Creating students who are good at learning independently is an important task for any teacher. However, at my school, Uppingham Community College, we identified that by year 11 many of our students were not equipped with the skills needed to successfully revise and study independently at home.
In turn, this was affecting their progress, most notably with the sub-group of middle prior attaining boys. We wanted all our students leaving us as confident, independent thinkers.
At this time, we were also reconsidering the merits of our homework approach and how we could improve its impact. Homework had become an “add-on” in certain subjects with some ineffective tasks set, an inconsistent monitoring approach, and some disengagement from teachers and students.
It seemed an ideal opportunity to unite our approach to both homework and independent study, utilising how they complement each other to make them effective. Consequently, we established three primary aims:
- Consolidate learning from lessons through a range of homework tasks.
- Create effective independent learners at all ages.
- Raise attainment.
We planned to achieve these aims through three strategies:
- To redesign our homework system across the school.
- To explicitly teach independent study skills and build them into our curriculum.
- To establish opportunities for students to demonstrate and practise their independent study skills (such as via the Higher Project qualification).
Our current homework policy had been in place for many years. It dictated the amount of homework each subject should set as well as when. In reality, the policy was rarely followed because it did not align to curriculum plans or teaching priorities.
When teachers did try to follow the schedule, inevitably homework was set “because they had to”, resulting in not very useful activities. In contrast, there were missed opportunities to set meaningful homework because it “was not the right time”. This needed to change.
The research into homework
Research into homework is varied, showing many perceived pros and cons. However, the Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit cites effective secondary homework as providing, on average, five months’ additional progress (EEF, 2021).
In Visible Learning, Professor John Hattie’s research into the merits of homework finds the effect of homework on student outcomes is 0.64 at secondary (significantly higher than the 0.15 at primary) highlighting that when done well, homework is valuable and should be kept (Hattie, 2008).
In addition, the highest effects are associated with deliberate practice tasks which reinforce what students already know. Furthermore, there is an optimal time per night for students to spend on homework which increases with age.
This research provided affirmation that linking our homework approach to developing independent learning would be a valuable exercise.
Developing homework as effective for everyone
The next stage was to canvass the views of staff and students to ensure that whatever we developed met their needs. I presented the research to our middle leaders to facilitate the discussion. Some of our staff had been keen for us to stop homework altogether, citing the monitoring of it taking up a disproportionate amount of their time for little perceived value.
However, I had given them a flipped learning task to do before the meeting – namely listening to an episode of the SecEd Podcast focused on how to make homework effective (SecEd, 2022) – and this convinced most that when delivered well, homework was vital for our students.
From the subsequent discussions, middle leaders identified three requirements in order for homework to work for them:
- Flexibility with frequency.
- A robust centralised monitoring system.
- Flexibility with the range of tasks set.
I also met with our student council to see what experience they had of homework across subjects. Interestingly, their astute comments largely echoed the research findings of Dr Cathy Vatterott (aka the “Homework Lady”) who has identified five fundamental characteristics of good homework (2010):
- Purpose: All students must understand homework and how it is relevant to their studies.
- Efficiency: Homework should not take a disproportionate amount of time.
- Ownership: Homework must offer some choice over task.
- Competence: Students should be able to complete the work without teacher support.
- Inspiring: It should be a well-designed task.
In particular our students said that they disliked finishing classwork as homework and also didn’t like it when they did not get feedback on homework.
They thought quizzes, online learning platforms and completing GCSE past papers were the most meaningful homework tasks – fundamentally all tasks that consolidate knowledge.
The culmination of these discussions led to the development of a new approach across the school.
From a rigid policy to flexible guidance
We introduced a homework guidance document which included five key areas:
- Purpose of homework
- Aims
- Expectations (both of students and teachers)
- Where homework would be set (online platform)
- Subject-specific homework statements
Crucially the subject-specific statements allowed staff to stipulate the purpose of homework in their area, when it would be set, the types of tasks that subjects use, time recommendations, and how it will be acknowledged.
This guidance also made clear that there would be a centralised monitoring system led by our pastoral team to address any on-going student homework concerns.
This was then presented to staff in a whole school training session alongside the rationale behind the change. Because of the work I had already done with our middle leaders in shaping this guidance, the changes were positively received.
Embedding our new homework approach
After the initial launch further staff training was provided on how to effectively use a variety of homework strategies focusing on deliberate practice – notably quizzing, online learning and practice questions.
Links were made to our existing Feedback for Learning guidance (I have written about our feedback for learning work previously in SecEd), training staff on how to give more effective and instant feedback to students which was also manageable from a workload perspective.
We have a regular after-school session called Embedding Curriculum Provision, which is dedicated planning and preparation time for teachers to work collaboratively and create curriculum resources. We focused a number of these sessions on designing appropriate homework tasks which were closely aligned with department schemes of learning.
This allowed for homework tasks to be meaningful and relevant to what the students were learning at any given point, but also created centrally to share expertise and workload.
Monitoring the impact of this new homework approach is on-going using data generated by our reward and behaviour systems, learning walks, book checks, and student voice. Initial findings show a positive shift with higher homework completion rates, greater student choice over task, and a rise in the quality of homework completed.
Making study skills an integral part of our curriculum
Alongside our work on homework, we continued our focus on developing our students into independent learners by:
- Developing a home-school partnership.
- Promoting the importance of having a space to work at home.
- Teaching students how to critically assess information and where to look for it.
- Motivating students by showing them the impact of independent study on future success.
- Setting small tasks initially to build learners’ confidence, offering feedback and praise.
- Providing a range of tasks with some element of student choice.
- Developing subject knowledge skills in conjunction with generic study skills, e.g. time-management, organisation, planning, communication, note-making.
Our students had asked for study skills to be taught both explicitly and earlier on in their secondary education. Our personal development programme offered an excellent opportunity to deliver these skills, starting in year 7 with an introduction and working up to specific revision strategies needed for GCSE. This was complemented by certain subject areas which built these study skills into their curriculum.
I also created a dedicated series of form-time sessions delivered by year 10 and 11 tutors focusing on revision skills which further embedded independent study. This was enhanced by an Additional Curriculum Day during year 11 where students spent a day practising their independent study and revision skills with a range of strategies modelled to them.
Parent workshops on “Independent study and how to revise” were also delivered so that parents could see the importance of their child developing these skills and how to support them at home.
And independent study skills were also embedded within our careers approach across the whole school. Every subject regularly explores the study skills linked to career pathways in their area through a range of lesson resources, classroom displays and trips.
Finally, I reassessed our approach to delivering the higher project qualification in year 11. Previously, it had always been reserved for our most able students, but with the increased focus on study skills across the school it was appropriate to open this up to any student in year 11 who was interested and had a suitable independent topic they wanted to explore. This has led to a much more diverse and inclusive cohort with minimal impact on attainment levels.
Final thoughts
Homework will always cause mixed opinions but making it more effective is key to maximising impact. I would recommend the following:
- Involve your staff and students in exploring what you need homework to achieve in your school context.
- Explicitly plan to embed study skills into curriculum areas, exam revision programmes, personal development, and careers. Use tutors to help deliver content.
- Model independent study – start small in year 7 and build up so that students are confident by GCSEs.
- Promote the value of independent study to both parents and students.
- Celebrate independent study success, such as in assemblies, lessons, newsletters, displays.
- Teach a variety of independent study strategies and offer students a variety of tasks.
- Actively seek out recognised enrichment opportunities for independent study including the higher project and subject competitions.
Clare Duffy is deputy principal (teaching and learning and CPD) at Uppingham Community College in Rutland. Follow her on X (Twitter) @ClareHDuffy
Further information & resources
- EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit: Homework, last updated 2021: https://bit.ly/3oYWpHZ
- Hattie: Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, Routledge, 2008: https://visible-learning.org
- SecEd Podcast: Making homework effective, 2022.
- Vatterott: Five hallmarks of good homework, ASCD, 2010: https://bit.ly/3NB54tX