Homework clubs 'failing pupils most in need of support'

After-school homework clubs are failing to help the pupils who are most in need of of support, according to a study published yesterday.

After-school homework clubs are failing to help the pupils who are most in need of of support, according to a study published yesterday.

An analysis of more than 175 homework clubs across England carried out by Ofsted inspectors concluded that disadvantaged students who urgently needed a quiet place to study in the evenings were the least likely to stay after school.

The quality of support was "variable" with one in four clubs judged to be sub-standard, the report, Learning Out of Hours, found.

A "common weakness" was that the staff in charge had no idea what homework pupils had been set, inspectors found.

There was also no mechanism for the staff running the clubs to feed their observations back to the teachers who had set the homework.

The vast majority of schools failed to monitor which students attended the clubs, the inspectors concluded. On the rare occasions when a register was taken, it was found that the pupils who were most likely to benefit did not attend. The report was based on an analysis of 150 Ofsted inspections of secondary schools and from 26 visits to secondary schools to investigate their out-of-hours activities.

The report concluded: "Attendance is not usually monitored, so there is no basis for assessing whether those who might benefit most are attending regularly, if at all. Ensuring the provision is taken up by those most in need is a problem for virtually all schools."

The report found that the majority of secondary schools now provide homework clubs with many teachers volunteering their time to run them.

The Department for Education and Skills has encouraged schools to run a wide range of activities outside the normal school day arguing that such programmes improve students' motivation, self-esteem and therefore their academic performance.

The Ofsted analysis also examined the quality of subject-based study clubs in secondary schools. These were found to be of a higher standard, with 80 per cent found to be "good".

Mentoring of pupils was found to be good in two out of five schools. In over half the schools using mentors, the scheme had improved pupils' exam results. "Where there are weaknesses in mentoring arrangements, they usually arise from unclear aims, inadequate briefing or lack of continuity in contact," the report found.