Homework- not what it seems.
A documentary shown on BBC2, on 23rd January 2007 “The Madness of Modern Families” revealed the extraordinary lengths parents will go to maximise their child’s performance at school. Moving house to the catchment area of the ideal school, surreptitious comparisons with peer group performance and the manipulation of homework ranked high in the armoury. Yet there is an easier and vastly more effective role that parents could play legitimately.
Homework is a means to an end. Classroom lessons are significantly shorter than you might think. Conventional interruptions take their toll – registration, handing back homework, setting the next homework, dealing with unruly elements, getting equipment out and putting it away- all conspire to erode the lesson by around 65%.
A key to a child’s performance is the retention of learning. Studies show that a classroom lesson with the teacher talking only 5% is retained. This improves with the addition of audio visual to 20% and in discussion groups it lifts to 50%. But the real biggy is often the most difficult to apply in class. Practising doing accounts for a massive 75% in learning retention. No shock perhaps when you consider that “practise makes perfect”.
Practise in the classroom is limited by time, availability of equipment and the pace of any one child. Slower learners get left behind, fast ones get bored waiting.
Homework is the inevitable answer. Its function is to facilitate the practise function and get children used to working on their own ( good practise for exams). But exercise and text books aren’t the most stimulating method, and if working on their own is critical why are they with 30 others in class?
Modern technology in teaching resources has developed beyond imagination over the pat 5 years. Interactive DVD’s teaching aids, games and on-line broadband facilities used in school are now also available to parents to reinforce the classroom lessons at home. Spending time at the pace of your child covering all aspects of the key stages of the National Curriculum develops a fun way to practise learning; developing confidence and competence and hit the75% retention level.
You do not have to be teacher to develop this interaction with your child. 30 minutes a night can make a huge difference. Forget moving house or manipulating homework, the most positive support you can give is great fun and right under your nose at home.
