WHAT DO THE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS THINK ABOUT HOMEWORK? A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

Abstract

Homework, which is the work that teachers want their students to do outside of school hours, is a highly debated practice today. The purpose of this study was to determine primary school teachers’ views on homework and their homework practices. In the study, phenomenological study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was employed. The study data were collected by interviews conducted with 14 primary school teachers working in the city of Niğde. The data were analyzed by content analysis method. The primary school teachers participating in the study defined homework as a study assigned to reinforce the subjects learned at school that day and to ensure permanent learning. All of the participating primary school teachers gave homework regularly. Almost all of the primary school teachers interviewed assigned research, reading and test homework. All of the primary school teachers who were interviewed used study aids as homework source, and they generally used sites related to education. Teachers had different forms of homework evaluation. While majority of the teachers wanted parents to check homework, more than half of them checked homework themselves and considered homework checking as an absolute must. The study results were discussed and compared with the other study results from the literature, and various recommendations were provided.