Kenny Pieper, an English teacher, conducted research on using shorter, focused homework tasks. He found that completion rates improved when homework was directly related to classroom content and took less time. Reading scores also increased, with many students achieving Level 4. Pieper attributes the improved completion rates and engagement to making homework accessible, regular, and directly connected to lessons. He now uses similar focused homework tasks across his classes.

1. Do shorter, focused homework tasks improve
motivation and learning?
Kenny Pieper, Teacher of English, Duncanrig Secondary
What did you do?
What? I undertook a short investigation into my use of homework in
S2 English. After undertaking research into the effective use of
homework, I adapted some existing classwork and converted it into
short homework exercises. Over the course of two months – January
and February – I recorded both the levels of completion in the class
and also the improvements in Reading scores in the Reading for
Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation element of English.
Who? This was a middle set English class in S2, with thirty pupils. The
class had some absentees and one who was a school refuser, so the
total sample group was regularly about twenty six.
When? I began issuing the newer, weekly homework exercise in the
first week of the New Year in January. Outwith holiday Mondays, one
exercise was issued each Monday until the end of February. I kept a
record of the completion rates and noted down changing attitudes in
pupils over the course of the project. By March, I felt the class was
ready to be assessed in the chosen area – Reading for Understanding,
Analysis and Evaluation. Those results were recorded and compared
to those from earlier in the session.
What has happened?
Our department has a course book which is traditionally used for
Homework tasks. What I found, after research, was that unless these
tasks were directly related to what was being learned in the classroom
at that moment then there would be little impact. Attitudes to homework
were negative and, as a result, completion rates were often poor.
After I adapted homework task to fit what we were doing – short,
targeted exercise – things began to change. I started to see greater
completion rates – I think because the material was fresh in their minds
and because the task did not take long – and pupils were more willing
to discuss the learning done at home. I deliberately constructed tasks
which could be peer marked and which would enable an ‘expert
corners’ task where four pupils a week had the opportunity to share
their ‘perfect’ answer.
At first the completion rate rose slowly. Then, as pupils realised that
they would need those answers to take part in the lesson, the rate went
up. At the end of the trial period it was unusual that there were any who
did not complete the homework.
I think the changes happened for many reasons: firstly, I made the task
accessible both in terms of time and content; secondly, I made it for a
specific day each week and it became a habit for them; but, lastly, and
perhaps more importantly, being honest with myself I began to take
homework seriously again. I began to see that this did have benefits as
Reading scores began to go up. Many of the class achieved Fourth
level reading in S2. For this level of class that was an achievement.
What has been most pleasing is that I've been able to embed the
homework into class work once a week, encouraging a more focused
Talk element with young people who had previously been unwilling to
express their opinions. They engage with each other as a matter of
course now, and I’ve started to in introduce similar tasks in other year
groups.
What are the implications?
At a time when workload is a huge issue in Scottish education, my
enquiry has shown that my time need not be wasted with unnecessary
marking. For one thing, I discovered that much of the homework we
traditionally give to secondary pupils is in effective, even detrimental to
their learning at times. My research has shown that there is a way to
change that.
Using evidence to inform changes can help to change attitudes to
homework, both in staff and learners. Immediacy of feedback, focus on
learning and regularity of habit has convinced me to stop doing what I
was doing in all of my class and begin to shift to this process.
Sharing these findings with Departmental colleagues will be my next
step: sharing with whole school staff will follow.
Why did you do it?
My context: I have worked in my school for twenty years now and it is
the school in which I will probably always teach. There is huge disparity
in family income of the children I teach: very comfortable wealth and
extreme hardship. This makes for constrained teaching experiences as
those who are from homes where learning is valued sit alongside the
very opposite. And, while that brings problems I work in a Department
where high expectations are set for all. We are proud of the attainment
of the young people who are with us. We see homework as a way of
narrowing the attainment gap.
Policy: My school does have a homework policy – for S2 up to one
hour of study a week – but it seemed unclear as to why that hour had
been chosen. If homework is to be effective then we, as educators,
should understand the most effective ways of delivering that.
Literature: What is surprising, according to Hattie, is that the most
effective homework tasks are associated with rote learning or focused
practice. At a time when our teaching methods have been encouraged
to move away form that practice, this makes challenging reading.
Therefore, the tasks I created for homework allowed pupils to focus on
a particular aspect of learning from that week’s lessons. Answers were
specific, concrete and did not allow room for creativity or interpretation.
In my reading, there was also emphasis on the importance of creating
partnerships with parents but this would have been unrealistic in the
time I gave myself for the project.
References
Gonzalez, E. P., and Sanchez Nunez, C.A., (2017) For or Against Homework: A case
Study, The International Journal of Pedagogy and Children, Vol. 24, Issue 4.
Hattie, J, (2013) Visible earning and the Science of How We Learn, London,
Routledge.
Kalenkoski, C. M., and Pabilonia, S. W., (2017) Does high school homework increase
academic achievement? Education Economics, Volume 25, 1, 45-49.
Education Endowment Foundation. (2018) Homework (Secondary).
Contact Details
Kenny Pieper
gw07pieperk@glow.sch.uk
Follow me on Twitter: @kennypieper
How has this impacted on your leadership
learning?
I have been involved in organising and delivering CPD in my school for
some years now but the SCEL Teacher Leadership programme has
brought greater focus to my work. Leadership of Learning is not a
management role but one where each of us as classroom teachers can
develop a small area of expertise and share with our colleagues. It is
about finding that itch which you know, deep down, you are
uncomfortable with and having a closer look.
Undertaking the programme took me back to the GTCS Professional
Standards and asked me to assess where I was in each area.
In particular, I focused on these areas:
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of approaches to teaching and
learning, pedagogy and practice; and
• Develop and apply expertise, knowledge and understanding of
research and impact on education.
We very often become so emotionally invested in our teaching gat it
becomes difficult to take a step away and look at what we do through
another lens. Imagine what we could do if every teacher was given one
hour a week on their timetable to undertake some form of research into
an aspect of their work. Supported collaboratively throughout the year
by a mentor and peers, we could at least create a more questioning
profession; at best, we could transform the landscape of our education
system forever.