VALUE OF HOMEWORK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19152, 22 October 1936, Page 5

VALUE OF HOMEWORK

WELLINGTON DISCUSSION DIFFERENCES OF OPINION QUESTIONN AIR E RESOLTS (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. “jf we abolish homework altogether, we may be throwing the baby out. with the bath water,” said Dir. L. .1. McDonald at a meeting of the Wellington Education Board, when a questionnaire sent out to teachers ou different aspects of homework nas undei discussion. Mr. McDonald said he was in favour of the abolition of homework in the sense that members knew it, but the matter did not end there. What was wanted was homework that stimulated a child’s natural interest and developed his own talents. A letter from the Headmasters’ Association stated that, members considered that homework should lie reduced to a minimum, and. that the matter should be left to the discretion of headmasters and head teachers. Air. C. H. Nidi oils: We can’t do that. He favoured the children doing work of a pleasing nature outside arithmetic and geography. Replies to the questionnaire showed that out of 34-1 teachers, 254 think that no serious harm would he done to the children’s progress if homework was discontinued. A majority of the parents approve homework. The average time spent in set homework for Stcls. 5 and (i is 20 minutes; Ktds. 5 and 4, 15 minutes; and Stds. 1 and 2, 11 minutes. Consideration of a motion that the hoard abolish homework was deferred, and a committee was set up to confer with the Headmasters’Association and tho Institute of Educational Research.