Homework or No Homework?

After visiting Mr. Crinion’s class during the week I was educated by his boys on the benefits that the children in Finland have with their No homework policy in schools. Mr. Crinion’s class won the debate supporting no homework in schools and it is a very hot topic amongst parents and teachers in schools throughout Ireland. However, this particular school will not be supporting a no homework policy in light of recent debates by educators and there are a number of reasons why this Principal supports homework.

Firstly, there is a link created between home and school with the first and most important educators of their children (the parents) informed and updated on the work carried out in their child’s school. Secondly, for homework to be worthwhile it must be SMART and this means:

Specific – There must be a fundamental reason for the homework – an example reinforcing the work carried out in class and never be about wasting a child’s time.
Measurable – Homework must be recognised and corrected with the goals set out, clearly understood by the child and ultimately completed.
Attainable – There must be an element of success outlined in the homework because this will enhance the motivation and well-being of any child.
Relevant – Like everything in life there must be a weight of importance placed on the exercise with the child understanding the reason behind the homework.
Time-based – No child should be sitting trying to complete homework for hours and hours, there must be a time element attached to completing work.

I can provide fantastic examples of SMART homework assignments by using all of the Fourth Form Intel projects – these show the true merit of valued at home written tasks. Two boys in particular Paul Hartnett and Ryan Hanley researched that over 36% of Green bins have cross contaminated items placed in the bin which means that the companies cannot recycle the materials within these bins. Therefore the boys set about the task of creating an App which scans the barcodes of containers such as yoghurt, milk, fruit and then the App tells you the bin that the container should be placed in – Green, Brown or Black bin. The boys with their project won the Intel Young Scientist for the school and will then go on to represent Willow in the regional finals in December at Intel in Leixlip. This is the value of SMART homework assignments.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

Science is exciting. The future is bright Love learning Shoot for the moon and you may end up among the stars!

STEM Guest speaker, Paul Walsh of Accenture