Parental involvement in 'homework' does it help children achieve their school based targets - Essay Example

vidence shows that different elements of parents’ involvement provide a cognitively stimulating home environment which reinforces parental beliefs and aspirations (Feinstein et al. 2006: 301). The proposed project aims at producing a comprehensive and reliable research on the relationship between parental involvement in homework and its impact on pupil achievement. The investigation looks into the parent-child relationship in terms of parental support, family learning, parental involvement and parents’ level of education and pupil achievement.

Parental involvement in early intervention programmes has been found to equate with better outcomes for the child. Most effective interventions involve parents in pre-school children’s cognitive development. Play and fun and scope for physical activity seem to produce most effective outcomes. Parents’ self esteem is very important in determining long term outcomes for both themselves and their children. The objective of this research project is to identify if parents that are involved in their children’s homework will promote the achievement of their school based targets.

This will be accomplished by identifying the current guidelines on homework and why do parents get involved. A portion of this research will be my own analysis of my practice as a parent in the contribution of homework. A plan will be devised on how best to support a child with their homework by considering a number of strategies as suggested by Hoover-Dempsey et al (2004). To conclude the study there will be examination of literature with a personal opinion. Homework, especially for primary age pupils, has become the subject of an increasingly heated debate.

There are opinions in favour as well against the practice of homework. Despite government guidelines that primary school pupils should do at least 30 minutes of homework a day, some unions and academics doubt its efficacy, and protest that the home lives of pupils are becoming increasingly