Why Homework Works

I have just read the story of the Philip Morant secondary school in Colchester, which has decided no longer to set homework. It is making a grave error.

I was a teacher for over thirty years and I used homework as a vital component in educating my pupils. A few points about the importance of homework:-

Why do pupils go to school? To learn, I hear you say. Only to a degree (excuse the pun). They go principally to study. Even bright children will pick up less than 50 percent of what they're taught first time around. The learning is done after class (i.e. homework) and, if this happens, that 50 percent becomes 90 percent.

For an hour's lesson, no more than 15 minutes' learning time is required. If that 15 minutes doesn't take place, the child will forget about 85 percent of the lesson within a week. When year 11 pupils say they are revising for an exam, what they're usually doing is re-studying.

I have ALWAYS told my classes there are three steps to success:-
STUDY(1 hour) - LEARN (15 mins) - REVISE (5 mins).  Simple as this.

You cannot learn what you haven't studied and you can't revise what you haven't learned.
This is why homework is imperative. If the teacher gives the impression he or she does not consider homework as relevant to the school process, then the pupils will suffer the consequences.