Parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards homework at one elementary school in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Homework has become a subject of a long-lasting debate among educational stakeholders including parents, teachers, students, school administrators, and policymakers around the world. A group of stakeholders believes that homework is crucial for enhancing student learning and building students’ study habits, while the other group runs counter emphasizing that homework diminishes student engagement. The purpose of this study is to explore teachers’ and parents’ perspectives about homework at a selected elementary school in Kazakhstan. The research disclosed elementary school teachers’ and parents’ homework development and assistance practices based on the main research questions 1) What are elementary school teachers’ perspectives about out-of-class assignments, and 2) What are the attitudes of elementary school students’ parents towards homework? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five elementary school teachers and five parents.....