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To: Minister for Education, Norma Foley, Department of Education
End Homework for Primary School Children
Homework does not necessarily improve academic performance in younger children. It can cause stress for parents and children and the time could be used better for things like play, exercise and hobbies.
Why is this important?
Homework for younger children can cause unnecessary stress just before bedtime and eat into what little leisure time families have during during the week.
In a typical household with working parents, by the time children are collected from childcare, have eaten dinner and completed their homework, its already time to being bedtime routines.
Instead, parents could spend valuable time playing with their children or engaging in physical activities with them that would allow them to sleep better and have a more positive and fun time with their parents.
Take Finland as an example. Finland regularly tops international polls for their high educational standards and Finnish schools do not have homework.
For the wellbeing of families and educational outcomes - homework in primary school children should be banned now.
Homework can be very important for developing independent learning skills in older children but research shows that it has little impact on the learning development of younger children and can actually increase the gap in attainment for disadvantaged students.
https://theconversation.com/primary-school-children-get-little-academic-benefit-from-homework-181652