Why homework is such a chore

I don't remember getting homework at primary school, but I don't recall much other than: playing a wise man or king once; accidentally tipping a school dinner into my lap one lunchtime; and a strong physical sense of the building, with its hall, shiny corridors and crowded classrooms.

These days children are given homework from the minute they walk into school, or possibly crawl into playgroup, where they are told off for wasting valuable life experiences in the sand-pit and are given an encyclopaedia and a thesaurus to read instead.

As children get older, they become more capable of doing their own homework - and less inclined to do it. At this point, the parent's role involves a mixture of cajoling, encouragement, bribery, corruption and anything else that comes easily to hand.

Most parents have been there. We have sat with child one, two or three more or less in tears over assorted pieces of homework, mostly at the primary school stage. If it's maths, I'm likely to be the one with the watery eyes. English usually falls to me and I have co-scripted various efforts during the years, on one occasion earning a share in a gold star.

When the homework is done without nagging or parental input, it often seems all the better for nothing other than a mumbled word of encouragement from behind the Sunday newspaper.

The trouble with homework comes when parents have to more or less do it themselves in the name of a peaceful life. Or spend half their waking hours in nagging mode. The scolding mantra is often to be heard in our house: "Have you done your homework/have you got any homework to do?"

This question usually results in one of the following responses: done it, not in until Thursday, stuff, dunno, or a shrug to end all shrugs.

Once beyond the first year or so at secondary school, the direct help subsides, while the nagging continues, occasionally with the phrase "that big project" being inserted into the conversation instead of homework.

Years of being part of what may be termed a homework facilitating team (otherwise known as nagging parents), I was interested in a new report which concludes that homework is a waste of time. Anxiety, boredom, fatigue and emotional exhaustion are all side-effects of bringing schoolwork home, according to a report by the Institute of Education.

Apparently, overbearing middle-class parents are the worst offenders, making life miserable for their children by piling on the pressure to succeed. A volatile atmosphere can be created by such parents, although in my experience the ambience is more one of knackered concern, wanting the homework done and done well, but hating all the wretched badgering.

The report's author, Dr Susan Hallam, concluded that homework should be done away from the "potentially disruptive influence of parents".

This is fine by me, although it fails to take into account the potential disruptive influence homework has on parents who are innocently attempting to ponder the meaning of life with the aid of a cup of coffee or glass of beer while listening to terminally embarrassing music.

The solution to all this homework angst is for the children to do the work at school. That, at least, is one of the suggestions from Dr Hallam. She believes out-of-hours study should take place in after-school clubs, away from the influence of those disruptive parents who just love spending their half-waking moments doing homework all over again.

Some of us thought we had escaped homework years ago, along with the grammar school cap and ever-lasting blazer, with the arms that started out long and got shorter as the years went by.

Maybe homework is important, schoolwork certainly is. School is important. Everything is important these days when children and young people face so many pressures over exams and constant testing.

Well, that's my column all done and ready to hand it.

I only hope the dog, or in our case the cat, doesn't eat it.

Updated: 11:26 Thursday, February 12, 2004