Secret Diary of an Irish Teacher: I’m a teacher and I hate homework

Can I tell you a secret? I’m a teacher and I hate homework. I’ll tell you something else – a lot of teachers feel the same way.

Why? Because it’s largely unnecessary; the work can be covered in class and the follow-up involved devours time that could be spent planning lessons and gathering worthwhile resources. In every group there will be at least one student who doesn’t do their homework, or whose dog is particularly peckish come Sunday evening.

And it is our job, with every class, to manage that.

This is because the rules of teaching are like those of parenting. If you make a rule, you must stick to it or the whole dynamic implodes. If you tell a four-year old there’s no TV in the morning, you cannot go back on it, because you’ll have lost a considerable battle. The child knows it and you know it. It’s game over.

It’s the same thing in the classroom. If I ask for a response to a poem for Monday and Mary doesn’t submit anything, I have no choice but to follow up by ringing home, recording it and talking to her outside class hours. As an experienced teacher, I know it doesn’t work to confront kids in front of the class. It is unfair on the student and on the other young people in the room. Also, I have no way of knowing why she failed to meet the deadline, so I will always use time outside of class to discuss it and deal with it appropriately.

But there isn’t that much time in the day. I chase homework to maintain control and respect in the classroom and to set clear boundaries so that my relationship with each student feels safe and predictable for us both. But I have over a hundred students on my books. There are times when this fight is too much to handle.

And what am I fighting for?Research strongly suggests that homework does very little, if anything, to help the academic, social or emotional development of a child. In The Homework Myth, Alfie Kohn calls it ‘modern cod liver oil’ for kids which makes them ‘bored and anxious’.

John Buell asserts that there is no empirical evidence to support that homework helps to instil discipline. In fact, Ofsted, the British Inspectorate of schools, no longer inspects homework for these reasons. I worked in London for six years and trust me they inspect everything, so this is really saying something.

And what about the kids? Teenagers generally look pained about having to be in school in the first place.

There is a hormonal battle going on beneath those uniforms and they are genuinely exhausted having to get up so early and then sit in classrooms for hours. Teenagers need more sleep than us.

I generally arrive in the morning rearing to go because I love my job.

But sometimes, looking at the faces in front of me is nothing short of comical. For those of you culturally wise enough to know Ferris Buellar’s Day Off, think the scene where the teacher is taking the register. Sometimes, my class look like they want to stab me in the face with their pens, like they hate me from their toes to their hairlines.

The truth is that they have barely registered me; they’re just struggling to be awake and to be in public. And then they must go home and worry about homework?

Parents share that worry, battling with their kids, receiving notes of disappointment in school journals or concerned phone calls. Many schools have started to put kids on report or detention for failure to complete homework.

The autumn switch from summer to the school year is marked by this tug of war in homes across the country.‘ Have you brushed your teeth?’ and ‘Have you done your homework?’ are probably the two most worn-out questions in any family home. The benefits of one are indisputable. The same cannot be said of the latter.

The truth is the kids who never do homework are the kids who never do anything. They have already opted out. I don’t need homework to tell me that. Unfortunately, the time and energy I spend on them revolves around that missed, meaningless homework. Imagine if I could use that time to learn more about them and their lives, if I could really try to connect?

The whole situation is genuinely baffling.

So, what’s to be done? Should we have optional homework perhaps or should principals just get rid of it? Parent committees and teachers certainly need to share their stories. Of course, students will vilify the teacher who gives them hours of homework, so it needs to be a whole school policy of no homework or something similar.

Wouldn’t that be just lovely? Teachers would be happy; kids would be happy, and parents could stop the unnecessary nagging and power-play at home. Parent teacher meetings could be about the individual child, no longer an emotional head-to-head of frustrated teacher and exhausted parents.

And do you know what else might happen? Kids might associate school with joy. They might even develop a love of learning. They might chat to their parents about their day and what they’ve discovered about the world they live in. A world without homework: a better world for us all.