Zug,21.03.2018

Issue of homework not a matter for discussion here

There was no doubt great joy among the pupils (and teachers) in the municipality of Kriens in the canton of Lucerne last week after it was announced that homework had been banned, or integrated into actual lesson time, there. It was in this way that the authority felt no child would be disadvantaged with regard to what circumstances in which homework was previously done, and with what help. What is more, pupils would no longer have their valuable free time infringed on by having to think about homework.

News of this may well have led many children in Zug hoping that the canton here might follow Kriens’ example. Alas, for them, Stephan Schleiss, the cantonal director of education, has ruled out the idea completely; he is not even going to waste any time discussing it. “It is all a matter of it being set in an appropriate way,” he said. “It teaches children to be able to complete something in an independent way and helps them start doing things for themselves, learning too, that there other things which have to be done, even though they would rather do something different.”

It was argued in Kriens that, with a new timetable, pupils were at school for long enough, many being busy in their free time, too, hence the integration of what would have been done as homework being fitted into the timetable.
 
Reacting to this, Schleiss said that he, too, felt free time was important though he felt it was the parents who should rule on this, not the schools. “These days you hear of school children having so many other after-school commitments, such as sport, scouts or guides, music and extra tuition, that they barely have any time left for other leisure activities.

Furthermore, he went on to say that abandoning homework as in Kriens would not be possible in Zug for legal reasons. “At the moment we understand the individual municipalities here could not determine this themselves. The giving out of homework is laid out in regulations,” he said, while adding, “of course, it does not have to be set; but it is part of the schools’ mandate.” Furthermore, he pointed out that under the new “Syllabus 21” system, which is currently being unfurled in the 21 German-speaking cantons, there was no mention of homework being integrated into a timetabled lesson. “All lessons are for being taught or “accompanied learning”,” he insisted. It was mentioned in this article that, in a number of schools asked, abandoning homework was not a matter for discussion, either, though its content and the length of time spent on it were.

The Association of Teachers of the Canton of Zug generally support the view held by the national association, which is striving for free supervised homework sessions whereby suitably qualified staff are on hand to offer help where necessary. Participation would be voluntary, though teachers could insist on it in cases where it was deemed necessary.