Too much home work a misnomer
Classwork, extracurricular activities, family time, play time, volunteering and then iPad time — students in Dubai may have a lot going on.
And after finishing all these activities, they have one more important task… their homework. But the question being asked by parents and child therapists for a while now is if excessive homework is resulting in unhealthy amounts of stress in children. Last week, Khaleej
Times asked students if they find “too much homework stressful” and more than 20 pupils wrote in agreeing with the statement, with some saying it can affect their “mental and physical abilities”.
Schools also responded to the query of whether too much homework can be harmful to a student and many responded that homework can be effective, but only if applied “in the right way”.
Rory Galvin, the head of secondary at Uptown School, said homework needs to be designed in a way that extends and reinforces learning. “In my 18 years of education experience, the two biggest complaints I regularly receive from parents are ‘my child gets too much homework’ and ‘my child doesn’t get enough homework’, often from parents of children in the same class,” Galvin said. “My personal view? First and foremost, kids need time to be kids, particularly in primary school. The opportunity to climb a tree and play in the park with friends is as important a learning experience as anything they have been assigned in class.
“Secondly, family time is incredibly important and should be protected without the kids having to come home after a very full day of studying and launch into more of the same.” He added: “Homework should never supersede things that really matter, such as exercise, sleep and social interactions which are vital for students’ cognitive, physical and emotional development. Having said that, I believe homework has a place in secondary school students’ lives, as long as it has been designed to consolidate, extend and reinforce learning. Students should also have choice in what they do for homework and receive targeted teacher feedback. If all of these components are present, homework is worthwhile.”
One school in Dubai is trying to ensure homework is attractive to students, through a new initiative they have introduced to pupils. ‘The Learning Menu’ initiative by the Gems Founders School allows students to handpick what kind of homework they want to do.
Ian Plant, head of secondary at the school, said: “This initiative allows students to research topics through a choice-based approach, much like a food menu. Students pick their ‘starter’, ‘mains’ and ‘dessert’ and add any extras that will build and extend their projects. On this home learning journey, parents and students are encouraged to document their work by taking photographs and videos.
“These, in turn, can be uploaded to the Gems Founders School Twitter or Instagram pages. In the early phases of this initiative, we found that students are more confident in planning their time outside school and more strategic in their ability to manage sleep deprivation, exhaustion and/or stress levels. I strongly believe that encouraging this change of mindset and approach about the traditional format of homework can only be a good thing to develop student creativity, productivity and outcomes.”
Homework should never supersede things like exercise, sleep and social interactions.” Rory Galvin, Uptown School
Our initiative allows students to pick their homework ‘starter’, ‘mains’ and ‘dessert’.” Ian Plant, Gems Founders School