This year we are planning to review our home learning (homework) policy and in particular review the amount of homework we give our children.
I was planning to survey the parents, children and staff this term to get a gauge of how we feel as a community about homework. However, as mentioned in my other blog entry entitled “Stakeholder Feedback” we are looking to survey the community early next term via the CIS survey.
What I now plan to do is add some home learning questions to the CIS survey so we are not doubling up with the surveys. We expect to be sending a link to you so that you can complete the CIS survey in mid/late January or early February next year. Within this survey I am hoping I can add some questions around the home learning approach that we currently use and get views on what is working well and even better if.
Hopefully, via the survey, you will have the opportunity to comment on whether you think there should be less homework, more homework or to keep it the same. Historically, the community is very divided on this topic (we have surveyed the community on 2 previous occasions in the past 8 years). It will be interesting, as more research and articles have been written about the impact of homework, if the community has shifted in their thinking since the last survey. Last time we reviewed the amount of homework we give, about 50% of our parents wanted more homework and 50% of our parents wanted less!
As mentioned above, I will be asking the children and staff to complete the survey on this topic to ensure all stakeholders have an opportunity to share their views.