Growing piles of homework still an issue in Toowoomba
FRANCE'S plan to ban homework for children under 11 has hit home in Toowoomba as children face mounting workloads to keep up with a new curriculum.
Mother and Toowoomba Home Tutoring director Jayme Salmon said children as young as four were taking up out-of-school instruction.
It was a new trend, she said, directly linked with the state-wide adoption of the Curriculum into the Classroom (C2C) last year.
"It has only happened in the last year or so - the students are just getting younger," she said.
"Parents are faced with a problem.
"Kids are getting more and more work to do and the standards have been raised.
"If your child is not going to keep up without extra help, there's really not much of a choice."
The French debate is not limited to a ban on homework.
The president has also vowed to add 60,000 new teaching jobs within the next five years, the idea being that homework should be done within school hours.
It all centres on a theory that homework benefits the rich who can afford private tuition while lower-class children are not given the option.
Mrs Salmon, whose four-year-old daughter regularly engages in afternoon reading and counting lessons, said that did not seem feasible in Australia.
She said there was a fine balance that needed to be made between getting parents involved in their child's education and allowing kids to learn through playing.
"I've been tutoring for 10 years, but the students are getting a lot younger," she said.
"Getting that attention at home or with a tutor definitely improves their grades, but it can also have positive effects on their behaviour.
"They get the one-on-one attention with us that they can't always get at school unless they misbehave.
"If they're getting that attention at home, they don't need to try so hard in the classroom."
