Is More Homework Good or Bad for Primary School Children?

This research proposal aims to analyze the impact of more homework on primary school children, including their academic performance, relationship with parents and teachers, and physical activities. The study will use qualitative research methodology, including interviews with teachers and parents, to gain in-depth understanding of the topic.

Essay Question Title: Research Proposal (2000 words +/-10%)
Research Question: IS MORE HOMEWORK GOOD OR BAD FOR
PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN?
Word count: 2,153
1.

2. Background
At present, children in many places have been doing homework since the early
years of kindergarten, and the burden of homework will become heavier. When children
go to elementary school, homework will be considered as an important reference basis
for children's good study and serious attitude (Vatterott, 2018). However, many children
who have just transitioned from kindergarten to elementary school will not adapt to this
stage, which will cause children to be tired of learning. With the transition from the lower
grades to the higher grades, this kind of study-weariness may be exacerbated
(Ronning, 2011). Although quality education is been promoted and teaching team is
constantly improving levels. Too many homework assignments, thinking that students
can improve their performance only through a large number of exercises, is the
continuation of this backward model, which has caused unnecessary trouble and bad
influence on many children. Therefore, creating a proper balance in assigning
homework to students, help primary schools to improve its overall performance and also
enhance the motivation level of students to explore the knowledge in an amended
manner.
2.1. Rationale
In the context of the new curriculum reform, homework in primary school
teaching is the most basic form of activity for students to learn, and it is also the source
of teachers' scientific evaluation of students. And homework is not only a continuation of
classroom teaching, but also an important part of the entire teaching work (Holte, 2016).
Arranging an appropriate amount of effective homework can not only deepen the
understanding of the knowledge learned in the lesson and promote the learning in the
lesson, but also enable students to broaden their horizons, activate their thinking,
develop various hobbies, and develop the ability to explore and learn independently
(Matei and Ciasca, 2015).
Nevertheless, teachers are unable to truly understand the student’s learning situation at
home and cannot be timely and effective, also supervise and understand the
implementation of parental tutoring. In the long run, not only the quality of teaching

cannot be improved, but the lack of communication between teachers and parents, the
break of the home-school interaction chain, and the deepening of the conflict between
the school and family due to student education issues. Such a vicious circle has
unthinkable consequences (Cooper, 2015). To this end, the proposed research work will
make an attempt to explore if the more homework for the primary school students
deteriorate their academic performance or not. Additionally, the proposed research work
will also attempt to look into if more homework could have an impact on parent-children
relationship, the social and physical lifestyle of the children and their interest in the
classroom.
2.2. Aims and Objectives
Considering the background discussion and the rationale stated above, the aim of the
proposed research work will be to analyze the impact that more homework could have
on primary school children. Therefore, the objective of the proposed study could be
derived as:
 To understand the impact that more homework could have on primary
school children’s academic performance
 To understand the impact that more homework could have on primary
school children’s relationship with their parents and teachers
 To understand the impact that more homework could have on primary
school children’s physical activities and social lifestyle
2.3. Research Questions
Considering the aims and objectives stated in the previous section, the proposed
research work will aim to answer the following research questions:
 What is the impact that more homework could have on primary school
children’s academic performance?
 What is the impact that more homework could have on primary school
children’s relationship with their parents and teachers?
 What is the impact that more homework could have on primary school
children’s physical activities and social lifestyle?

3. Literature Review
From the past few decades, the aspect of homework is undoubtedly one of the
major topics that parents and children care about most. The amount and quality of
homework is not only related to the child's performance and sleep, but also to the time
and happiness of the whole family. However, in a school environment, the activity of
homework is considered as an initial thing as the core purpose behind this is that it
assist students to maintain their academic track in an improved way. However, excess
of assignments or homework sometime may influence pupil negatively especially for
primary school children. This is because, it give rise to various issues among students
like increase in absenteeism, lack of motivation, fear of exploring knowledge, anxiety,
frustration, and many more. Therefore, understanding the potentiality and interest of
students enable teachers to generate positive or healthy environment as well as lead
them to build long lasting relationship with students in an impressive style. Moreover,
there are some example which states the attitude of parents towards giving more
homework to students i. e. Spanish parents are protesting against too much of
homework, and British parents are being rethought because their children study longer
and their academic performance is not as good as Finnish children. However, it has
been identified that a student success is not the matter of quantity of homework rather
it is the ability of pupil to grab the academic concepts more clearly and effectively.
According to the National Education Research Foundation, for middle school and
high school students, academic performance is positively related to homework time, that
is, the more time they spend on homework, the better their performance will be. But, in
case of elementary school students, overload of work or assignments may impose huge
pressure that may impact their physical and mental state in a negative way (Carr, 2013).
However, excess of homework not only effect junior student but also impact negatively
on senior students in terms of their performance and initiation in extracurricular
activities. In addition to this, assignments have an effect on grades and are discussed
based on the type of assignment. The impact of different types of homework on
students varies greatly. In the classroom, the teacher can grasp the learning situation of
each child, and provide effective help and guidance according to the characteristics of

the child, so that each child can maximize their ability. Homework is different from
classroom work in many ways (Mackenzie et al., 2012). Homework is often not
supervised by teachers. Students need to understand tasks independently, arrange
their own time and schedule, find solutions to difficult problems, and even rely on
willpower to overcome outside temptations (such as playing computer games) before
they can calm down operation (Matei and Ciasca, 2015). Obviously, all of these factors
vary widely discussed and accepted. However, this has been determined that
delegating homework is best concept for primary students but excess of the same
results in negative mode. Henceforth, it is necessary that schools should make an
attempt to alter their teaching method from traditional to modern style that is
extracurricular reading. This is because, adoption of reading style help parents to
recognize and understand their children in a better way and also can overcome the
issue of lack of time in regard of spending with children. Moreover, if parents reading
aloud to the child, or the child reading by himself, the key is to be fun (Mackenzie et al.,
2012). But after the child has been in school for a day, she doesn't want to train her
reading skills any more, just let her listen.
In addition to this, as per the latest survey of students satisfaction from getting
more homework, it has been evaluated that in many places, some old-fashioned
teaching methods and simple and rude teaching goals continue. (Stoeger et al., 2014).
Some teachers take homework directly as the obligation of the parents of the students,
and the ridiculous style of the parents has a very bad impact on society (Matei and
Ciasca, 2015). Furthermore, another aspect also been examined that some
assignments are useful and some are not. Some boring homework that exists solely to
cope with school is irritating. Other assignments will immerse the child and feel happy,
such as writing a poem expressing his feelings. There are countless examples of this:
imagine yourself as Jesus, write a letter about what it feels like to be crucified and so
on. Therefore, it is important to have a deeper understanding of education and
children's learning, eliminate some old models, let the children's ideals free, free the
family's troubles, and make children happier and better. Some of the examples are write
an invitation letter for English teacher to Mr. Hyde; draw a picture of the fire in London to
understand this history; write A role-playing script about Greek medicine; making

volcanic models with concrete pulp, understanding geography, and more. Henceforth,
taking such effort by schools and teachers drive them to arrange meaningful
assignments and also to enrich pupil's hidden skills or capability in an innovative or
creative style. (Mackenzie et al., 2012).
In addition to this, implementing best decisions in regard of increasing the
involvement of students towards finishing homework assist them to attain sustainable
growth and development in pupil career without any hindrances (Nunez et al., 2015).
For example, asking students to read independently is great. Reading is useful for
children of most ages because it empower students to explore their knowledge or
information about specific topic as well as motivate them to place themselves in
aggressive and competent position. When setting up reading assignments, teachers
should also realize that children can benefit to the same degree from the same tasks
(Nunez et al., 2015). Therefore, arranging various growth platforms and making use of
digital gadget for giving homework to students. Due to this, it empower students to
complete the task effectively as well as they can save time, cost and energy in an
improved manner. Henceforth, from the overall evaluation of different scholars view or
opinion, it has been identified that the concept of giving homework drive students to
fosters responsibility, helps them to understand what school is learning, and builds
parent-school connections. Moreover, in the process of managing homework, the role of
teachers is important likewise the effort of parents also plays a vital role. Hence, parents
should think rationally, not simply think that their children's performance can be greatly
improved by doing more homework, but cherish the time with their children, create
happiness with their children, and explore the best learning method for their baby (Matei
and Ciasca, 2015). Therefore, a students growth and success is not depend upon the
quantity of homework but it focus on quality of work. Thus, the concept of giving
homework for primary school students is effective but at the same time more homework
impose huge burden over children's social life. Henceforth, proper allocation of available
resources and developing a balance between classwork and homework benefit primary
schools to enlarge their overall performance and also its brand image among students
and parents as well.

4. Methodology
Quantitative research looks at expressing data using some specific numerical
value or quantity, such as the number of people or percentage, and also, it identifies
correlation between variables. For example, Cooper et al (2001) conducted a
quantitative method to examine relationships among three variables and identified that
the impact of student standards and parent's frame of mind toward homework on grades
was mediated through the impact those two variables had on parent assistance.
However, a reliability of responses from all three groups of participants was not
obtained. It shows that the strength of quantitative surveys is that it can be visualized as
clear numerical data through surveys in addition to understanding the causes and
processes.
On the other hand, the “qualitative research” is a research to obtain qualitative
information that leads to a new understanding through interpretation of meanings that
cannot be expressed numerically, such as remarks and actions. An example of this is a
qualitative research conducted by Kahriman-Pamuk et al (2019), who gathered primary
data through observation of 18 schools and interview of teachers and children, in
order to identify and evaluate indicators that measure sustainable practices in Early
Childhood Education programs using a convenient sampling to identify schools and to
select preschool classrooms. This means that a Qualitative research has the
advantage of being able to investigate values and emotional causes that are difficult to
obtain with quantitative research and that cannot be quantified (Taylor et al., 2015).
Taylor responded to the research question based on the quality of the responses
provided by the respondents, rather than relying on quantified responses which could
not help in creating new understanding surrounding the research parameters (Bryman,
2016).
Considering the nature and purpose of the proposed research work, i.e. to understand
the impact that more homework could have on primary school children, the research
proposes to use qualitative research methodology. By using this methodology, the
researcher will interview primary school teachers and parents of the students to

understand the impact. In addition to this, it also assist researcher to acquire in- depth
information about the topic and also motive them to produce valid and reliable report
within prescribed time duration in an effective and efficient manner. Moreover, with the
implication of qualitative method, the researcher will be able to respond to the pre-
identified research questions based on the quality of the responses provided by the
respondents, rather than relying on quantified reactions which couldn't help in making
new comprehension surrounding the research parameters, (Bryman, 2016). Adopting
qualitative methodology will allow the researcher to carry out an inquiry into the
research topic in a naturalistic manner. As a result, the research will gain in-depth
knowledge of the phenomenon, detailing why or why not excessive homework for
primary school students is necessarily good or bad. Qualitative methodology will allow
the researcher to gain new knowledge about the phenomenon and keep the research
parameters open ended to include new theories and concepts.
4.1. Sampling
In context of this research report, researcher make use of simple random
sampling which allow each targeted respondents to share their opinion in an equal
manner. By using this sampling technique, the researcher selected a large sample size,
i. e. approximately 100 who are teachers and parents of primary school children. From
the selected respondents, the researcher will conduct interviews via e-mail and face to
face interviews (Taylor et al., 2015). For this purpose, the researcher will develop an
interview guide which would contain several questions pertaining to impact of more
homework on primary school children’s social and physical activities, academic
performance and relationship with teachers and parents.
4.2. Research Ethics
The researcher will ensure that the interview guide prepared for the primary
research activity is checked and approved by the research supervisor. Moreover, the
researcher will also take prior consent from the respondents before initiating the
interviews. Additionally, researcher will ensure that the responses provided by the
respondents are not revealed to any third party except the research supervisor and the

teacher. Lastly, researcher will ensure that all the external material which is utilized in
the proposed research work is properly referenced and cited, and no plagiarism is
committed in the completion of the work. In relation to this research study, investigator
acquired all data from relevant and accurate sources of information. Due to which, it
enable researcher to develop valid and authentic report in a stipulated time limit among
other scholars or publishers in an amended mode.

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