A new school in the United Kingdom has established a no-homework policy that's creating quite a stir among students, parents, and teachers alike.
For most kids, homework is just a part of daily life, as inevitable as death and taxes are to the older generations. But it looks like a trend towards letting kids leave their schoolwork at school may be starting: A new school in the United Kingdom, Nottingham East Academy, which will be the country’s largest with 3,570 pupils, has established a no-homework policy that’s creating quite a stir among students, parents, and teachers alike. Instead of doling out extra work at the end of the day, the school plans to give an extra lesson and provide more extra-curricular activities.
The school’s principal, Barry Day, believes that homework is generally unnecessary, and simply serves to cause conflict at home and at school. “Homework causes an enormous amount of home conflict and parents and the community certainly won’t mind children coming home later,” he told the Sunday Times. “It is often set simply because there is an expectation it should be set. It does not help with education at all.”
Several other schools in England are employing similar measures: the Tiffin boys’ school in Surrey has just reduced the homework load from two to three hours to just 40 minutes a night, and Nottingham East requests that, instead of studying schoolwork at home, the students should simply read for pleasure with their parents. We predict the home syllabus is sure to include plenty of Harry Potter –but what’s wrong with that?