ABSTRACT
Parents’ attitudes towards homework are not static; they change depending on political, economic, social and educational factors. As a result of this, research on homework can only be understood taking account of the cultural and historical framework within which it was undertaken. In the late 1990s, in the Western world there was a major focus on raising educational standards. As part of the drive to achieve this, attention focused on homework; governments issued guidelines to schools about the setting of homework and encouraged parents to take an active interest in their child’s school work. As the pressure on schools to improve attainment has risen, the amount of homework set has increased, to such an extent that in Australasia parents’ groups are now campaigning to review the setting of homework, arguing that there is no evidence that students benefi t from the practice and that it has become an overbearing invasion of family life. In Japan, education has long been highly valued, and, for entrance to prestigious universities, which facilitate future high status employment, it is also highly competitive. Parents therefore view their child’s educational progress as of critical importance and aim to support their offspring as best they can, providing a supportive learning environment at home in the earliest stages of education and paying for attendance at Juku (cramming schools) or for home tutors as children progress through school. As a
result of this, Japanese children spend a great deal of their time engaged in studying, to such an extent that it has had a negative impact on their attitudes towards school and (in some cases) their mental well-being. This has led the Japanese government to implement strategies to reduce children’s stress and anxiety, including abolishing school on Saturdays. These examples illustrate how parents, schools and governments periodically renegotiate the relationship between state and family with regard to the time that children spend engaged in education. Views about homework provide a sensitive measure of the state of that relationship in a particular place and point in time.
