ABSTRACT
Homework has traditionally been defined in very narrow terms and surrounded by ambivalence about its purpose and effects. Research and development work carried out in Scotland in the early 1990s suggested that bridging the hiatus between learning in the classroom and at home could make learning more meaningful not only to children but to their parents. When the profile of homework was raised a number of national initiatives followed, the most promising of which has been ‘supported study’, a vehicle for addressing the needs of the most disenfranchised group. One of the unexpected benefits of supported study has been to offer a ‘laboratory’ for teachers to learn about how children learn and how they might be taught more effectively in and out of school.
