Is homework an important part of educational success?

Earlier this week, The Daily Mail revealed that parents of Folkestone (Kent) threatened to remove their children from school due to new rulings that students will receive homework!

More than 600 parents have signed the petition to defend the cause because of the lack of time their children will have to spend time with their families. The Folkestone Academy already has a longer school day running from 8.30am to 5pm with many parents suggesting that due to travel, their children are leaving for school at 7am and returning home as late as 6pm.

There is currently no statutory guidance on homework and it is down to the schools discretion to decide on a homework policy. Head Warren Smith said: "The increase in curriculum time alone will not be enough to facilitate delivery of the whole specification and as a result, it is necessary to adopt a more formal approach to homework. All homework will be available on the academy website, which pupils will be able to access by clicking on the relevant year and subject."

The Academy's new homework ruling is an approach to improve their 2013 Ofsted Report with a purpose to maximise learning opportunities and hopefully have a profound impact on pupils' success.

We've put together some tried and tested methods to encourage extracurricular studying.

Do you agree? Is homework an important part of educational success?