Support Your Child in His or Her Homework

The following article was first published on 22 January 2016 in Schoolbag - The Education Website

As parents, you can help your child to understand his/her responsibilities towards homework.

Purpose of Homework

Homework reinforces your child’s learning, helps him/her cultivate good study habits, and informs the teachers’ on his/her progress so that timely feedback and support can be given. 

Effective use of homework can help your child to:

- deepen his/her understanding of lessons taught; 

- allow him/her to regularly practise, and apply skills and concepts learnt in class; and

- have greater ownership and responsibility for independent learning. 

Homework can also provide you with: 

- timely information on the learning progress of your child; and

- opportunity to be involved in your child’s learning

Supporting Your Child

As parents, you can help your child to understand his/her responsibilities towards homework. He/she should:

- understand the purpose of homework and what is expected of him/her;

- keep track of homework instructions and deadlines;

- manage time well to ensure that homework is completed and submitted on time (e.g. prioritise homework appropriately so that it is not left till late at night);

- give his/her best effort in completing homework; and

- review feedback from teachers on homework submitted. 

Optimal Amount of Homework

Research shows that time spent on homework should be responsive to students’ age and development. The beliefs that ‘the more homework, the better’ and the ‘more difficult the questions, the better’ are not sound approaches. In fact, providing too much or too difficult homework could be detrimental to your child’s attitude and motivation towards learning and deny him the time and opportunity for more holistic development. Therefore, while time spent on homework is generally helpful to academic development up to a point, too much can bring about adverse effects.

As such, it may not be beneficial for your child to complete additional worksheets and assessment papers beyond what is assigned by the school (e.g. from tuition, assessment books and practice papers). For the holistic development of the child, parents and educators alike must bear in mind that children need a balanced life with time for family bonding, social activities, hobbies and rest. They need time to participate in other activities that inculcate important life skills.