’s exposure to diverse ideas, beliefs, and values or conceal child abuse or neglect .

Another way to look at this is that governments in some places want to control the population and a deliberate infusion of ideas during primary and secondary school is one of the best ways to do this .

In governments, there may also be thoughts about the role of homeschooling in shaping children’s socialization and civic values .

However, why homeschooling is illegal or restricted varies by country and can also reflect cultural and political differences.

Why Do Governments Make it Legal to Homeschool

Governments make it legal to homeschool for several reasons:

• to give parents more control over their children’s education,
• to allow for alternative education options,
• to accommodate religious or philosophical beliefs,
• distance from school,
• health concerns, or
• dissatisfaction with the traditional school system.

By legalizing homeschooling, governments also ensure that homeschooled children have access to the same rights and opportunities as their peers in the traditional school system .

Additionally, legalizing homeschooling may promote diversity and individualism in education and can help alleviate overcrowding and underfunding in the traditional school system .

More Relaxed Homeschool Laws are Becoming a Trend

Homeschooling has been on the rise globally in recent years , with more and more parents opting for this educational alternative for their children.

The growth of homeschooling has been driven by several factors, including:

• concerns over the quality of public schools,
• dissatisfaction with traditional classroom settings, and
• the desire for more personalized and tailored education.

In response to this growing trend, many countries have relaxed their laws regarding homeschooling and made it easier for parents to educate their children at home.

This has been accomplished through several measures, such as:

• reducing the bureaucratic hurdles involved in getting permission to homeschool,
• allowing greater freedom in choosing curriculum and teaching methods, and
• reducing or eliminating standardized testing requirements.

Overall, the trend towards more relaxed homeschool laws reflects a growing recognition of the benefits of homeschooling and a desire to give parents more choice and control over their children’s education.

COVID-19 Has Shown Homeschooling Isn’t So Bad

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a significant increase in homeschooling globally, as governments mandated school closures and parents were forced to find alternative methods of educating their children.

This sudden surge in homeschooling has led to a growing acceptance of the practice, as parents and students have discovered its benefits.

Many families have found that homeschooling provides a more personalized learning experience, allows for a flexible schedule, and can be more cost-effective compared to traditional brick-and-mortar schools .

Furthermore, the pandemic has debunked long-standing myths about homeschooling , such as concerns over poor socialization and subpar academic performance.

With the pandemic’s impact, the trend towards more relaxed homeschooling laws is expected to continue as governments and communities become increasingly aware of the viability and advantages of homeschooling.

So, What are the Benefits of Homeschooling?

Here is a small list of the benefits of homeschooling:

• Customized learning : Homeschooling allows for a customized curriculum tailored to the student’s individual needs and abilities.
• Flexibility : Homeschooling provides a flexible schedule that can be adjusted to accommodate family life and extracurricular activities.
• Stronger family bond : Homeschooling can bring families closer as children spend more time with parents and siblings.
• Increased creativity : Homeschooling can foster creativity and independent thinking.
• Improved academic performance : Studies have shown that homeschooled students tend to perform better on standardized tests compared to their public school counterparts.
• Safety : Homeschooling can provide a safe and nurturing environment, free from bullying and other negative social influences.
• Strong moral and spiritual values : Homeschooling can help reinforce moral and spiritual values held by the family.
• More hands-on experience : Homeschooling can provide opportunities for hands-on and experiential learning.
• Exposure to diverse cultures : Homeschooling can offer exposure to different cultures and ways of life through travel, books, and other resources.

To discover why parents homeschool, read Why on Earth Homeschool , or check out this list of 100 reasons to homeschool .

Want to Learn About Homeschooling?

So, you’ve learned a lot in this Simply Charlotte Mason curriculum review.

But you may want to learn more about homeschooling in general. There are two great ways to learn more about homeschooling: one is free, and one is a $67 fundamentals course .

1. The Ultimate Homeschool Parenting Program

Transform your homeschooling experience and take it to the next level with our comprehensive online course .

Led by expert educator Rebecca Devitt, you’ll learn the strategies and techniques you need to succeed in homeschooling. This program is packed with valuable resources, a personalized curriculum, and an effective way to manage your time that will help your children thrive.

You’ll have lifetime access to the course for just $67.

Sign up now and start your journey to a successful homeschooling experience !

2. The Free How to Homeschool YouTube Channel

Want something better than a homeschool blog? Look no further than the How to Homeschool YouTube channel !

This channel is designed to help homeschooling parents with expert tips, educational content, and a wide range of resources.

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or new to the homeschooling world, you’ll find something valuable on our channel. And the best part? It’s completely free!

• Starting homeschool
• Homeschool Methods
• Homeschool Curriculum and
• FAQs on Homeschooling

I know you’re going to love the channel!

Why Homeschool?

Looking for a comprehensive guide to understanding the benefits of homeschooling and why it’s the best choice for your family?

Look no further than “ Why on Earth Homeschool “! This book takes an in-depth look at why homeschooling is a fantastic option for families and uncovers the many often overlooked benefits.

Discover the benefits of individualized learning, flexible scheduling, strong family bonds, and an opportunity for your children to thrive in a way traditional schools cannot offer. This book will give you a chance to understand the many benefits of homeschooling and give you insights and practical tips to help you make the best decision for your family.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to unlock the full potential of homeschooling with this comprehensive guide.

Order your copy of “Why on Earth Homeschool” today and start your journey towards an exceptional educational experience for your children.

As we’ve seen, homeschooling legality is a complex and nuanced issue that varies greatly between countries. From the freedom to choose your curriculum in South Africa to the strict regulations in New York, it’s clear that homeschooling laws are diverse and far-reaching. Regardless of where you live, it’s crucial to educate yourself on the specific laws and regulations in your country to ensure you’re within the bounds of the law while providing your children with a high-quality education. Whether you’re a seasoned homeschooler or just considering it, the world of homeschooling offers endless possibilities and opportunities for personal growth and academic success.

Rebecca Devitt

Most adults don't particularly want to relive their schooling experience on a daily basis. They would gladly move on to a new life devoid of homework and teachers. Very, very few adults will passionately blog about their schooling some 15 years after graduating. This makes Rebecca Devitt somewhat unique. As it happens, she was homeschooled. And she loved it. Still does. And she wishes every kid could get a taste of homeschooling at its very best. Her website How Do I Homeschool , is a springboard for parents to see what a life of homeschooling could be for both them & their children. When she's not blogging Rebecca is still homeschooling her-adult-self by learning Latin, growing weird vegetables and most importantly looking after her two children Luke & Penny. She has a husband Tristan and is a participant at Wollongong Baptist Church. She's also written a book about why parents should homeschool called 'Why on Earth Homeschool' .

Related Posts

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Your Guide to Homeschooling Children With Special Needs

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Why I Think All Schools Should Abolish Homework

H ow long is your child’s workweek? Thirty hours? Forty? Would it surprise you to learn that some elementary school kids have workweeks comparable to adults’ schedules? For most children, mandatory homework assignments push their workweek far beyond the school day and deep into what any other laborers would consider overtime. Even without sports or music or other school-sponsored extracurriculars, the daily homework slog keeps many students on the clock as long as lawyers, teachers, medical residents, truck drivers and other overworked adults. Is it any wonder that,deprived of the labor protections that we provide adults, our kids are suffering an epidemic of disengagement, anxiety and depression ?

With my youngest child just months away from finishing high school, I’m remembering all the needless misery and missed opportunities all three of my kids suffered because of their endless assignments. When my daughters were in middle school, I would urge them into bed before midnight and then find them clandestinely studying under the covers with a flashlight. We cut back on their activities but still found ourselves stuck in a system on overdrive, returning home from hectic days at 6 p.m. only to face hours more of homework. Now, even as a senior with a moderate course load, my son, Zak, has spent many weekends studying, finding little time for the exercise and fresh air essential to his well-being. Week after week, and without any extracurriculars, Zak logs a lot more than the 40 hours adults traditionally work each week — and with no recognition from his “bosses” that it’s too much. I can’t count the number of shared evenings, weekend outings and dinners that our family has missed and will never get back.

How much after-school time should our schools really own?

In the midst of the madness last fall, Zak said to me, “I feel like I’m working towards my death. The constant demands on my time since 5th grade are just going to continue through graduation, into college, and then into my job. It’s like I’m on an endless treadmill with no time for living.”

My spirit crumbled along with his.

Like Zak, many people are now questioning the point of putting so much demand on children and teens that they become thinly stretched and overworked. Studies have long shown that there is no academic benefit to high school homework that consumes more than a modest number of hours each week. In a study of high schoolers conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), researchers concluded that “after around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance.”

In elementary school, where we often assign overtime even to the youngest children, studies have shown there’s no academic benefit to any amount of homework at all.

Our unquestioned acceptance of homework also flies in the face of all we know about human health, brain function and learning. Brain scientists know that rest and exercise are essential to good health and real learning . Even top adult professionals in specialized fields take care to limit their work to concentrated periods of focus. A landmark study of how humans develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work only about four hours per day .

Yet we continue to overwork our children, depriving them of the chance to cultivate health and learn deeply, burdening them with an imbalance of sedentary, academic tasks. American high school students , in fact, do more homework each week than their peers in the average country in the OECD, a 2014 report found.

It’s time for an uprising.

Already, small rebellions are starting. High schools in Ridgewood, N.J. , and Fairfax County, Va., among others, have banned homework over school breaks. The entire second grade at Taylor Elementary School in Arlington, Va., abolished homework this academic year. Burton Valley Elementary School in Lafayette, Calif., has eliminated homework in grades K through 4. Henry West Laboratory School , a public K-8 school in Coral Gables, Fla., eliminated mandatory, graded homework for optional assignments. One Lexington, Mass., elementary school is piloting a homework-free year, replacing it with reading for pleasure.

More from TIME

Across the Atlantic, students in Spain launched a national strike against excessive assignments in November. And a second-grade teacher in Texas, made headlines this fall when she quit sending home extra work , instead urging families to “spend your evenings doing things that are proven to correlate with student success. Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside and get your child to bed early.”

It is time that we call loudly for a clear and simple change: a workweek limit for children, counting time on the clock before and after the final bell. Why should schools extend their authority far beyond the boundaries of campus, dictating activities in our homes in the hours that belong to families? An all-out ban on after-school assignments would be optimal. Short of that, we can at least sensibly agree on a cap limiting kids to a 40-hour workweek — and fewer hours for younger children.

Resistance even to this reasonable limit will be rife. Mike Miller, an English teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., found this out firsthand when he spearheaded a homework committee to rethink the usual approach. He had read the education research and found a forgotten policy on the county books limiting homework to two hours a night, total, including all classes. “I thought it would be a slam dunk” to put the two-hour cap firmly in place, Miller said.

But immediately, people started balking. “There was a lot of fear in the community,” Miller said. “It’s like jumping off a high dive with your kids’ future. If we reduce homework to two hours or less, is my kid really going to be okay?” In the end, the committee only agreed to a homework ban over school breaks.

Miller’s response is a great model for us all. He decided to limit assignments in his own class to 20 minutes a night (the most allowed for a student with six classes to hit the two-hour max). His students didn’t suddenly fail. Their test scores remained stable. And they started using their more breathable schedule to do more creative, thoughtful work.

That’s the way we will get to a sane work schedule for kids: by simultaneously pursuing changes big and small. Even as we collaboratively press for policy changes at the district or individual school level, all teachers can act now, as individuals, to ease the strain on overworked kids.

As parents and students, we can also organize to make homework the exception rather than the rule. We can insist that every family, teacher and student be allowed to opt out of assignments without penalty to make room for important activities, and we can seek changes that shift practice exercises and assignments into the actual school day.

We’ll know our work is done only when Zak and every other child can clock out, eat dinner, sleep well and stay healthy — the very things needed to engage and learn deeply. That’s the basic standard the law applies to working adults. Let’s do the same for our kids.

Vicki Abeles is the author of the bestseller Beyond Measure: Rescuing an Overscheduled, Overtested, Underestimated Generation, and director and producer of the documentaries “ Race to Nowhere ” and “ Beyond Measure. ”

More Must-Reads from TIME

• Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
• How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
• The Reintroduction of Kamala Harris
• Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
• What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
• The 1 Heart-Health Habit You Should Start When You’re Young
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• The 50 Best Romance Novels to Read Right Now

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When Homework Was Banned

Published: November 3, 2023

In the early 1900s, Ladies' Home Journal took up a crusade against homework, enlisting doctors and parents who say it damages children's health. In 1901 California passed a law abolishing homework!

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