Homework and Free Time

School is almost over for the next two months.

Many of the last days of school are devoted to travelling around the countryside, going to camps, or having relaxing fun on the school playground.

Homework and afternoon work for school are in the distant past, as students have already completed their grades.

Or have they? The Association of Parents of the Parents of Slovenia (ZASSS) has not yet forgotten the work for the school that you take home.

The results of research carried out by parents of elementary school students have been presented.

And what did they find?

»The survey showed that only just over a fifth of students do all homework, learning and other work for the school in less than an hour. A quarter of them need up to two hours for this, one-fifth between two to three hours. Approximately fifteen percent of children need about three to four hours, while the remaining fifth even more than four hours,« says Dr. Anton Meden, President of ZASSS.

Homework is intended for repetition of content, and this is useful for learning, says Meden, since the brain gains knowledge by repeating it.

»And the differences with regard to homework are great. Families where children spend a lot of time for this run out of time for other activities. In the vast majority of cases, family members help schoolchildren. By examining the data we can conclude that pupils whose parents cannot help them parents have worse grades.«

A survey, which was carried out among primary school students by the Institute of Education, showed slightly different data.

According to their data for homework, the majority (55.9 percent) of pupils spend up to 30 minutes, followed by 29.3 percent up to one hour. With regard to studying, 64.3 percent of pupils spend up to 1 hour a day, except for before tests when they study more.

Points to Consider

1. Is it ok for parents to help their children with school work? 
2. Why?
3. Who helps you?

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The original version of this article was published on June 19th.

English translation courtesy of JL Flanner, Total Slovenia News, an English language website with news from and about Slovenia.