Parental help with homework does not help elementary students

Many parents help their children with their homework. Moreover, such an experience is welcomed by some educators, who believe that children do better because of this, and parents participate in their education. But is it? Researchers at the Pennsylvania State College of Education studied the issue and found that parental support does not have a significant impact on children's grades in elementary school, reports Technoblender , citing the Journal of Research in Childhood Education.

The work, based on two large representative datasets, did not find a statistically significant association between parental homework assistance and student achievement in math and reading. Moreover, the result did not depend on the level of education of parents or the level of academic performance of the child. The authors of the study name three reasons that nullify parental assistance.

Firstly, most parents do not have pedagogical skills, and as a result, instead of teaching the child to learn, they offer him a ready-made answer. It undermines the learning process itself. “If the goal of homework is for the child to practice some skill or knowledge they learned in school, then it is lost when the parent does the work,” the researchers explain.

Secondly, the intensive daily participation of parents in homework can increase the stress of all family members. Parents can put too much pressure on children, and this leads to conflicts - between parents or between parents and a child.

Finally, parental support can create a sense of delayed responsibility in children and prevent them from acquiring time management skills. This is all the more relevant because elementary school is the acquisition of not only knowledge, but also skills and habits.

What may be helpful is a discussion of issues related to the school.