Bestie as I call her; a 4-year old nursery 1 pupil, comes home with a note from the teachers telling us about the class project for the mid-term – she is to make a mat using cardboards. The twins get home with a huge project of theirs too- go to a police station, interview a police officer, learn the vocabulary they use in the course of their job, take a picture with that police officer (in uniform) and then, submit your report to school. I can go on with the list of projects given to nursery and primary school pupils which really look like a project for parents.

I had the privilege of attending the Parents-Teachers forum of a few schools and one recurrent discussion in many of those meetings was the homework and projects- are they for parents to do or the students to do? Parents spend an awful amount of money on textbooks and notebooks, yet they find that they have to make a budget for internet subscription for their children’s homework as nearly every homework comes with ‘googling’. It is almost like, why buy textbooks if the internet is the text for school work?

What is the place of homework and projects in education? 

Homework is that part of school work that is to be completed at home. Usually started in school, the aim is to strengthen the child in the areas where he is weak or ensure the child has a firm understanding of a newly taught concept. The child is supposed to be able to do his homework alone! Should it require the help or supervision of an adult, the same should be communicated to the parents via the communication book. 

Homework could be used as feedback, feedforward, or as an assessment. The teacher is usually the initiator of any of these and the student’s response helps the teacher to get the required indicators for what she intends the homework to achieve. Parents’ interfering with this process hampers the integrity of the process as the teacher may make the wrong assumptions about his/her student’s capability.  

Should the child have homework every day? 

Age specificity, time and timing, curriculum compliance and a good knowledge of the student are key elements of an effective homework. Some scholars argue that for reinforcement, the teacher needs to continue giving the same work until the child learns the lesson. For instance, a child who is being disciplined to sit and read may be started on 30 minutes daily, if the required goal is 1 hour. And with strategic increase over the course of the term, the child will achieve the set target. 

Did you know that the students in the same class must not go home with the same type of homework? Students do not have the same struggles or weaknesses even though they are in the same class. While some may need to do extra work in arithmetic, some may need to do more work in reading. 

Homework is a tool that helps teachers reach their students individually. It allows students to work at their pace, finding their own rhythm while building a strong connection between teacher and student. The ability to tell the need of a child and meet that need successfully is possibly one of the highest callings of the teaching profession. And if teachers were given the liberty to carry out their duties as they ought to, or held to the expected standards of teaching, students would be the most benefited. 

Have we talked about ‘projects’ yet?

One of the projects I remember very well from my J.S.S 2 class was one given to us by Mrs. Ifeoma Edoziem. She told us, “When you get home today, don’t finish your eba. Take a little portion out of it, place it in an empty milk tin, cover it with a transparent nylon, and hold the nylon in place with a rubber band. Puncture a few holes in the nylon for air. Watch the eba every morning and evening. Write down your observations at the back of your integrated science notebook. Please bring it to school next week Tuesday- that will be our test.” 

We carried our rotten eba in the empty milk tin to school, with the housefly metamorphosing in different stages of its life cycle. The mould on the rotten food had changed colours- and you dared not bring your nose close to it. This bit also formed our major class prank for that whole day because unsuspecting classmates were made to catch at least a whiff of the very pungent odour by the class pranksters. The lesson here? Not one item needed for this project was bought, yet it was an amazing and fun learning experience which I still fondly remember. 

Back to our opening story, Bestie had her mat done by Aunty Jennifer who only used it as an opportunity to relive her J.S.S 1 class days. The process was long and required the use of sharp objects, steady hands and some accuracy. Bestie’s role in the assignment was only as the inspector who came around to say “beautiful” a few times. As a matter of fact, the responsibility for carrying her mat to school was Aunty Joy’s. That same project is yet to be turned in by some of her classmates.

For the twins, we met a police officer who would pass as a patient lecturer. These were his words, “Madam, for this project, the school needs to write a letter to the Nigeria Police Force. Then a date and time will be fixed for the students to visit the station. The police photographer would be the one in charge of the pictures or the school can organise an excursion to any of our stations. With proper documentation, I am sure they will be granted the permission to visit”. We are yet to submit this project.