The Education Ministry has set new rules covering homework assigned by teachers in the pre-university system, outlining the role of assignments meant to be completed at home and the time required to complete them.

The ministerial order outlining the rules distinguishes between compulsory homework, intended for all students in the class and of average difficulty, and additional or supplementary homework, which is optional, may be tailored to individual pupils, and is intended for remedial purposes or for high-achieving students.

The total time allotted to compulsory homework in the primary school cycle will be up to one hour per day, according to the new rules. For the other pre-university education cycles, the compulsory homework shouldn't take more than two hours.

In the case of the primary school cycle, the school's director will monitor that the time rules are observed, based on their own analysis and on the feedback from students and parents. The homeroom teacher is tasked with doing the same in the case of the other pre-university school cycles.

The homework for one discipline, with the purpose of drafting more ample work, can be one per learning interval (module).

During holidays, students in primary and secondary school cycles will not receive homework, according to the ministerial order. Holiday homework is considered supplementary and is optional. Pupils in the preparatory class (the year before first grade) do not receive homework.

Homework shouldn't be assigned as a coercion instrument, the ministerial order stipulates. At the same time, educational content that should be covered systematically in class cannot be assigned as homework.

According to the new rules, when establishing homework, teachers should pay attention to unwanted negative consequences, such as the student losing interest in learning because of homework quantity, difficulty or monotony; physical and emotional exhaustion; a reduction in leisure time intended for other activities such as sports, arts, reading; or widening the gap between high performing students and struggling ones.

Feedback from students and parents on the usefulness and efficiency of homework should be collected yearly. This will be analyzed by the administrative boards of the school units, and used for more efficient processes and "increased satisfaction of students and parents."

The homework needs to be evaluated, but grading is not mandatory.

Why were the rules introduced?  

The rules follow complaints from parents and pupils about the amount of homework received.

In a 2017 online questionnaire by the Education Ministry and the Education Sciences Institute on homework, respondents noted the prevalence of "repetitive, monotonous and difficult homework, which reinforces what was taught in class." It also revealed that both pupils and teachers want differentiated homework that is challenging and can be solved creatively or as part of the team, but also that most respondents considered homework useful and needed to improve learning.

At the same time, 75-80% of the pupils and parents who answered the survey thought homework was often too tiring and that it took up too much of their free time. Another negative effect was that homework induced worry or stress, a statement that parents (70.7%) and pupils (67.8%) agreed with, especially in high school and secondary school, where homework is more complex. At the same time, nearly 80% of the parents said their children needed support with homework.

A total of 70,952 respondents in the pre-university system completed the online questionnaire nationwide. Among them, 27,383 were parents (84% mothers), 32,786 pupils, and 10,783 teachers from all of the country's counties.

The essential elements of the rules on homework have been valid since 2016, when a similar order was issued. The rules were updated to reflect the education law passed since, and are aimed at ensuring homework supports rather than hinders learning, while introducing a control mechanism, the education minister explained.

"Starting from rules existing since 2016, I've tried to create an updated context (including following legislative changes) where the educational process is facilitated, not hindered by homework, while adding a control mechanism to implement this rule. I sincerely believe this regulation helps both children and teachers enjoy an educational context that is not only more performant, but also pleasant and healthy, strengthening the trust in school and between students, teachers, and parents."

He also explained that the rules allow homework to be made more flexible by distinguishing between compulsory and optional homework, depending on the children's needs. They add to the measure by establishing that 25% of the time dedicated to each discipline be used for remedial education, and are meant to "make school more attractive and efficient, encouraging students to work together for better cooperation and collaboration."

Minister David had spoken before of the need to be part of the educational process and not hinder it. "If homework becomes a source of stress, you assign it for nothing, because they cause conflict between the children, the school, and the parents. I think this is an order that will contribute to the quality of life for all, both the pupils and the teachers," he said, quoted by Agerpres.

In another interview, he mentioned the need to "control the phenomenon of homework." "Homework is important, especially the compulsory and supplementary ones, but, at the same time, this phenomenon needs to be controlled. Assigning difficult homework is useless if the child doesn't do it, and it all becomes a chore because you don't achieve the educational objective," David told B1 TV last month.

What is homework supposed to accomplish?

According to the recent ministerial order, homework is intended to help achieve immediate learning outcomes, such as consolidation, deepening, and expansion of knowledge, and applying what has been taught in new learning contexts.

In the long term, it is meant to encourage learning, foster a positive attitude towards school, develop motivation for continuous learning, and foster the wish to apply what has been learned in daily life.

At the same time, it is meant to help "stimulate curiosity, responsibility, and develop the skill of persevering in learning," as well as the ability to manage their time and motivation. Also, it is supposed to follow the principle of equal opportunities and increase the family's trust in school.

What is the homework load?

The 2014 OECD report Does Homework Perpetuate Inequities in Education? found that in 2012, 15-year-old students in OECD countries spent, on average, five hours per week doing homework, down from 5.9 hours per week in 2003.

In Romania, students reported spending seven hours or more per week doing homework, similar to peers in Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, or Singapore. At the opposite end, pupils in Korea and Finland said they spent less than three hours per week doing homework. 

The same report notes, quoting evidence from PISA 2009, that after around four hours of homework per week, additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact. At the same time, it shows that across every economy participating in PISA 2012, students from advantaged socio-economic backgrounds spent more time doing homework and studying than disadvantaged students. In the case of Romania, there was a 3.5-hour difference in homework time between the two categories, similar to Bulgaria, Italy, and Shanghai. Students from advantaged backgrounds tend to have a suitable place to study at home, and engaged parents, who highlight the importance of putting the time into completing the assignments, previous PISA surveys found. Furthermore, the time pupils spend doing homework varies between schools in urban and rural areas, and between public and private schools.

More recently, Sorin Ion, a state secretary with the Education Ministry, spoke of how secondary school pupils can have four hours of homework to do every day. "A secondary school pupil spends seven hours per day at school. If they receive homework that takes four hours to complete, it already adds up to 11 hours a day, which is a lot," he said, quoted by Stirileprov.ro.

Some of the questions raised

The 2017 questionnaire on homework showed that teachers' opinions were divided on a normative act to regulate the role of homework and the time required to complete it. Some thought that homework should be regulated to establish a common framework and avoid excesses in the amount assigned, the degree of difficulty, or the time required to complete it. Others argued that the issue should be managed by teachers, depending on the particularities of each class, and that regulation around it was a constraint on teachers' freedom of action.

As the new rules were announced, some teachers voiced concerns about how they could be implemented. They pointed to challenges in coordinating with the many other teachers working with one secondary school classroom, as their schedules can vary. This is something that could be managed by having fewer homework assignments on average in every discipline, some education experts argued.

(Photo: Karenr | Dreamstime.com)

simona@romania-insider.com