Abolish homework at last: chicane for parents and children

The Süddeutsche Today the newspaper reports on the theses of our author Armin Himmelrath: He wants to do away with homework. And based on the best of HR - Berufebilder.de® why.

Why must homework be?

How do you learn well and correctly in school? Through intuition and experimentation - and through homework. That's what many parents, teachers and students think. Only: That's not true. Studies have shown time and again that the pedagogical effect of homework is zero.

• Why, however, does the homework still cover the everyday life of families with school-age children?
• Why are teachers, parents and even students mostly convinced that homework must be an elementary part of school learning processes?
• Where does the deep, almost religious belief in a pedagogical instrument, the effectiveness of which has never really been proven?

Chicane for parents and children

“Homework: a 'pedagogical ritual' survived” - this is how the Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote one in November 2013 Article and quotes, among others, the pediatrician and author of educational guides, Remo Largo: “They don't do anything. It only harasses students and parents ”.

And for Gabriel Romano from the pre-school and primary school institute University Bern, homework is just a "pedagogical ritual" with no deeper educational ones Sinn.

“Homework has no educational value”

Because time and again scientists have shown that homework hardly produces learning effects:

•  As early as 1904, experimental psychologist Ernst Meumann found that pupils' achievements in their homework “were considerably inferior on average in terms of materials and form” than the solutions that the children had developed at school during class.
•  In 1958, the educational scientist Bernhard Wittmann from Mülheim did not let pupils from several classes in Duisburg do two homework in two subjects. The experiment lasted four months, then the results were compared with other classes: “Homework has no material educational value,” the educator noted, “Homework does not increase the knowledge and skills of the students.”
• Hans Gängler, educational scientist at the TU Dresden, found in 2008 that it doesn't matter at all whether you do math homework right after school, at night under the covers or not at all - the effect on the censorship certificate is “zero”. Nevertheless, homework by teachers would be "prescribed" uncritically and across the board, on the assumption that "they would have some positive effect on the students". Gängler continued: “Good students don't necessarily get better from homework, and bad students at home simply don't understand what they didn't understand well in the morning.”
• Recently, 2013 had spoken to the sociologist Jutta Allmendinger of the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, and pointed out that homework has intensified social inequality in education processes. Good students who least need them receive the greatest support at home; but the encouraging domestic environment is often lacking in those with whom additional learning and help might actually bring something.

time for a change

In addition, many of those involved repeatedly report critical and negative experiences with homework: teachers steal it Tasks – their announcement, but above all the tedious one Control - valuable class time. They spoil the time after the end of the lesson for the students. And parents are forced into the role of substitute teachers by homework. In short: Homework creates dissatisfaction and is a significant stress factor for everyone involved.

But where does this deep-seated belief come from that such tasks Things to Learn promote anyway? Maybe it's because they've been mentioned in school regulations for more than 500 years and we've all experienced school with homework only. In view of the scientific findings, isn't it about time to question the sense of homework? After all, the use of the cane was also considered a proven educational tool for centuries – until, fortunately, a new social consensus emerged. When it comes to homework, such a learning process is now more than overdue.