Education Viewpoint: A home for good habits

For many young people, recollections of their school days are dominated by homework. Some will recall long hours slaving away; for others, the overwhelming memory will be of guilt about the time they were not spending on homework.

Parents often encounter resistance to their endeavours to get their offspring to work, especially if siblings or neighbouring children are involved in other, more appealing activities.

Teachers have to rack their brains to devise suitable tasks, spend valuable time chasing up the written output, and provide helpful responses to each assignment. If homework is such a problem, are we quite sure it is necessary?

In my view homework is an essential ingredient of school success for all but the most gifted pupils, for four reasons.

First, homework provides a large component of most pupils' study time. Given that an average school day lasts six hours (excluding the lunch break but including room and lesson changes, morning break, assemblies, meetings and sundry disruptions), two hours of uninterrupted study is clearly worth a great deal.

Ten years ago, in a newspaper article, I estimated that a school which ensured regular homework each evening and at the weekend, in effect provided an opportunity to learn equivalent to an extra term a year. I now think this was an underestimate.

Simply committing extra time to study is helpful but insufficient. Time has also to be used productively. If the extra time is devoted to reading, writing, reflection or practising complex skills, then it is likely to be time well spent. Furthermore, if this time is qualitatively different - less subject to interruptions and less bounded by bells - then it probably has an enhanced value.

Second, homework provides a special opportunity for the individual learner. There is a place for teamwork and for brainstorming but it is essential for the individual to work out how to use time effectively, how to analyse a problem and focus on a task away from noise, distractions and social interactions.

Third, homework frequently results in a tangible outcome: an essay, a completed set of exercises or an idea that has been developed and described. Not only is this outcome available for pupils to use as a building block for further learning, but it also provides teachers with an insight into each pupil's understanding.

A fourth, and perhaps less intrinsically important, reason is that homework becomes an expectation and its undertaking becomes a habit. This is why it is vital for schools to be consistent in their policies. It is much harder to engage pupils in serious work if such habits have not been inculcated from a relatively early age. I find it most frustrating to see primary school pupils, with every expectation of 'serious' homework, joining secondary schools that will only require it irregularly for two or so years.

Many newspaper articles and attitude surveys reveal that parents feel strongly about homework. This is not surprising since homework indicates that children are are likely to be making progress. For certain parents it also provides the opportunity to help. Some children dislike it when their parents become their teachers; others thrive on the attention and both parties enjoy working together.

Of course, opportunities for parental support are unevenly spread and some parents will have neither the patience, the skill nor the time to help. Children in these circumstances will be disadvantaged unless other ways to provide help can be found.

Unless teachers are convinced of its value and committed to its regular use, homework will not bear fruit. It is easy to give a negative message by setting inappropriate tasks or by failing to mark outputs properly and promptly. This is why a school homework policy that is supported by staff as a whole is so important. Otherwise only the exceptionally zealous teacher, who can work outside the predominant school culture, is likely to use homework constructively.

Successful homework is usually the result of a partnership of pupils, teachers and parents. It needs the time and energy of all parties, but the price is worth paying. Other countries, especially those on the Pacific Rim, have demonstrated how homework, adult support and positive expectations are linked to high pupil achievement. We need to ensure that the achievement of our children does not fall behind - for their own good and for that of our society.

Professor Peter Mortimore is deputy director of the Institute of Education at the University of London.