For many years, the majority of Northern Ireland Primary Schools have viewed homework as a fundamental aspect of every child's learning. The main reasons for this is the opinion that homework provides children with opportunities to apply new knowledge, or review, revise and reinforce newly acquired skills. It encourages children to pursue knowledge independently and imaginatively to enrich their classroom experiences, to deepen their understanding and to relate learning to the real world.
In more recent years, however, a contrasting viewpoint has created a debate amongst many educationalists and parents; viewpoints that raise arguments relating to the nature and expectations of homework in primary school. Detractors of homework claim it deprives children of quality time spent pursuing enjoyable activities with family and friends and has the potential to lead to negative school-related interactions between children and their caregivers. These claims have historically been supported by the argument that research conducted in the past decades could not find a significant association between homework and academic achievement in primary school.
It is very important to note, however, that in other recent studies, schools have randomly allocated differing amounts of homework to children and measured the impact. Their results support the idea that, for primary school children, a moderate homework allocation can be beneficial and that, under certain circumstances, a 'no homework' policy can be detrimental.
This debate has become increasingly prevalent right here in Edenderry and we want to give our children's parents/carers an opportunity to have their say before the school reviews and, if necessary re-writes its homework policy.
If you want to include your voice in this discussion, please take a few minutes now to complete this short survey. The survey will close at 4pm on Wednesday 15th October 2025.
Click here to complete the short survey
Thank you.
