July 2004    Home Truths

Homework-filled evenings might fill the average pupil with dread, but according to a survey by stationery retailer Staples, 50% of pupils don’t think they are getting too much extra work.

A survey, which examined children’s attitudes towards school, reveals the truth behind the subject of homework. When questioned about the amount of homework given the vote was surprisingly a 50-50 split, with half of the children believing they get too much and half believing they get too little. And whilst 45% of homes now have a home PC, three quarters of school children said they still complete their homework on paper, revealing that the homework set by teachers is still mainly paper based.

“Homework is certainly a hot topic with pupils,” comments Donna Chappelle, Marketing Manager at Staples. “But rather than objecting to it, most of the schoolchildren we questioned wanted to suggest ways of improving it.”

85% of schoolchildren would like to be given more practical homework tasks, changing the emphasis from essays to experiments, which would help to involve parents and make working at home more fun. The pupils also believe incentivising homework with prizes for the best work would make it more challenging and competitive. A quarter of students said they wanted better access to resources and equipment in the classroom.

Although technology might be seen as somewhat limited in the classroom, modern technology has certainly entered the school playground, with 50% of students, aged 10-14, admitting they own a mobile phone. Three quarters of school children believe they should be allowed to bring their mobile into school, although 20% of respondents suggested limitations on their use, such as “only for emergencies”.

All of the students revealed they use text on their mobile phone. Three quarters of those send less than 10 texts a day, with 25% sending between 10-20 texts.

Surprisingly letter writing remains popular within this age group, with 25% of pupils having written a letter in the last week and 65% in the past 12 months.

When it comes to keeping in contact with friends and family the telephone is still the norm for 90% of pupils. Although, email is growing in popularity - 40% of pupils named it as their preferred choice. And whilst text messaging satisfies keeping in touch with friends in school, only 10% of students said it was their preferred method for staying in touch with their close family.

“The study illustrates that despite the technology boom, students appear to be surprisingly traditional,” comments Marketing Manager at Staples, Donna Chappelle. “Although most students envisage schools in the future will have access to increased technology, 75% of students believe that school children will still be using a pen and paper in school in 25 years time”.

Further findings from the research indicated that being hip, cool and good-looking are not the top priorities for today’s 10-14 year olds. Three quarters of school children stated they would rather be clever than cool.