Summer is here, the most anticipated time for any child. Up to three months of vacation to go to the pool or the beach, play with friends, or simply enjoy yourself in the park. However, after a year of work and effort, of classes, homework and extracurricular activities, now in the summer they also have to do their homework. Experts disagree on whether kids should do summer homework, but most say they shouldn’t. Summer is to enjoy and relax.
The reality is that the agendas of the little ones are increasingly loaded with activities and means that they have less and less time to play or choose what to spend it on.
Overwhelmed. Let’s say that each teacher sends his students a booklet to review what they learned in their subject. Result? Children as overwhelmed as during the school year. Adults also go on vacation and we don’t take work with us so as not to miss a beat, right? According to the World Health Organization, children in Spain spend too much time doing homework during the course and warn about the negative aspects that this entails, both in physical and mental health, due to the constant pressure imposed on them.
Data and rights. According to the OECD, Finland, leader in academic results, hardly sends homework. If they do, it is shown in some way that the method applied in the school is not effective because the teaching hours have not been enough. There the children must rest physically and emotionally. In addition, article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes “the right of the child to rest and leisure, to play and to recreational activities appropriate to his or her age and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts”.
The good. While it is true that it is good for children to do homework in the summer, because it helps them reinforce what they have learned, the amount should be taken into account. And above all, that they can combine the time to share it with friends and family. If the student is weaker in some subject, reinforce it, yes. But the time that experts recommend ranges from 15 minutes to an hour. Of course, reading could be essential for them to continue learning: comics, stories, anything goes.
The bad. They don’t have time to unplug. Spending a few months without touching a book helps them relax and face the next course with more energy and desire. In addition, they feel freer and more motivated to spend their time exploring whatever they feel like. Getting bored also brings out one’s creativity and imagination. In addition, doing homework entails a significant loss of time and results in demotivation, isolation and little interaction with the rest.
What the experts say. In this report from El Periódico de España, the psychologist Rafa Guerrero made it clear: “No, I am not in favor. Children have all the right in the world, after a very demanding academic year, to rest. But not only the right, but the need. In the same article, Francesc Nogales, named best primary school teacher in 2021, joined the same conclusions: “I am in favor of children continuing to learn, but with non-academic activities. More than homework, I would call these activities pleasures. Something as well as seeing a sunset, going to a museum, the zoo, taking a route through the mountains, looking at the constellations at night, sending a letter to a friend…”.
In this other article in EL PAÍS, Eva Bailén, author of How to survive your child’s homework, have no doubts either. He started a campaign for the rationalization of homework some time ago and now considers that both in the summer and during the course, the default option should be that there be no homework: “For me, the height of nonsense is that homework is sent every days, in a general way and the same tasks for all the children. They kill the curiosity to learn and are tremendously unfair. The children who have worked throughout the course, it seems that their effort is not recognized and work with good vacations”.
The concept is increasingly outdated. Many experts also defend a non-traditional vision of the concept of duties that is not so outdated. Many times, the little ones do homework in the summer and then do not receive even the corrections. According to this article from Vivaelcole, pedagogically it is not productive to do a task in which a feedback. In other words, we should not understand summer homework as a booklet that simply has to be filled out. Learning can be done in other ways: traveling, visiting museums, etc. Even playing.
And if we believe that children must fill out these booklets due to force majeure, we can also end up believing that the learning process only takes place at school. And it is not like that.
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