Smit, F., & Driessen, G. (2009). Parental involvement in their children’s homework in Dutch primary schools. Paper 7th International Conference of the European Research Network About Parents in Education (ERNAPE), ‘Diversity in Education’. Malmö, Sweden, August 26-28, 2009.

1. ERNAPE 2009
Parental involvement in their children’s
homework in Dutch primary schools
PAPER
7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE EUROPEAN
RESEARCH NETWORK ABOUT PARENTS IN EDUCATION
Symposium : HOMEWORK IN A WORLD OF DIVERSITY
MALMÖ UNIVERSITY
August, 2009
Frederik Smit, Geert Driessen
ITS – Radboud University Nijmegen
The Netherlands

2. ERNAPE 2009
Background:
Homework in the
Dutch education system
• CURRICULUM: Homework is an integral part of the
curriculum for older students in primary school and for all
students in secondary school.
• POLICY: No national policy: each school is free to
formulate its own policy, so there is much diversity.
• PARENTS: Parents are encouraged to be
partners/supporters in homework: parents as
partners.

3. ERNAPE 2009
Research questions
• What are (innovative) policies regarding homework and
partnerships of schools with parents in primary
education in the Netherlands?
• What are the outcomes of these efforts?
• What recommendations can be given on the basis of the
present research?

4. ERNAPE 2009
Design
1. A review of the literature.
2. A websurvey among school leaders
(3000 primary school leaders were contacted via e-
mail in the beginning of 2007, which resulted in 504
fully completed questionnaires).
3. Case studies in two major cities
(Rotterdam, Almere, 2008).
4. Analyses.
5. Reporting.

5. ERNAPE 2009
The aim of the survey
• The analyses of the survey results were aimed at
primarily gaining insight into parental involvement in
children’s homework, and the policies of primary schools
with varying numbers of disadvantaged pupils to optimize
parental involvement and participation.
• In addition, the results provided the input for the
subsequent case studies.

6. ERNAPE 2009
The aim of the case studies
• Gaining a picture of the functioning of the different forms
of cooperation between schools and parents in relation to
homework.

7. ERNAPE 2009
Main results:
Parental involvement in children’s homework
Policy and expectations of teachers:
• Regular reading at home is encouraged.
• Homework is part of schoolwork.
• Parents take responsibility for the students’
schoolwork in their home situation.
• Parents help the student do their homework
(checking & testing).

8. ERNAPE 2009
type of parents
middle and high-
SES
native, low-
SES
immigrant, low-
SES
reading (aloud) together 87 89 88
playing together 53 59 63
talking about school 67 67 71
testing homework 62 57 53
visiting library together 65 72 76
helping with homework 56 57 50
watching tv together 24 27 31
checking breakfast 22 24 32
Parental involvement in children’s
homework

9. ERNAPE 2009
Problems in the relation with
immigrant parents
• Communication problems
between parents
and school.
• Parents don’t have time.
• Immigrant parents
who are illiterate,
have had no or little
education and no
knowledge of the
(Dutch) education system.

10. ERNAPE 2009
Role immigrant parents regarding
homework
Expectations and wishes of teachers:
• LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: good learning
environment at home.
• NORMS AND VALUES: collaborative
relationships regarding norms and values.
• COMMUNICATION: two-way communication
flows between families and school.
• ATTENTION: more attention to discipline and
structure.

11. INET ROUNDTABLE NEW YORK 2008
State-of-the-art
• HOMEWORK SUPPORT SERVICES: an increasing number
of (private, commercial) homework institutes support
homework activities.
• HOMEWORK ASSISTANCE: recently, an increase of
homework assistance projects are carried out for students
from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• HOMEWORK SUPPORT NETWORKS: an increasing
number of self-steering networks of immigrants that support
homework activities.
• ‘HOMEWORK-FREE’ SCHOOLS: teachers of primary school
in some cities support the students at school with the making
of homework.

12. ERNAPE 2009
Concept Traditional concept Homework-free concept
Homework
Tasks requested by teachers and performed
by students outside school (Cooper, 2001)
Whole-Day School:
nearly all tasks performed by
students inside school
(extended schooltime)
Role parents Parents monitoring, support and help their
children at home, involving older siblings,
extended family, friends
Students stay more hours at
school: parents have more time
for their own activities (work,
schooling)
Support
homework
activities
Private and commercial services and
networks for students and parents
Teachers supervises their
proper completion
Dealing with
discussions
and
controversies
‘Parent rooms’ in the school, to discuss
homework problems (homework load,
tensions in the family and between teachers
and parents) and to give support if needed
The workload of teachers
Differences between schools with a traditional
concept and a homework-free concept

13. ERNAPE 2009
Conclusions
What can be learned?
• Homework institutes: positive if schools have an idea
of what happens and how it is done. Negative side:
extra work load for the children.
• Homework assistance projects and self-steering
networks that support homework activities are totally
depended of volunteers. Problems mentioned are for
the most part organizational and financial. It appeared
that one cannot always build on them (attendance,
keeping agreements, executing activities).
• The new homework-free schools are popular,
because the students’ own teachers are involved and
are often the counselors themselves (high quality).

14. ERNAPE 2009
Recommendations
How to continue?
• Greater emphasis on ‘new learning’
(innovative forms of learning w. ICT),
asks for new forms of homework
policies.
• In developing and optimalization a
true partnership between parents
and school it is important that
teachers and parents have a shared
vision on homework and parental
involvement.