Homework of Chinese Students in Hong Kong: School or Individual Students' Problem

• In Event: 18.059 - MTCC Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: 18.059-1 - Challenges in Evaluating Principals, Teachers, and Students

Abstract

Determining the optimal amount of homework is not easy and Asian students have heavy homework. Using a representative sample of 27000 Grade 3, 6, 9 Chinese students in Hong Kong, we examined their time spent on homework/revision and non-academic activities, and how it was related to their academic ability and socioeconomic status. Importantly, analyses of between- and within-school-variance in a multilevel model revealed that students in different schools spent very similar amount of time on homework. Students in the same schools, however, spent hugely different amount of time on homework/revision despite generally being given identical homework. A more targeted help on these individual students spending long hours on homework/revision is more useful in solving the homework load problem in schools.

Authors

• Kit-Tai Hau, Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Jianfang Chang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong