AN INVESTIGATION ON THE VIEWPOINTS OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND PARENTS ABOUT HOMEWORK IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

The study aimed to scrutinize the viewpoints of primary school teachers, students, andparents about homework in various parameters such as types, frequency, subject and functionsof homework. In the study, the case study design based on the qualitative research method, wasutilized. The participants comprised 32 teachers, 36 fourth-grade students and 28 parents fromdifferent primary schools in Erzurum, in the east of Turkey. The data were collected via semistructured interview forms, and were processed using the content analysis method. The findingsof the study released that although all participant students, most teachers and parents saidhomework increased the academic success, a closer look in to their responses to differentinterview questions illustrated that all of the participant groups also had some negative opinionsabout the homework in primary schools. The students reported that the most homeworkcovered problem-solving tasks, and the least was practice with musical instruments. Themajority of students stated that they were given sufficient amount of homework every day. Itwas also found out that the most popular subject of the participant students was math and theleast favored one was music.