Education Endowment Foundation – August 2021
Homework refers to tasks given to pupils by their teachers to be completed outside of usual lessons.
4 key points from the research by The Education Endowment Foundation
1. Homework has a positive impact on average (+ five months), particularly with pupils in secondary schools.
2. Some pupils may not have a quiet space for home learning – it is important for schools to consider how home learning can be supported (for example, through providing homework clubs for pupils).
3. Homework that is linked to classroom work tends to be more effective. In particular, studies that included feedback on homework had higher impacts on learning.
4. It is important to make the purpose of homework clear to pupils (for example, to increase a specific area of knowledge, or to develop fluency in a particular area.)
Homework has an impact by enabling pupils to undertake independent learning to practise and consolidate skills, conduct in-depth inquiry, prepare for lessons or revise for exams. When implementing homework schools should consider the active ingredients to the approach, which may include:
Homework tasks should be based on the following 4 premises:
1. Retrieval practice/Spaced repetition
This is where information is learnt initially, then repeated again several times at increasingly long intervals so that pupils get to the point of almost forgetting what they have learnt and have to delve into their long-term memories to retrieve their prior knowledge, thus strengthening those memories. As well as returning to prior learning following an interval, teachers should explore that information in a new way/format because making new associations further strengthens our memories.
This could be achieved through testing or quizzing (such as multiple-choice), not for the purposes of assessment, but for reinforcement and to provide pupils with feedback information on what they know and don’t yet know so that they can better focus their future studies. The number of different connections we make influences the number of times memories are revisited, which in turn influences the length of time we retain a memory. When we connect different pieces of information with each other, we retain them for longer, because we retrieve them more often. It follows, then, that the more often we connect what we are teaching today to what we taught previously, the better the information will be learnt.
2. Problem solving
Problem solving improves learning. The process involves developing strategies and memory techniques that makes learning stick by placing artificial barriers in the way of pupils’ learning. Doing this means that the process of encoding (initial learning) is made harder so that the process of retrieval (recalling that learning later, say in a test) is made easier.
One example of problems solving is to use more complex language when forming questions and tasks so that pupils have to think harder about what is being asked of them before tackling the work.
3. Research- and Practical skill enhancement
Offering research-based and practical skill-enhancing homework tasks can help pupils’ engagement in the task, as this method can encourage an appreciation of purpose, improve efficiency and ownership, as well as improve competence and aesthetic appeal. It allows pupils to research, plan, create and/or make a physical outcome that can be much more rewarding as well as impact directly on pupils’ achievement. However, consideration needs to be given to accessibility in terms of resources and the impact of disadvantage.
It helps to engage pupils’ personal interests and awaken, then apply prior knowledge. It works best when you allow a certain degree of autonomy, whereby pupils can make choices about which tasks they carry out, how they carry them out and how they will be assessed on the final product.
Homework overview
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