homework banned in ireland poll

President Michael D Higgins says homework should be banned in Ireland

The country’s favourite leader believes that school activities should end at the school gate and students should be encouraged to engage in more creative pursuits

10:39, 21 JAN 2023

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President Michael D Higgins has called for homework to be banned.

The country’s favourite leader has given hope to a new generation of students that the bane of their afterschool evenings could be scrapped. President Higgins argues that this would make time for young people to engage in more creative pursuits outside school hours.

The former Arts Minister believes that school activities should end at the school gate. He was speaking to RTE’s news2day current affairs and news programme for children on the occasion of the programme’s 20th birthday.

Read more: Children being 'corrupted' by drug dealing situation in Oliver Bond flats, Dail told

When asked what his opinion of homework President Higgins said: “I think myself, really that the time at home, and the time in the school is an educational experience and it should get finished at the school and people should be able to use their time for other creative things.”

To mark the show’s two decades on air, students from St Kevin’s National School, Littleton, County Tipperary put questions from RTÉ news2day viewers to President Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin. In a wide-ranging interview, the children asked the President questions like, what was your favourite sport when you were in school?

When you were nine years old what did you want to be? And when did you decide you wanted to be President?

The students also asked the President about his dogs, his official trips abroad, his favourite subject in school, differences between now and when he was a child and his favourite book. The President also spoke to the children about his love of handball and the importance of friendship in their lives.

RTÉ news2day will broadcast some of the President’s interview as part of Friday afternoon’s birthday celebrations at 4.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ News channel and the full interview will be available later on Friday evening on the RTÉ Player. In a message to the children of Ireland and the viewers of RTÉ news2day, President Michael D. Higgins gave this advice: “To stay curious about everything and I think it’s important to make sure you don’t miss the joy of sharing information.

“And I think an important thing is friendship and to make sure that there’s no one left without friendship and that people belong. And we will all do individual things... but I think friendships that you make will in fact always be great memories and that is so important. And also have the courage to stand your own ground and let other children be allowed the space of standing their ground too because none of us are the same.

“We’re all unique but at the same time we have a lot going for us.” President Higgins also encouraged the children of Ireland to speak the Irish language.

He encouraged them to speak Irish in a fun way and to feel free to use whatever bits of the language that they have.

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President of Ireland calls on schools to stop giving pupils homework

Children should be able to use time at home ‘for other creative things’, says michael d higgins, article bookmarked.

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Michael D Higgins says schools should not continue after final bell

Schools should strive not to give pupils homework where possible, the president of Ireland has suggested.

In an utterance likely to be seized upon by children for years to come, in classrooms far beyond the shores of the Emerald Isle, Michael D Higgins argued that school should not extend beyond the final bell.

“Time in school … should get finished in school,” the president told pupils at a school in County Tipperary this week during a broadcast for RTE.

Children should be able to use their time at home “for other creative things”, Mr Higgens continued.

Reiterating his point, the 81-year-old president added: “I think as much as possible that [homework] should happen in the school and I think it’s more relaxed than it used to be.”

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Mr Higgins was asked for his thoughts on homework by pupils at St Kevin’s National School in Littleton, during a broadcast celebrating the 20th anniversary of RTE’s children’s news show – viewers of which sent their questions in for the president.

Asked if he had a message for the children of Ireland, the president, who has been in office since 2011, said: “Stay curious about everything. Make sure you don’t miss the joy of getting information.

“And I think an important thing is friendship, and that nobody is left without friendship.”

Michael D Higgins speaks to children in County Tipperary for an RTE broadcast

Suggesting that children of Ireland place “great value” on friendship, Mr Higgins lamented that this makes it even more tragic when there is an “abuse of phones for bullying”.

Mr Higgins revealed that, having started school himself at the age of seven, his love for reading soon saw him decide that he wanted to be a teacher – and he attended teacher training as an adult before going on to spend 25 years in Ireland’s lower house of parliament Dail Eireann.

It is not the first time that Mr Higgins has offered his thoughts on children’s education. Last year, on his 80th birthday, Mr Higgins suggested that yoga should be taught in schools across Ireland.

Research suggests that Mr Higgins’ is far from alone in his views on homework, at least in the UK.

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A 2018 survey of parents by British education regulator Ofsted found that more than a third did not think homework was helpful for primary school children.

Homework is a “huge cause of stress” for many families – and for children with special educational needs or disabilities it can be detrimental to their health, Ofsted was told.

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A young student sitting at a table doing homework on scattered papers and notebooks, with an orange pencil in hand.

POLL — Should homework be banned?

Tell us what you think.

Do I have homework tonight?

That’s the question on many kids’ minds when the school bell rings at the end of the day.

This week, the topic of homework made headlines in Ireland when President Michael D. Higgins was interviewed by students on the national public broadcaster, RTE.

When asked his thoughts on homework, Higgins replied: “It should get finished at the school and people should be able to use their time for other creative things.”

Soon after, some media outlets in Ireland published headlines saying that Higgins called for a ban on homework.

Although a ban isn’t coming anytime soon, it got us thinking:

How much homework do you have?
Would you want homework to be banned?
What about the benefits of homework?

Sound off, telling us how you feel about homework.

Have more questions? Want to tell us how we're doing? Use the “send us feedback” link below. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

TOP IMAGE CREDIT: Mark Humphrey/The Associated Press

Was this story worth reading?

President Michael D Higgins says he doesn't think children should have homework

In a wide-ranging interview with Irish children, the president was asked for his thoughts on homework

15:35, 20 JAN 2023
Updated 11:44, 20 APR 2023

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President Michael D Higgins has called for homework to be banned.

End of homework

Higgins has suggested that school activities should end at the school gates.

A smile is likely to have cross children and teenagers' faces after the president of Ireland suggested that homework should be scrapped.

Higgins argued that getting rid of homework would allow young people more time to engage in creative pursuits outside of school hours.

Speaking on RTÉ's news2day programme for the occasion of its 20th anniversary, children were able to put questions to Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin.

Higgins was asked about his opinion on homework.

The president replied: "I think myself, really that the time at home, and the time in the school is an educational experience and it should get finished at the school and people should be able to use their time for other creative things."

This isn't the first time a political leader has sought to curry favour with future voters.

In March 2022, when then-Taoiseach Micheál Martin was isolating in the US during his St Patrick's Day visit, told the children of Ireland that they could have the day off homework if they did a kind deed.

A message to the children of Ireland

In a message to the children of Ireland and the viewers of RTÉ news2day, President Michael D. Higgins gave this advice: "Stay curious about everything and I think it's important to make sure you don't miss the joy of sharing information.

"I think an important thing is friendship and to make sure that there’s no one left without friendship and that people belong.

"And we will all do individual things... but I think friendships that you make will in fact always be great memories and that is so important.

"And also have the courage to stand your own ground and let other children be allowed the space of standing their ground too because none of us are the same.

"We're all unique but at the same time we have a lot going for us."

To keep up to date with all the latest Irish environment and international climate news sign up to our bi-weekly newsletter

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'Why I believe homework should be banned', by one primary school student

As the discussion around state exams through the Covid-19 shutdown continues, a separate debate about the very need for homework itself rumbles on. Over the years, many have argued that homework for students in busy modern-day family structures is no longer workable.

This year, the Green Party sought to open a discussion about the banning of homework in future. Here, primary school pupil Misha McEnaney, a fifth class student from Dublin, outlines why he believes homework is more of a hindrance than a help.

IRISH CHILDREN SPEND around 274.5 hours on homework in a year. Is it a waste of time? Generally speaking, homework does not improve academic performance among children, although it may improve academic skills among older students especially lower-achieving kids. Homework also creates stress among students who could be doing other things.

I think it is a waste of time. Here’s why I think so.

Many students think homework is extremely boring and hard so it increases our stress levels. You might fight with your family or friends and that gives the impression you are angry and irritated when often it’s just because your homework is increasing your stress.

Also, a study by scholar Denise Pope at Stanford shows that out of 4,300 students at high-performance schools, 60% stated that their homework was their primary source of stress.

Movement is more important

I believe that homework eliminates time when you could be exercising, playing sports, carrying out hobbies, reading etc. So when your friends are playing outside or something exciting or important is happening you can’t go out because you’re stuck inside doing your homework.

Homework messes up your sleep cycles and it causes you to be more tired. After school when you’re tired from working you still have to do your homework, so you don’t deliver your full concentration and that makes your performance not as acceptable as it should be. This can cause your grade to go down and so that defeats the whole point of education to become better and smarter.

A study from teenink.com shows that students perform best in school when they receive 10–12 hours of sleep each night, while only 15% of teenagers in America reported themselves sleeping eight hours or more on school nights, according to the national sleep foundation of America. Sleep disruption is very bad for our health.

Teacher trust

If you’re completely booked up for the day doing sports or other activities you have no time to do your homework. Your teachers start to trust you less and less and this develops a bad view of you when it’s not entirely your fault.

It’s also repetitive so you’re doing the same work at school and there’s no effectiveness, it’s not going in. So all that homework becomes a waste because you have already completed it at school. You can also easily get distracted.

Homework takes away revision time for tests and that can affect the test scores. That develops a bad reputation for the student and for the school. The parents then assume that the teaching at the school is bad and they might move school. So the kid might lose friends and over time the school becomes less liked and popular.

All because there is too much homework.

Bad for the mood

If you don’t sleep enough it can cause mood swings which can affect students’ performance and relationships. To think we can stop all of this by just banning homework makes me wonder why schools still give out homework at all.

People who believe that homework should not be banned have reasonable points and arguments. They believe that doing homework at home can be better for the students and they would receive higher results.

They also think the parents of the students will have an idea of what type of work they are doing in the classroom, at what scale the student is doing their work and how the student is doing that work. There is absolutely no reason why parents shouldn’t know what the student’s work is like.

Some people believe that homework boosts interaction between a student and his or her teacher. Homework might develop their presentation skills. They believe that homework is “a remedy against weaknesses”. These can all be done at school. They believe it teaches the students responsibility because they have to make sure that they do their work and not lose it or destroy it.

They think the students learn much more new information as well as in school. So people think it teaches the students important life skills. They also think it keeps the students busy and entertained. I would argue that these should all be the responsibility of parents, not school.

A shift in the debate

The Green Party in Ireland has promised to explore the banning of homework for primary school children. They also vow to review primary and secondary schools curriculum “to meet the needs of the 21st century”. Catherine Martin, deputy leader of the Green Party, said that “the phasing out of homework is something that definitely should be explored”.

“This isn’t new, this has been on our policy for the past several years. And I think we really need to have a conversation on how best to develop the creative juices of our children, or really change how we do homework, homework could be, ‘go home and draw a picture of something that means a lot to you’,” she said.

“They’re so young, especially up to the age of seven or eight, it’s a conversation that we need to have”.

She used the example of Loreto Primary School in Rathfarnham, Dublin, which is currently trialling a “no-homework” programme for all classes except sixth. Ms Martin said that they had found the pilot scheme “amazing” and children were spending a lot more time with their families as a result.

Mental health considerations

Psychotherapist Mary McHugh believes that we are reducing children’s natural “curious, imaginative and creative” tendencies by “pressuring them to conform”.

“Our children from the age of three, are being trained to sit still and from five upwards, it’s expected that this is the norm.” McHugh also says that “stress is showing up at an alarming scale and we’re still applying more pressure academically younger and younger”.

Let’s look at Finland. In Finland, there is no homework in all schools. Finland agrees that there should be no homework because it increases stress, it wastes time etc. Finnish students regularly top the charts on global education metric systems.

Some 93% of Finnish students graduate from secondary school compared to 75% in the USA and 78% in Canada. About two in every three students in Finland go to college which is the highest rate in Europe. The students’ test scores dominate everyone else. These are the scores for the PISA test (Program for International Student Assessment) 2006. There are other reasons why Finland’s education system is so good but no homework is definitely an important one.

Homework increases stress levels among students. It replaces time for hobbies and sports. It messes up your sleep. It can’t always be done and that causes trouble. It’s repetitive. You can develop health problems from lack of sleep.

It takes away time for studying and also when you don’t get enough sleep you can get mood swings and that can affect performance and relationships. There are reasonable arguments for why people who believe that homework shouldn’t be banned are wrong.

We have seen that the Green Party also thinks that homework should be banned and that some schools have already trialled it. We have looked at Finland banning homework and we have seen the impact it has made compared to other countries. This is why I think homework should be banned, not just in my school but in all schools.

Misha McEnaney is a fifth class student at St Mary’s College, Rathmines, Dublin.

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No plans to abolish homework, says Minister Foley

Kat O'Connor

Do you think homework should be scrapped in Ireland?

Minister for Education Norma Foley has said she has no plans to abolish homework in Ireland.

The Minister commented on the issue after President Michael D. Higgins suggested recently that homework be scrapped so that children could pursue “other creative things”.

But Foley does not agree, stating that it is up to each individual school to set its own homework policy.

“It would not be appropriate for a Government Minister to engage in the public debate with the office of the President,” she told the Irish Mirror .

Foley added that schools can make their own homework policies and that it is not up to the Government to scrap homework.

“These policies are created in conjunction with senior management and staff, the boards of management, parents, and the pupils,” she explained.

“Schools are in of themselves places where creative pursuits are cultivated, nurtured and encouraged. “That creativity may also be reflected in homework.”

While appearing on RTÉ news2day to mark its 20th anniversary, the President of Ireland was asked by students from St Kevin’s National School in Littleton, Tipperary his thoughts on homework.

“I think myself, really that the time at home and the time in school is an educational experience,” he responded.

“It should get finished at the school.”

“People should be able to use their time for other creative things.”

In regard to homework, many parents feel it takes up too much of their children’s time during the evening.

However, others argue it helps kids make more progress in school and that it benefits their communication and reading skills.

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