School homework: Does it have any benefit at all? One of the lessons of the past year is that children need different types of learning
Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 06:01 Jen Hogan
‘We need to be far more creative about how we assess ability and we need to be far more inclusive of different skill-sets,’ says psychotherapist Dr Colman Noctor. Photograph: iStock
When the children returned to school last September I dared to dream, for the short while I was allowed, that homework might be a thing of the past. Our afternoons and evenings were our own, the kids were more content going to school in spite of all the necessary changes, and things were certainly less fractious around the dining-room table. Had the pandemic finally seen off the one thing that many parents had longed to see the back of for years?
Zooms, Looms and Google Classrooms. Seesaw, Aladdin, Dojo and YouTube tutorials. They re just some of the many ways that primary students are learning remotely. And just like the platforms being used, the amount of live and pre-recorded lessons students are receiving varies widely.
Some parents, particularly those who are receiving limited or no live interactions with their schools, are calling for more.
Among them is Sinead Cosgrave and her husband who live in Dublin and both work in the health sector.
The Cosgrave family
Their daughter, who is in First Class, has had one live engagement with her school since remote learning began last month while her son, who is in Fifth Class, has had none.