Parents often complain about the amount of homework being assigned by teachers to young children. Josanne Cassar finds that, while the volume of homework varies depending on the ethos of the school, a lot of homework will not necessarily turn your child into a genius

The life of a typical six-year-old child is not as carefree as it used to be. Even at this tender age, they wake up very early to catch the school bus, and then have to do several hours of homework before bedtime.

When the scholastic year starts, children seem to disappear completely from the playgrounds. With their heads buried in their homework, there seems to be hardly any time left over for recreation and play. Mothers, especially, bear the brunt of making sure their children do all the homework that has been assigned to them.

One concerned mother, Jacqui, whose six-year-old son attends a church school (Year 2), feels that the situation is out of control.

She describes a typical day’s homework: “He usually has maths (one or two pages), English – one page, one library book to be read daily and then replaced with a new one – this has to be signed by me to show that he has read it – these are very short stories for now and fun to read. Then he has a Maltese reading book to be read daily and then the school reading book, which at the moment has 24 pages. This is read during school time in class but also needs to be read at home. He also has a couple of words each day to learn for dictation. For example, today we had science – the five senses.”

Jacqui has seen an increase from last year, pointing out that it can take her son anywhere from one-and-a-half hours to two-and-a-half hours, depending on how tired he is and what mood he is in. “Sometimes he just doesn’t feel like doing it.”

Because he loves maths he usually does this by himself with her “just overlooking” and checking it afterwards. “With everything else he needs help – especially with reading Maltese – which is not exactly my strong point either, as I’m English!”

Expressing her doubts about whether her son is coping, she adds: “He has to do it to keep up with the rest of the class but, for his age, I think it’s too much. When we start homework he gets a little whiney and is not as keen to start but that also depends on what the subjects are. I have tried feeding him first then starting homework, but that was worse and it was harder to get him to sit down and concentrate. I have found it best to give him a snack while doing homework. We always start with a fun subject, then a hard one then back to an easier one and so on. After he’s done, we eat dinner. He comes home at 1.45pm and we get to eat at around 3.30-4pm. His day (and mine) starts at 5.45am when I wake him up – he is collected by bus at 6.30am, so by the end of the day he is tired and is in bed no later than 7pm.”

If she had her way, Jacqui would suggest that homework for a six-year-old should be restricted to one book, and a couple of handouts on not more than three or four subjects, which should take no more than 45 minutes to complete.

“School is for studying, homework should be revision and not a continuation of school,” she says adamantly.

Some say that it is the parents who urge teachers to give all this homework, but she shakes her head at this.

“I wouldn’t want to think that it’s the parents – that would be too scary. I am a single mum and I work full time. Yet during school terms I have to squeeze a full time job into a morning so that, come 2pm, I am free to tackle school work. I do not have family and friends that can help or even take over, and if I do not make the time it simply wouldn’t get done. I believe that the school day is too short, so we the parent, and grandparents, end up ‘making up for it’ at home. I grew up in the UK, where school days were longer (8.45am-3.30pm with two 10-minute breaks and a one-hour lunch break) so less homework was required. It makes a difference to everybody – parents and students alike. If you have a child that likes studying, then great, but what happens when you have a child that’s not so hot in the scholastic area and struggles? My son is an average student who is very easily distracted and gets bored very quickly – did I mention he’s only six years old? – so lengthy homework just becomes a battle to get done.”

This mother feels that some schools do not really “listen” to parents.

“They have to keep up with their timetables and a recent comment that was made to me by another mother when I mentioned the ridiculous amount of homework was, ‘well you chose the school so now you have to deal with it – if you don’t like it, you can always put him into a government school’. I disagree. It’s like saying that government schools are lesser schools because they do not push so much homework at a child at such young ages.

“Like any other parent, I want what’s best for my child and that also includes rest!”

Jacqui makes another valid point, which illustrates the absurdity of the situation:

“Had I wanted to become a teacher I would have studied hard but I didn’t and yet I am still expected to ‘teach’ him for at least two hours a day. I agree that a parent should be involved with their child’s schoolwork but there is a limit as to what we as parents can achieve in a day without the added pressure of making sure the homework is done correctly. We have to prepare dinner, make sure the extra school requirements have been bought (coloured paper, files, ribbons and so on) and ensure the child is ready to be sent to school the following day. On top of all this, we have to make sure the house is clean, clothes are washed and, of course, we have to go to work so that the bills get paid. It is no wonder parents and children are so stressed.”

Are government schools any different?

Jenny, who has a child the same age as Jacqui’s, sends her child to a government school and is equally frustrated by what she sees as excessive homework.

“My daughter has Maltese, English, religion and maths homework every day and also has to work on a project book every day. It takes her about an-hour-and-a-half to finish it. I am Australian, so I see a huge difference between this system and ours back home. In Australia, children have no homework at this age; they start getting homework maybe around the age of 11. When I’ve complained about too much homework, I was told that this is the norm in Malta, because that is how the educational system works. There is nothing I can do about it.”

Jenny works, so the time she can spend supervising homework is limited and she relies on her nanny to help out in this respect. “The children definitely need help because they get confused between Maltese and English, so they really cannot do the homework alone. I find the excessive homework ridiculous; it’s a joke and I find that the school I send my daughter to definitely gives more homework than some other schools.”

As a mother, Jenny worries that her daughter is not enjoying her childhood and that all these expectations are causing undue stress. “Apart from the homework, they even have to do crafts so my daughter doesn’t have that much time to relax. She is home at around 2.30pm and is still doing homework until 5pm. There’s no time to play, and she’s only six years old, after all!”

The ethos of one private school

Mrs Anne Tabone, head of St Edward’s College Junior School (a private school):

“The average amount of homework given to a six-year-old at our school is one or two subjects per day: maths and English or Maltese reinforcement. Sometimes, science is also given.

“Homework takes about 20 minutes for the children to complete. Reading is also given on a daily basis.

“We feel that homework should always be reinforcement and consolidation of work done in class. It is important for parents to know the type of work expected of their children and homework is a good way of achieving this. Giving homework just for the sake of it, however, is not part of our philosophy. Accordingly, homework should always help children reinforce a concept that has been taught. If homework results in a negative attitude towards learning, then the purpose is defeated.

“Personally, I have not seen an increase in the amount of homework in this year group.

“In Year 1, the only homework that is given is a continuation of what is done in class, if a child has not finished. This means that many children do not have homework if they have finished their work in class. However, they have reading to do every day at home. Homework in Year 2 is done and returned regularly.

“No complaints of significance have been received in this year group, although some parents say it is difficult to fit everything in because of outside activities such as extra football and catechism lessons in the parish.

“Although some people feel that having a longer school day would make a difference, I do not think that it would help avoid homework. In fact, our students are already at school until 3.30pm.”

Dr Elena Tanti Burlo is Head of Psychology Department at the University of Malta and a clinical psychologist specialising in inclusive education and children with learning difficulties

Dr Tanti Burlo feels that when it comes to excessive homework, the crux of the problem is that our school day is far too short.

“We are always trying to cram things in, and then for homework we give a lot of what I call “busy work”, that is, repetitive exercises. In schools where the school day is longer, they do a lot of homework at school and they also have time for extra curricular activities such as sports. When I was at school, we had five sessions of sport and we used to finish at 3.45pm.”

Asked how much homework for a six-year-old is “too much”, Dr Tanti Burlo feels they shouldn’t even have homework at such a young age.

“At that age, they should start being introduced gradually to writing. However, our children are already writing in kindergarten, at a time when their language is not even properly developed yet! Ideally, expressive language should be developed first before the written, but in Malta, it isn’t. When I assess children, I find that their copying skills are at least two years more advanced than the British norms, but that’s just copying. When it comes to creative writing or problem solving, we’re not as strong. We’re strong at doing the sums – for example, what is 2+3? But when the problem is presented in a language form, then children struggle. I think we need to be more creative and teach children how to think.”

Dr Tanti Burlo agrees that too much homework is causing undue stress to young children, which is counterproductive.

“They get fed up with school, and think school isn’t fun. To top it all off, they don’t have outlets for their creativity, and when they do have extra lessons in ballet and piano, for example, again we start talking about exams!”

Parents often feel that homework is important because of our competitive exam system and the limited opportunities for good jobs. They sometimes feel that by teaching children certain concepts at a young age, they will gain some kind of advantage. Pushing their children to study more and more is all done in the misguided hope that this will give them a head start.

Dr Tanti Burlo, however, points out that this way of thinking is, in fact, detrimental to learning.

“If we want our children to have a head start, we should send them to drama and singing because that’s what helps them to love literature and want to read…rather than all this homework, page after page of copying the letters of the alphabet, which have to be perfect.”

Having said that, she adds that different schools have a more creative approach.

“Some schools are doing very well, they are pockets of excellence, with teachers trying to differentiate their teaching, adjusting it to the needs of the students. If a teacher has children with mixed abilities in her class, she in fact becomes a better teacher because of this. In fact, if we want the same curriculum to be accessible to every child in the class, then homework needs to reflect this as well; the same homework can’t be given to everyone. Homework should be a consolidation of what is done in class, or asking the child to read up on something else.”

Asked at what age children can handle homework, Dr Tanti Burlo says that it all depends on what kind of homework is being given.

“If you ask a child to look up a couple of pictures, that’s one thing. But if you’re giving him a list of things to copy, or memory work, then I feel it’s not healthy and it doesn’t get the child very far. We also have to ask, who is doing the homework? If it’s not something the child can do on his own, if he needs his mummy to help him, then my question is: what’s the point? We are creating a lot of stressful children and anxious mothers because of excessive homework. And we also cannot ignore the fact that we have an obesity problem in children, which is connected to this issue, and which is very worrying. The lack of physical activity has to be tackled and it has to be done at school.”

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