Survey shows Romanian students, parents think homework is overwhelming

Over 70% of the students and parents answering a survey of the Education Ministry think teachers give too much homework, which is tiring and leads to unrest, concern and stress. The ministry, together with the Institute of Education Sciences, organized a public consultation this November on the role of homework. Some 27,000 parents, 32,700 students, and 10,700 teachers from all over the country took part. A total of 70.7% of the parents surveyed and 67.8% of the students, particularly secondary school and high school ones, thought homework leads to restlessness and stress. The survey revealed that homework is generally considered useful, but they are seen as repetitive, monotonous and difficult. Almost 81% of the parents said their children need help in getting their homework done. At the same time, the survey revealed that teachers are focused on explaining tasks and frontal feedback, while students and parents prefer homework they can solve creatively, and possibly as a team. Girls and boys relate differently to homework, the survey showed, as the percentage of girls arguing the beneficial effects of homework is higher than that of boys. More than half of the teachers surveyed said they do not give homework during the holiday breaks. Other suggestions that came out of the survey include: the need to pay attention to team work, which allows students to practice their communication, negotiation and time management skills; alternating traditional homework with practical homework, related to real-life issues; and the need to use monitoring tools assessing the daily and weekly homework load at classroom level, thus allowing teachers to establish reasonable homework loads. The results of the survey are available in Romanian here. editor@romania-insider.com