Some schools in Dubai are ditching homework to allow pupils to “have a life” and ease the demands placed on parents, The National reports.
Three school operators in the emirate, Arcadia Education, Taaleem and Ambassador Education, told The National they have either stopped the age-old practice or limited the amount of work children are asked to do at home at a number of their schools.
Instead of completing work at home, often with the help of parents, schools have allocated time within class hours for studies to be finished under the supervision of teachers.
The education trend in Dubai follows a global movement spearheaded by countries such as Finland that have worked to limit the number of hours pupils spend on homework.
At Ambassador International Academy in Dubai, children do “homework” within school hours and are given time twice a week to ensure tasks are completed.
Graham Beale, executive principal at Arcadia School in Dubai, said levels of homework are a common source of frustration among parents.
“We asked parents what are the things they find frustrating when designing our curriculum and one of the things they mentioned was homework,” he said.
The school has classes until 4pm and has built in time for homework and enrichment in terms of coaching and training.
Children are provided with two to three hours time every week to complete work, which otherwise would be done at home.
“This is more targeted and pertinent than just sending some work home as the homework is done with the teacher,” said Mr Beale.
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Dubai schools drop homework to allow pupils to ‘have a life’ (The National)
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Graham Beale, executive principal at Arcadia School in Dubai, said parents have voiced their concerns of the amount of homework pupils have to contend with. Satish Kumar/ For the National
