Irish Times journalist Jen Hogan thought her homework days were over. But now, as a mother to 7 children, her days have been taken over by pencil smudged copybooks and exhausted kids. She came on The Ray D'Arcy Show to make her case for ending mandatory homework for primary school children.
The summer holidays were a reprieve, Jen says, but an all-too-short one.
"The worst part for me has always been the homework and we're back. I feel like we've been back months at this stage. Back into the slog. Back into the drudgery. And back into kind of losing our evenings and afternoons completely, surrendering them totally to homework."
The problem is not that children are being assigned hours upon hour of homework, Jen says. But it ends up taking hours to get through.
"They're tired after being in school all day. They're resisting homework, fighting against it the whole way. And they want to be outside playing with their friends…It can go on for hours."
What about those who say that homework helps children solidify what they are learning in school? Jen isn't convinced.
"I know practice makes perfect and all but practice after a very long day or practice when you're tired, I'm not sure how beneficial that is."
And are you overwhelmed by homework already? We'll be chatting to mum of 7 @mama_tude about why she wants homework banned for primary school students 📚📚📚https://t.co/Os7AmtHUE0
— Ray D'Arcy Radio (@RadioRayRTE) September 25, 2018
Listen back to the whole discussion on The Ray D'Arcy Show here.