Is Your Teenager Getting Too Much Homework?

If your teenager is constantly swamped with homework — or barely doing any — you might be wondering: Are they overworked, or just not working hard enough?

Now to gain a proper answer to this, it is important to look at your teenager's unique schooling experience first and really listen to what they are saying. That being said, one interesting study I read recently titled, The Effects of Demography, Expectations and Student Attitudes on Australian Secondary School Teachers offered a rather interesting insight into how teachers hand out homework to their students.

One unexpected finding is that, teachers are more likely to give homework out to their students, if they believe their students are more motivated to learn and/or are more capable with the coursework being studied. I personally found this very interesting, because it suggests that students who are actually struggling with the required classwork may be given less work outside of school compared to those already doing well.

Furthermore, the study also found that when teachers feel their subject is overloaded with content, they are also less likely to assign homework. Yep! let me repeat that, when students need to learn more because the course they are studying is so broad and dense, teachers are less inclined to assign them homework.

Thus, if you're a parent reading this, worried your child is falling behind. Reconsider your doubts, as it may not necessarily reflect their inability to succeed academically- potentially it could mean quite the opposite. Vice Versa, if you teenager is not receiving homework, or are cruising through their classes, it may actually be because their teacher believes the course work is too overwhelming for them, or that the students in their class are not as capable academically.

As always, open communication and maintaining an open mind with your teen is the most important way to understand what’s really going on in their lives.

In case you want to read more about this,

Bowd, J., Bowles, T., & McKenzie, V. (2021). The effects of demography, expectations and student attitudes on Australian secondary school teachers’ homework practices. Australian Journal of Education, 65(2), 195-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/00049441211030728 (Original work published 2021)