Education -
Homework
By Chris Bunting
The
headteacher of a leading Scottish prep school has
banned his teachers from setting homework because
he thinks meddling parents are harming children's
education. John Elder, who took over at the
£12,000-a-year Cargilfield School in Edinburgh
earlier this month, said he believed the move
would lead to a sharp improvement in grades. Mr
Elder said, "I feel it's very important that
the teacher is present because, certainly in my
experience, parents can be more of a problem than
a solution. Especially in subjects like maths and
science, parents can be a little out of touch and
can do more harm than good."
Mr Elder said almost all parents at the school,
which teaches children aged three to 13, had
supported the move. It had also been popular
among pupils. But Mr Elder said the new approach
wasn't a "joyride or an easy option".
He hoped many pupils would choose to make the
most of their free time by revising what they had
been taught in their weaker subjects. "When
children leave school, they should be able to
organise their own work and not have it organised
for them," he said.
"We give the pupils advice on what they
should be studying but at the end of the day it
is up to the individual pupil to decide what he
or she should be doing extra work on. We do teach
until 6pm every evening so I feel that's plenty
time to do most of the work needed." Mr
Elder said he had introduced a similar regime at
his previous school, Beeston Hall School in
Norfolk, and had seen a 20% increase in grades.
Participation in extra-curricular activities had
rocketed at Cargilfield since the ban on
homework.
Research published by London's Institute of
Education early in 2004 found that homework was a
cause of "anxiety" and "emotional
exhaustion" in many families and said stress
was at its highest when parents tried to take too
much control of how children were approaching
their homework. A survey in 2000 found that
parents said they spent an average of seven hours
a week on their children's homework.
Mr Elder believed the ban was a boon to parents.
he said, "They don't have to suffer the
kitchen scene where they have to console their
weeping child and do not have the faintest idea
how to do the problems themselves. Home is for
home life and I believe nearly all work should be
completed in school."
Judith Gillespie, from the Scottish Parent
Teacher Council, said, "I think Mr Elder is
quite right to take parents out of the homework
equation. Parents generally know the 'old way' of
doing problems in, for example, maths, and trying
to help can infuriate an already upset child even
further. This method trusts kids to do things for
themselves and stand on their own two feet."
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