A reflection on homework data from the school and a field research to listen to children, to understand how much the assigned tasks impact on children’s free time
Mario Lodi, in his teacher life, does not have never assigned homework. His school was made in the classroom all together because teaching could not ignore thereal experience.
With the closure and reopening of schools, the debate on homework Back cyclically, without but a solution that you all agree. In analyzing the problem, the UN Convention on the rights of childhood and adolescence (1989), because the school represents its field of application par excellence. The article of the Convention which relates strongly to the question of free time It is art. 31 which recognizes the child the right to rest, at free time and to devote himself to the game.
But how much is this right promoted and guaranteed by the school?
Ministerial circulars on the assignment of school tasks
The school is a social institution that belongs to a ministry (the current MIM, ex miur) and to regulate it, the decrees and of circular throughout the national territory, while remembering that regional school autonomy applies. For this, each educational institution manages their own independence on teaching and otheras in the case of tasks.
There are three main ministerial circulars (cm) on the issue:
- there n. 62 of 1964which recognizes tasks as indispensable forms of work but with an appropriate load;
- there n. 431 of 1965in which it is communicated that an excessive load of study harmful to health;
- there n.177 of 1969, In which it is recommended that the homework is not assigned for the day following the holiday, therefore not only the days following the holidays commanded but also on Sunday for Monday.
Not only that, it is also recommended to do not assign the tasks for the next day considering that full time in primary it takes place on a total of 40 hours per week.
The purpose of the cm is clearly to mark the boundaries between the time that is spent at school and the extracurricular one, which must be respected so as to guarantee the student the student right to rest and leisure.
Is it useful to give homework at home? Some international data
The key point of the debate on “Right” quantity of tasks And on the hours to devote to the study it also connects to the question on the real effectiveness of the tasks intended as tools to complete and deepen school learning and to enhance the personal skills of the pupil.
In a research conducted by Ozicare Insurance (“Homework Around the World”, 2016), out of 12 countries examined it emerges that in Italy the average of hours per week that a student dedicates to homework is of 8.7 hours And for this it is positioned in the penultimate place in the ranking, followed only by Russia (9.7 hours per week), while Finland (2.8 hours) occupies the first place.
In another 2019 study, conducted by Timss (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) on fourth grade and third grade pupils, it appears that in Italy the assigned tasks are 3.3 times higher than those assigned in France And 50% more than Spain and Finland.
The Finnish school system It is one of the best in the world, in fact, according to the evaluation of the skills of 15 -year -old students conducted in 2018 by Pisa (Program for International Student Assessment), Finnish students are second only to the Estons in terms of skills, while the Italians are classified to 34th place. Furthermore, according to the OECD report (2022), Finnish students are those with the highest score in reading and have declared that they are less afraid of making a try because not stressed.
Another relevant aspect, underlined by the American Psychological Association (APA), is that the Task problem highlights the social inequalities because it affects students of less well -off families who do not have the opportunity to offer children a support (for example a computer or tutor).
But what do pupils say? The results of field research
The duties issue is lived directly and daily by the pupils of every order and school degree, but there are few searches that provide data on this issue obtained by listening directly to the Student voice.
Listening to children is one of the main purposes of the international project “The city of children“Of the Istc-Cnr (Rome). For this, the project research group has designed, in collaboration with a group of pediatricians of the Pediatric Cultural Association of Lazio, a very short questionnaire to obtain one Photography on the assigned tasks in the afternoon and for the weekend. The questionnaire, anonymous, was distributed, without the interference of the parentsin pediatric studies to children/and primary schools of Rome and province who attend full time, for a total of 143 schools in the March-May 2023 period.
The questionnaire included the following questions and possible answers.
- “When you leave school in the afternoon You have tasks to do for the following day“.” Possible answers: “Never”, “Sometimes”, “almost always”.
- “The tasks that school gives you Saturday and Sunday I am…?”. Possible answers: “Few or none”, “enough”, “too many”.
The 449 subjects (average age 8.24 years), of which 57.8% girls provided the following responses: 40.4% declare that They are not “never” assigned the tasks for the next daywhile 59.6% indicate the other two responses (29.6% “sometimes” and 29.6% “almost always”).
In addition, 22.6% say they have “few or none” on the weekend, 58.7% “Enough“And 18.7%” too many “. Another interesting fact is that four out of 10 children of first grade declare they have homework, and these increase with the school class, with the result that fifth children are those with multiple tasks assigned.
Tasks at home occupy time that children should dedicate to other activities of personal learning such as the management of your free time, socialization between peers especially in the neighborhood of belonging, being in the family and playing freely. The latter are important tasks that are good for children’s health.
