Development of a homework program and practices at year 7

Mr Andrew Burnell & Mr John Hewitt Brighton Grammar School Brighton, Victoria, Australia

As part of Brighton Grammar Schools' involvement in the Lighthouse Project, a Federal Government-funded initiative to examine issues pertaining to the education of boys, our school undertook an action research project. We hoped to achieve the following main goals:

• to evaluate existing homework policies/practices at year 7;
• to compare these policies/practices with existing literature research on the topic;
• to design a 'boy friendly' homework task that would take into account the two points above and that would more fully engage year 7 students in the completion of their homework;
• to ascertain appropriate 'boy friendly' homework policies/practices, which could be disseminated to our cluster and feeder schools, as a means of facilitating movement of boys from year 6 into year 7.

In order to evaluate existing homework policies/practices at year 7, surveys were conducted with all 132 year 7 students, all 21 staff teaching in the middle school (years 7-8) and a random sample of 25 parents with boys in year 7. The survey results were then collated and, as a consequence, the following recommendations were made.

• Year 7 boys should be doing 30-60 minutes of homework per night.
• Year 7 boys should have, at most, two subjects setting homework on any given night.
• Homework should include tasks such as designing, drawing or building models, use of computers and completion of projects/assignments.
• Homework should be communicated to boys in a written format and teachers should ensure it is entered in their Record Books.

An extensive literature search was also conducted, with the most relevant findings being as follows:

• Forster (2000) - 'the hidden benefit of homework is the relationship it strengthens in the child's learning process between the parents and their children and the families and the school' - this 'bridge' between school and home undoubtedly smooths the transition of students in the transitional years.
• Epstein/Voorhis (2001) - 'if teachers design homework to meet specific purposes/goals, more students complete homework and benefit from the results and more families remain involved in their child's education thru the middle grades', again ensuring a smoother transition of students in the transitional years.
• Salari, Flynn and Bonk (2003) - supplying supplemental online communication about coursework and homework assignments brings an 'improvement in student achievement and fosters increased parental involvement, student motivation and completed homework, thereby resulting in improved overall student achievement' - again, serving to smooth the transition process.
• Fuller (2005) - 'rather than the curriculum being broken down into distinct subjects at year 7, it should remain much like a primary school curriculum as students are not ready to deal with different subjects, applying knowledge and skills they've absorbed in one area to other topics'. This has possible further ramifications when considering number of subjects to be completed each night for homework.
• Victorian Department of Education and Training (2001) - 'in the middle years (5-9), homework will generally range from 30 minutes (year 5) up to 90 minutes (year 9) a day'.

In term 4 of 2005, a homework program in year 7 was implemented in SOSE (Studies of Society and Environment), based upon the findings of the various surveys and the literature search. Boys were surveyed, both prior and after its implementation, to assess its effectiveness and appeal. Parents were also asked to respond to a survey on the trial SOSE tasks, with respect to their perceptions of the two tasks.

Essentially, the allocated homework task involved two activities, one exploring Australian endangered animals and the other, Greek and Roman soldiers of the ancient world. The major differences from previous homework tasks in SOSE involved the significant use of the internet to research topics, advice on how to allocate time in completing the task, a sample report for boys to follow in terms of its structure, flexibility in the means by which the final reports were submitted, flexibility for the boys to allocate appropriate times to complete the tasks, plus additional extension activities involving drawing or construction type activities.

It would appear that the boys overwhelmingly liked the new approach. They particularly liked the flexibility of they were able to do SOSE homework each week, with approximately equal numbers completing the tasks over two nights, one night or over a weekend. It is also clear that the boys spent more time working on their homework each week than the prescribed time (over 70% more than one hour). The boys also appreciated, overwhelmingly, the element of choice, and were especially motivated by hands-on or creative activities, such as building models. They were clearly excited by the prospect of using computers more.

Furthermore almost 70% of boys thought it helpful to have the one homework booklet for the week's work, with clear guidelines on how to proceed with the tasks. Students were asked for an honest assessment of their quality of work on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 10 (excellent). Result overall generally matched the profile of marks given by the teachers. 91.8% of boys considered their work 'above average' (6/10 and above), 6% gave themselves a 10/10, whilst 3.4% were honest enough to give themselves a 2 or 3/10.

Conversations with SOSE staff, following the homework project trial, also led to the following responses.

It was agreed that there was a higher level of motivation detected in the homework during the weeks of the trial. Boys seemed interested in the topics and enjoyed the opportunity to express themselves in their own style. Completion rates of work were up. Teachers had to chase fewer boys for work. One teacher displayed the boys' PowerPoint projects on the big screen for all the class to see. Most boys were happy for this to happen. This allowed more effective discussion of the topic and might also lead to improved standards of presentation, overall.

Parents were also surveyed as to their perceptions of the trial SOSE homework task. Again, the results were most encouraging - 76% of parents rated their satisfaction with their son's homework as 7, or better, out of 10, whilst 92% supported the notion of providing homework one week in advance, so that boys could organise their work accordingly. In particular, 94% of parents liked the notion that their sons had some degree of flexibility in choosing which nights to complete their homework tasks, given the large number of both school and outside school commitments that their sons had. Seventy-five per cent were also supportive of the notion of their sons choosing their own method of presentation - 48% liking the creativity that such a notion could foster, although 40% of parents did express some concern that boys should still be given some form of encouragement to present their assignments in a variety of mediums.

Overall, it would appear the trial was an overwhelming success and has already been used to provide a model for other departments to follow in the provision of homework for year 7s in 2006.

Ultimately, through the use of its surveys and literature search, the school was able to identify a set of guiding principles to share with its cluster schools on programs/practices in the transition years. These have already been listed above and it is hoped that, through ongoing consultation with our cluster schools, that these schools will take up some of our guiding principles on homework policies/practices in the transition years. This should, in turn, undoubtedly serve to reduce much of the concerns regarding homework (80% of the sample group in 2005 placed homework in their top three concerns as they prepared to commence year 7) currently being experienced by year 6 students as they prepare to embark upon their move into year 7.

Personally, the results obtained vindicated much of the hard work put in by members of the middle school team in their Lighthouse Project. The findings and subsequent implementation of a trial homework program in SOSE was largely in line with the pre-project thoughts of the members of the team in terms of the amount of homework that should be being set, the types of homework tasks preferred by boys, the number of homework tasks per night and the means by which homework was to be communicated.

The middle school team had certainly not expected such an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from both parents and students to the trial homework program and provided the team with significant enthusiasm to continue to push for further and more permanent changes in the homework policies and practices of all subject departments in 2006.

It must be remembered, though, that the department introducing these changes was overall very enthusiastic about the proposed changes. Some concerns were raised about students' access to technology (this is readily dispelled by the data, showing extremely high usage of home internet to assist in the completion of the homework tasks). Furthermore, there would be little doubt that further resistance will be met when some staff may 'complain' about the time taken to prepare the tasks. Ultimately, though, greatest concern for staff would probably revolve around the increased accountability such homework tasks bring to their own setting of homework.

It is thought, however, that the implementation of homework tasks similar to those trialled would have the following benefits:

• reduction in overall teacher workload, as the setting of homework tasks would be shared equally - this would also reduce duplication of preparation of separate homework tasks between staff members;
• greater consistency in types of homework tasks, reducing student/parental concern about existing discrepancies in such tasks between different forms;
• greater student engagement in homework tasks, thus reducing disciplinary measures needed in the classroom;
• greater exposure of students to a wider range of teaching styles, through a sharing in the setting of homework.

Other departments may not be as co-operative, preferring instead to stay with the traditional setting of homework in terms of time per night and number of homework settings per week. Clearly, the implementation of these homework changes may take time and require ongoing consultation with the relevant heads of department and provision of appropriate professional development and support to staff who may feel somewhat threatened by these changes.

As indicated above, the team now firmly believes that more permanent changes need to be made to existing homework policies and practices in the middle school. Presentation of the findings in the staff conference at the beginning of 2006, plus wider presentation to secondary teachers at year 7 level, is clearly required in order to facilitate such changes.

Ongoing dialogue also needs to be entered into with our cluster schools, in order to more fully inform them of the results of our project and to ultimately seek some 'changes' from them in relation to their homework policies. A reduction in the differences between our middle school and our cluster primary schools, in terms of homework policies/practices, should further reduce by far the most significant concern students have as they undertake the transition from year 6 to year 7.

A further possibility for research would be to survey year 6 and 7 boys at other schools, particularly some experiencing schooling in a totally different environment to that experienced by our boys. It would be particularly interesting to explore further differences in transitional issues for boys going into year 7 from such schools, and also to examine the types of homework tasks such boys engage in more fully when set. Such research could ultimately result in the provision of a set of guiding principles, Australia-wide, in terms of these transitional issues.