Down pencils

Parents throughout the Valencia region are staging a homework strike in protest against the excessively high amount given to Spanish schoolchildren.

THE Spanish confederation of parents' associations (Ceapa) has launched a ' down pens' weekend strike this month.

Ceapa, which represents 12,000 associations, is calling on all families throughout Spain to refrain from making their children do school work every weekend in November.

The move has been called in protest against the excessive workload faced by students at public schools, which according to the confederation 'invades family time' and 'infringes pupils' right to leisure, play and participation in artistic and cultural activities' as set out in the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ceapa has issued three letters for families to hand in to their respective schools.

One is addressed to the headmaster or headmistress, requesting that teachers refrain from setting weekend homework in November.

The second makes this request directly to teachers, while the third is a set explanatory note for the class tutor where parents explain that their child has not done the homework based on 'the constitutional right of families to take any decisions they see fit within the domestic environment'.

This third missive insists that this sphere is ' private and cannot be invaded by the school'.

"We want to recover weekend family time to be with our children," sentenced Ceapa president José Luis Pazos.

Sr Pazos added that the confederation is pushing for a change in the education system, explaining that ' there are schools in other countries that operate without homework, without text books and without exams, and they obtain magnificent results'.

Scientific evidence reportedly suggests that doing more homework does not necessarily improve academic performance.

Spain is said to be one of the countries throughout the world to set the most homework - 6.5 hours a week compared to the average of 4.9 hours.

However, the protest has elicited criticism from certain quarters.

The national catholic confederation of parents has warned that for a parent to encourage their child to rebel against the teacher ' does not help their education' and that 'there are adequate places to discuss this issue'.

Trades union Comisiones Obreras believes that 'the strike format is not the most appropriate'.