DO YOU HAVE ANY DIFFICULTIES WITH YOUR
HOMEWORK?
Introduction
My name is Anjuma Kabir and I’m doing a research project on how often
do you have difficulties with your homework. I chose this question
because I wanted to find if anyone has any difficulties and doesn’t want
to share it with anyone or they might have a problem, and by doing this
research I think children will share their difficulty and it will help towards
their work.
METHODOLOGY
I gave out 24 questionnaires in total, to 11 males and 13 females. . I gave
out 12 questionnaries to year 3s and 12 year 6s.
I also conducted 11 in-depth interviews in total. I interviewed 4 children
from year 3 and 7 from year 6
QUESTIONAIRRE
HOW OFTEN DO YOU HAVE DIFFICULTIES WITH YOUR HOMEWORK
My name is Anjuma Kabir, I am in year 6 at orchard school. I am doing a research
project on homework and I am interested in how often and what kind of help
children get on school and home work. Please answer truthfully, and also your name
will not be mentioned in the research.
[please circle]
Are you
Male or
Female?
What year
are you in?
Do you like
doing your
homework?
How
difficult do
you find
your
homework?
What sort
of
homework
do you like
doing?
Who do
you go to
with your
homework
when you
need help?
How much
time do
they help
you?
What sort
of work do
they help
you with?
Male
Female
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Other
Yes
Sometimes
A bit
No
Not at all
Other
Easy
Sort of
easy
Very easy
Difficult
Sometimes
difficult
Very
difficult
Art
Maths
Geography
English
[spelling
e.t.c]
Other
Mum
Dad
Sisters
Brothers
Nobody
Other
5 min
10 min
15 min
20 min
25 min
Other
English
Maths
Science
History
Geography
Other
ANALYSIS
HOW DIFFICULT DO YOU FIND YOUR HOMEWORK?
This was the first question I asked. The results were:
EASY 29 %
SORT OF EASY 33%
VERY EASY 0%
I think this shows us that the homework that children often get is not too
easy for them because nobody ticked the ‘very easy’ box. It might not be
good that children see homework as easy. 62% still thought that the
homework that they got was ‘easy or sort of easy’. I wonder if children
will do their homework quickly and they won’t learn anything? Then it
would be necessary for teachers to know this, because they could give out
the suitable homework to the right children.
Also nine children chose the categories
DIFFICULT 8%
SOMETIMES DIFFICULT 25% and
VERY DIFFICULT. 4%
I think homework should sometimes be difficult because you would learn
more and actually remember what you had done, because children would
need to make time to think about what they have done and what the
answer would be. Only 25% said that homework was sometimes
difficult, which is a high percentage, but it could be higher.
Only 4% said homework was very difficult. This shows that children
understand what their homework is asking them to do. This is important
because they need to complete and succeed at doing their homework.
In my interview children seemed to like homework that was not too
difficult and not too easy.
For example, Alex from year 6 said homework ‘it’s not easy, it’s not
difficult – it’s in the middle’. Others said they like a challenge. Michael
in year 3 said ‘I think it should be more difficult than it is, because I
always get it right’. But for other children it is hard. For instance Salma
in year 3 said ‘It’s very difficult for me because sometimes I don’t
understand things. But she also said: ‘If it’s hard, I feel excited and
nervous too’.
NUMBER OF CHILDREN WHO LIKE DOING HOMEWORK
I wanted to find out the number of children who like doing
homework. The answers were intresting because 16 people chose either
YES
SOMETIMES or
A BIT
Only nine people chose
NO and NOT AT ALL
This result it shows that more people like doing homework than the
people who dislike homework.
Usually the children I know hate doing homework when it is given out. I
wonder if children thought that they had to say they liked doing their
homework
Micheal said that he likes doing homework because ‘it’s fun and it gets
you better at writing’ (Year 3)
WHAT SORT OF HOMEWORK DO YOU LIKE DOING?
The results were that lots of children chose Art. 34% of children liked
doing Art
I think that they chose it because it is a subject which they find easy to do
and they enjoy doing it in a fun way, also it is not as difficult as the other
subjects.
Maths was the second. 31% chose Maths as being best for them
Jess said that he likes maths homework.
The rest of the subjects had pretty much the same results. 10% chose
geography, 7% chose English and 4% chose other.
WHO DO YOU GO TO WITH YOUR HOMEWORK WHEN YOU
NEED HELP?
Mum 45%
Dad 21%
Sister 4%
Brother 14%
Nobody 17%
For this question 13 people chose that their MUM helped themwith their
homework. I think that might be because that is the only person they
have or is available to help them.
In comparison, not as many chose DAD, SISTER or BROTHER. This
may be because of family matters or they are busy or they are just not
available.
With having nobody is quite concerning because their homework will
not be completed and also they’ll be in serious trouble in school.
Salma in year 3 has learning difficulties, and when she can’t do her
homework, She explains, ‘I have a helper, and if I can’t do the homework
I bring it back to school and I use cubes to help and see what the answer
is’.
Another boy from the same year group explains that nearly everyone in
our class goes to homework club. But David is in the same class but he
said that he does not go He said:
‘I can’t go to homework club because my mum can’t pick me up from
school because I have a baby sister’. He doesn’t usually get picked up
from school and if he went to homework club, he would have to get
picked up from school, because it is later.
Other children said sometimes they can’t get help from parents because
parents are too busy. For example they have to look after younger
brothers and sisters or because their parents have their own homework.
David said ‘My mum gets college work’.
HOW MUCH TIME DO THEY HELP YOU?
5 minutes 42%
10 minutes 17%
15 minutes 8%
20 minutes 4%
25 minutes 17%
Other 13%
Results for this question was that most parents spent only 5 minutes with
helping their child.
5 minutes is not enough but there may well be other reasons such as they
don’t have much time or they just do not want to help, or the children do
not need that much help.
It was interesting because even in my indepth interviews children said
that they did get some help with their homework. But it seems that even
though parents can help children I think that they give the answer rather
than spending time explaining. This might explain why they only spend
five minutes with their child.
Also, from my interviews a lot of children said that if they do not
understand their homework then they bring it back to school. I think that
if it is homework they should not really bring it back into school because
it is meant to be done at home. Although some children do then take it
back home to complete.
For example Katie from Year 6 said ‘sometimes if it is too hard I’ll leave
it and take it in (to school) the next day to find out what I’m supposed to
do and then I can take it back home and finish it off’.
Katie said that she can ask both parents, but sometimes they cannot help
her and that is why she has to ask the teacher.
Micheal in year 3 said that his Mum and Dad help him for a bit but then
they go on to helping his brother. He also said, it takes him a minute to do
five sheets of Maths homework!
WHAT SORT OF HOMEWORK DO THEY HELP YOU WITH?
Maths 42%
English 24%
Science 11%
History 3%
Geography 3%
Other 13%
Lots of children chose Maths, for this question. It could be a possibility
that the five minutes that children get help with homework could be with
Maths.
English was the second highest answer. I think this subject takes longer
to complete than Maths because there is more reading and writing to do
In the interviews the children said that when they get more help, it is for
literacy. For example
Interviewer: How much time would they help you roughly?
Alex: it would depend what the subject is
Interviewer: Say it was Maths and it was a certain times table or English?
Alex: Maths about ten minutes and English about 25 minutes to half and
hour
Lynette: Maths five minutes and English 25 minutes
Lisa: About twenty five minutes for both.
History, science and geography were roughly the same and their was also
a little amount of children in each which chose one of these subjects
probably because they do not tend to get homework for these three
subjects as much, unless it is finishing of.
Interview transcripts
Katie: K
Jane (LA) J
Anjuma: A
Adult: Ad
A: Do you like doing your homework?
K: Sometimes
Ad: What does that mean?
K: It depends what subject it is, whether it is hard or not. I prefer to do
literacy, because maths is hard.
J: Maths is hard
A: What kinds of things make it hard do you think?
J: loads of questions
K: you get loads of questions and you have to do them in a certain
amount of days and it’s really hard, because you get loads of questions
and some of them you don’t get. We get maths hwk every week.
Ad: When do you get it?
J: I get it on Friday
K: Because I’m in the middle group, I get it on Wednesday we have to do
it by the next Wednesday.
J: I get a week as well.
A: The next question is how difficult to you find doing your homework?
K: It depends again, because it can be hard
J: and you have to get an adult to help you.
A: Who do you get to help you?
J: My mum helps me with literacy and my dad normally helps me with
my maths.
A: Does he?
J: yeh, because my mum doesn’t like Maths.
A: Is it the same for you?
K: yes. When I’m at my dad’s, if I am at my dad’s, then he helps me
with maths. My mum helps me with English.
A: How does she help you?
K: If I get stuck then she explains stuff to me.
A: Is that how your mum helps you?
J: Yes.
K: My dad’s really good at maths, because he gets it from his granddad.
Ad: Is granddad quite smart at maths?
K: yes.
A: Do you think homework should be difficult?
Ad: That’s an interesting question.
J: It shouldn’t be too difficult because it might be frustrating
K: You just give up sometimes
A: Have you ever given up?
K: Sometimes, if it’s too hard then I’ll leave it to take in the next day to
find out what I’m supposed to do and then I can take it back home and
finish it off.
A: Can you usually ask parents for help, if you can’t do it?
K: Sometimes.
A: Sometimes can they not help you?
J: If they’re busy.
K: yeh
A: Sometimes can they not help, because they do things differently?
Does that sometimes happen?
K: yeh
A: Do you think you’re learning anything if the homework is easy?
K: No, because if it’s too easy it’s not a challenge
J: Then you’re not really learning anything.
A: Should it be too easy?
K: Some bits.
J: It shouldn’t be that difficult.
A: What sorts of things do you like doing?
J: Literacy
A: What is it about literacy that you like doing?
K: I like writing and drawing and you get to do that in your literacy
homework.
A: What do you like writing?
K Poems
A: what kinds of poems do you like writing?
K: Like rhyming ones.
A: Do you write them at home, even if it’s not a homework
K: Yes,
A: What do you write about
K: All sorts of things
A: Have you ever written a poem about your sister or.
K: Yes.
A: Do you read them out?
K: No I keep them to myself
A; Do you have a stack of poems at home?
K: No (starts laughing). Because my sister is 2 and she goes into my
room and wrecks things.
J: I like literacy because you get fun activities like rhyming and fitting
words into sentences.
A: Do you like reading homework?
J: no, not really.
K: no
A: Do you get reading homework?
K: Sometimes, it depends.
A: Do you like it when you have finished your homework?
K: Yes, because it’s over and done with.
A: Who do you go to for help with your homework?
K: My mum and dad
J: Normally my mum.
A: How much time do they help you?
J: It’s just if I find it difficult, it will be five minutes.
K: Ten fifteen minutes.
A: D they sometimes sit with you?
K and J: Yes
A: What would you change about homework?
J: I don’t know
K: I would change some of the bits if it was too hard, because if I don’t
understand it I will take it into school, but if I still don’t understand it
then I will change it
J : Not get it every week, to get it every two weeks and then after school
we can do other things and not our homework. I could play out with my
friends.
A: Do you like it when the homework is easy?
K: I like homework when it is in the middle. If it’s easy you don’t learn
and if it’s hard it’s too hard
A: Does you teacher help you?
K: yes.
Two year 6 boys
Sultan: S
John: J
Anjuma: An
An: Do you like doing homework?
S: I don’t like doing homework and I have a bit of difficulties with doing
homework but sometimes it’s easy
J: I kind of like doing homework if it’s something that I can do.
An: What sort of homework do you like doing?
J: I like Maths.
S: I like , probably maths
An: What subjects do you like at school?
S: English, Maths, PE and ICT
J: ICT, maths. I don’t like English
S: I hate Science
J: yes, so do I. History is alright and the other three are alright.
An: cool. How difficult do you find your homework?
S: Out of what?
J: I find it quite difficult.
An: Do you find it difficult sometimes?
S: Out of ten I’d say seven.
An: Do you find it easy?
S: yes
J: Sometimes it’s hard.
An: do you find it proper hard? You need really bad help. It depends
what it is really, what subject it is.
S; Maths . I can get on with Maths. It’s English I find hard.
An: Who helps you with homework?
S: My sister
An: and no one else?
S: my sisters and my mum
An: Who helps you?
J: My mum helps me sometimes when I need help. Not all the time
S: yeh, not all the time.
An: How long do they help you for?
J: 5 to 10 minutes.
S: Yes, 5 to 7 minutes.
An: Do you need help say with Maths with just one question or with
every single one?
J: Certain ones. With Maths when we get sheets If we got Science then I
would need help.
An: How much time would they help you with Maths?
J: I love maths, even though it’s hard for me.
S: It depends really. 4 or 5 minutes and with English about 7 minutes.
An: What about other subjects like Science and Geography?
J: We only do English and Maths. We just watched TV for Science.
An What homework do you like doing?
J: Maths
S: maths and English
An What would you change about homework?
J: None at all.
An: Easier?
S: It depends. If it’s hard then easier and if it easy then more of a
challenge.
AN: Do you think homework is a bit too hard for you?
S: No it’s alright
An: Is it too much for you? Do you get frustrated?
S: No it’s alright.
AN: Do you prefer it to be easy or hard?
J: Easy so you can do it straight away to be honest.
S: but you’re not going to learn anything if it’s easy?
J; If it’s easy then we’re not going to learn and if it’s hard then we’re not
going to learn.
S: I like a bit of a challenge.
An: Do you like it when you complete your homework?
S; yeh, you can just get it out of the way
J: Then you can do other things.
An: Do you like it when it is easy or when it is hard?
J I like it when it is middle.
S: I like it when it is middle
An: Thanks, that’s all I need.
Interview with three year 6 girls.
Alice
Lisa (Li)
Anjuma (An)
Lynette (Ly)
An: Do you like doing your homework?
Alice: A little bit. It depends what it is.
Li: I like homework. I like Maths
Ly: I like maths
An: How difficult is it for you Alice?
Alice: It’s not easy, it not difficult. It’s alright.
Ly: Maths is easy for me.
Li: Sometimes I find it a bit difficult for me. I ask my dad and
sometimes my mum, if I need help.
Ly: My mum and my dad
Alice: I ask my mum.
AN: What would you do if they were not available?
Li and Ly: Work it out myself.
Alice: I’d come to school and ask the teacher to help me.
An: How much time would they help you roughly? Five minutes or ten
minutes?
Alice: It depends what it is
An: Say it was maths and it was a certain times table, or English
Alice: Maths about ten minutes and English 25 minutes to half an hour.
Ly: Maths five minutes and English, 25 minutes.
Li: About 25 minutes for both.
An: Do you feel happy when your homework is finished?
An: Do you ever feel frustrated when your homework is hard?
Li: Yes
An: What would you change about homework if you could?
Alice: I’d change it so that it’s only those who can’t do it actually get a
homework, because otherwise you know what you’re doing and you have
to spend half an hour doing it.
An: You mean get a one hard and one easy choice?
Ly: Yes
An: What are your interests in homework?
Li: Neatness
Alice: Tidy. How it’s laid out.
Ly: How neat it is.
An: If your homework is too easy, do you think that you’re learning
anything?
Alice. No
Ly: No
An: What would you prefer, hard homework or easy or in the middle?
Alice: middle
Ly: hard.
An: What would you do if you couldn’t do it and your mum couldn’t do
it and you brought it to school and you still didn’t understand.,What
would you do?
Li: Take it to ms sugdon and tell her.
An: Would you give up?
Alice: If the teacher says don’t bother doing it, then I wouldn’t bother
doing it. I’d explain it to my mum and dad and see if they can do it.
An: Ok .
End of interview.
Focus Group interview with four children from Year 3
Anjuma’s third transcript
Two boys and two girls.
Michael: M
David: D
Jess: J
Salma: S
Anjuma: An
Adult: Ad
An: Do you like doing your homework?
All: Yes
Aq: Just speak one at a time.
An: Why do you like it?
M: Because it’s fun and it gets you better at writing.
An: What kind of homework do you like doing?
M: I like doing timestables and anything Maths.
J: I like Maths homework and I don’t always understand the English.
Sometimes.
S: I like Maths and literacy
An: Do you have anyone to help you with your homework?
J: My mum
S: Sometimes my mum, my sister and my brother.
M: My mum and dad help me sometimes but I mainly do it on my own.
An How much time do they help you?
M: They help me for a second and then go on to help my brother.
Ad: How old is your brother?
M: He’s five.
An: Do you think homework should be more difficult?
M: I think it should be more difficult than it is, because I always get it
right.
An: Do you think it should be easier?
J: When we are bigger, in year 6 it is supposed to be hard.
S: It’s very difficult for me because sometimes I don’t understand things
Ad: What do you do?
S i have a helper at school and I get some cubes and see what they
number is.
Ad: So if you can’t do your homework, you bring it in and ask your
helper to help you.
M: No
D: We go to homework club
M: Nearly everyone in our class goes to homework club.
D: I can’t go to homework club because my mum can’t pick me up from
school then because I have sister.
Ad: How old is she?
D: She’s just over one years old.
Ad: Does she pick you up from school?
D: She doesn’t actually.
Ad: So does everyone go to homework club?
D: Nearly everyone does. But I don’t. I didn’t really like it and I go to
self-defence now.
J: I like it
S: I’ve never been to homework club.
An: Would you like to go to homework club?
S: Not really.
J: I like it because Mrs Rowland helps us and we get some cubes and we
get some colours and some pens and rubbers.
M: I go to Mrs Rowland on Mondays.
S: That’s homework club
An: Why do you go there?
M: I don’t know. When I get there....I’m doing with Abigail and
Toby.....
Ad: Are you proud of it?
M: Yes
AN: If your homework is easy, do you think you’re learning anything?
M: no. We usually do the work at school and then we leave a day and
then we do it for homework. But the whole of my class get it right. We
have it at school on Wednesday, we miss Thursday and then we have it
on Friday. Say we’re doing times tables then we leave a day and then on
Friday we do it for Homework. It’s quite easy. I would like to do one
thing and then leave it a couple of days and then do the same thing in a
kind of different kind of way. Harder numbers.
Ad; When your homework is hard, how do you feel?
M: I feel alright actually, because it makes it feel more fun.
S; I feel like I’m getting the hang of it sometimes.
Ad: Do you feel good when you feel like you’re getting the hang of it?
S: yes
Ad: If it’s hard how do you feel?
S: If it’s hard I feel excited. and nervous too. I just try my best. that’s
what Mrs Rowland
J: I like doing homework when it sometimes hard.
M: I prefer if when it’s hard because I learn more stuff.
J: I think we should get middle homework
M: you learn more stuff if it’s harder.
D: I would go with him
An: In different stages?
J: We get it in stages.
D: We get it in stages.
S: I like doing puzzles.
An: Sometimes when you’ve got homework and it’s hard and you need
some help, but your mum can’t help you - why is that?
S: Because I’ve got a baby sister
D: Yes, because I’ve got a baby sister.
M: I’ve got a brother.
J: Maybe they’ve got their own homework to do.
D: my mum gets college work
M: my child minder goes to college.
S: my mum might help me when baby goes upstairs and then mum
comes down then she might.
M: My dad goes on courses every week
D: My dad doesn’t live with me.
J: My dad is in Africa.
Ad: Is there anything else you want to say about homework?
M: There’s something I’d like to say. Can they put less sheets for
homework. Sometimes we have five sheets. We should just get three or
four. It takes a lot of time. It takes me like a minute to finish it all,
because my mum doesn’t help me.
S: I never do my literacy
Ad: Why don’t you do it?
S: I don’t know. I end up forgetting about it.
Ad: And then what happens when you come to school?
J: I have to do it at school.
Ad: Does your mum sometimes remind you? Don’t forget to do your
Literacy?
J No because she thinks that i’ve done them both because I said I would
but then I fell asleep
S: I don’t understand them. Then my mum tries to help me. With some
cubes.
J: My mum just gets some pens.
Ad: I remember seeing your picture.
J: I speak Somali, Swedish and English
(Boys get distracted)
S: I speak Punjabi and English.
Ad: Great!
An: I think we’ve finished. Thankyou for helping us.