HOMEWORK POLICY

AIM

The mission and objective of the homework policy is:

to test a learner’s understanding of work that has been done
to make learners independant and responsible
to encourage self-activity and also to guide learners towards being able to do a task independently
to provide a controle mechanism for the educator to determine which learners need attention and help
to teach learners to be conscientious at all times and to promote neatness
to equip learners with crucial skills that they may need in future, e.g. exposure to reading up and research
to act proactively regarding class work
to create space for tasks that are impracticable in class to be done at home

PARENT INVOLVEMENT

There should be prior consultation with parents regarding what the school’s homework policy involves.
There should be regular contact between parent and educator to determine the degree to which the parent should be involved in terms of helping with homework, e.g. accessing resources for assignments, etc.
Record should be kept of the parents who support their children with their homework and the issue should be taken up with those who do not pull their weight and they should be motivated to participate.
Each parent should sign his or her child’s workbook regularly in order to stay in touch with the educator and to stay informed regarding the child’s work.
Parents should show a keen interest in their child’s homework and also carry the responsibility for the completion of the homework.
If the parent is illiterate a family member should step in to help the learner.

IMPLEMENTATION OF HOMEWORK POLICY

Not doing homework is regarded as an offence and doing homework can be rewarded.
Exceptions in special cases such as sickness, death and other unforeseen circumstances should be taken into consideration.
Time should be set aside for the marking of homework.
Record should be kept of whether homework has been done or not.
Homework assignments should vary with a view to sharpening different skills, e.g. research, summaries, practical tasks, etc.
Parents who do not perform their responsibilities regarding their child’s homework should be contacted and the matter should be taken up with them.
If homework has not been done, the reason should be determined. Consequences for intentional non-completion should be:

IMPLEMENTATION IN GRADES

GRADE 1 – 3

GRADE 4 – 7

The subject policy determines the volume and level of homework in the specific learning areas.
There should be coordination between learning areas regarding homework.
Homework should display progress between grades – it should become gradually more advanced and independent, which includes visits to the library, research centres, etc.
Educators should give clear instructions regarding assignments, in order to enable parents and learners to know precisely what the assignment involves, with clear and specific reference to resources.
There should be differentiation between the different grades.

LEARNERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES REGARDING HOMEWORK

Each learner should have a special homework book in which to record each day’s homework.
It remains the learner’s responsibility to ensure that each day’s homework is recorded correctly.
It remains the learner’s responsibility to ensure that his or her homework bok is signed.