WELL BEING FEAR FOR STUDENTS
The pressures on our children to perform well academically are having a negative trade-off on their sleep, socialising and exercising trends
WHEN the answer to any question you could ever want to know is available within seconds online, schoolwork was bound to increase in difficulty.
Even in primary schools, there is an increasing trend in the amount of time students are spending outside of school hours doing schoolwork.
Whether it is from increased assigned homework, afterschool tutoring, or students simply needing to spend extra time at home so they don’t fall behind, in the past 10 years there has been a significant increase in the workload of Australian primary school students. In 2014, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data showing Australian kids were spending an average of seven hours a week on homework, an increase from the average five and a half hours in 2008.
This study also revealed these same children are now sleeping, socialising and exercising less than in the past.
This trend has continued in recent years, with the Australian Child Wellbeing Project concluding in February 2016 that at least one-third of Year 6 students experience pressure over school.
Author and journalist Lucy Clark, who recently released a book depicting how pressure placed by the academic systems is harming Australian children, believes that a narrow view of success is partially to blame.
Education representatives are working to promote academic achievement without unnecessary anxiety and pressure, while at an individual level schools are teaching time management skills.