TOP STORY: Homework vital say Bay school principals

Three Bay principals today dismissed a psychologist's claim that homework is useless and causes children to resent learning.
They say rather than providing catch-up work for students, homework encourages good habits and establishes an important link between parents, children and schools.
The principals _ Henk Popping, Heather Ballantyne and Ian Leckie _ spoke out after Dunedin psychologist Nigel Latta criticised homework in primary schools saying it was only given to appease parents, which made children resent learning.
Mrs Ballantyne, Te Puna School principal, said the link between parents, children and schools was one of three key platforms for raising achievement in the Education Ministry schooling strategy.
Choosing to refer to homework as "home-learning", Mrs Ballantyne said: "We would be encouraging our students to be doing a bit of work over a week or a fortnight so they are self-managing. We would set practice work that supports the learning they are doing in the classroom.
"We want our children to be talking about their learning at school and at home too."
Mrs Ballantyne said setting meaningful homework encouraged a routine at home.
Ian Leckie, New Zealand Educational Institute executive member and principal of Tahatai Coast School, said the battle for teachers was to set meaningful homework.
"It can be positive if it's developed in the right way.
"Of course, if the homework isn't done between the school and the family first then it can be a real chore and really hard for parents."
He said parents expect it.
"They are concerned if there isn't an aspect of homework, they want to be involved in learning."
Western Bay Principals' Association president and Otumoetai Intermediate principal Henk Popping said homework had long been debated.
Mr Popping said his students were assigned an average of an hour a night but the work was ``more than just a catch up''.
"We give it to help them develop time management skills and to lead them into secondary school where NCEA requires work at home," he said. "I'd like to see what sort of research basis this is coming from."
Mr Popping said most of his students' parents expected their children to have homework.
"It is a window into the classroom for parents."
New Zealand Educational Institute primary schools' union president Irene Cooper said most New Zealand primary schools find benefits in assigning children homework, despite its academic benefits coming under attack.
"We're not talking about locking them away in a bedroom. Like anything, how you construct it determines whether its successful."
There is no Ministry of Education requirement when it comes to homework.
Both Education Minister Steve Maharey and National Party Education spokesman Bill English supported homework at the primary school level, so long as it was kept in balance with other life activities.
Mr English said with his own children he had found homework helpful to identify gaps in their learning and parents needed something a bit more than a positive school report.
In Australia, a new government junior school has been declared a homework-free zone so pupils can spend more recreational time with their families.
Additional reporting APN