This task was to find an issue and inform your Electorate or MP about it.

Hon Sue Ellery BA MLC

12^th Floor

Dumas House

2 Havelock Street

West Perth WA 6005

Dear Hon Sue Ellery

I am writing to raise my concerns about the homework system of  Western Australia.

I am a resident of W.A.  and a senior school student and I am concerned about the amount of stress students are under because of homework.

As you would know, it has been proven by multiple sources that homework creates unnecessary stress. The school system is currently unaware about this or is disregarding it. Homework causes stress to students that find it overwhelming or find it hard to do the homework because it is above their skill level.

According to many sites, the majority of stress students experience is from homework. These sites also say that homework can cause extreme weight loss, headaches, loss of sleep and bad eating habits.  Parents can also experience stress from trying to support the students.

Homework not only causes stress it also causes lack of attention and lack of focus. If a teacher  assigns you homework but then you are staying up all night to get it done then the next day in class, you will have lost focus during the day. Then the teachers get annoyed with you and this may have negative consequences because you aren’t paying attention in class because you had to finish too much homework.

Homework takes up lots of time. You might have homework from multiple subjects you need to do by the next day. You find out that the homework is a lot and then you end up needing more time. Homework takes away your relaxation time where you can get away from schoolwork. Studies show that people with less resting time have more sensitive emotions making them harder to socialize with. This can lead to depression, sadness and a hatred towards school. People doing a lot of homework will have less social skills and more social anxiety.

Research by John Hattie, Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne, has found that homework in primary school has an effect of around 0, as students are completing separate and unrelated projects rather than reinforcing learnt knowledge. This then becomes a problem for the students’ knowledge and understanding.

Some solutions to the problem could be reducing the amount of homework allowed to be given to students in certain age groups. You could also set the homework suited to reinforce the information rather than doing homework that is completely new. Another idea would be to make homework a choice instead of forcing students to do it.

To conclude I am concerned that students are being given to much homework causing unnecessary stress and reducing mental wellbeing of both students and parents. I would appreciate your attention to address this as Education Minister of WA to set policy around this issue.

Your sincerely

Ryan Rakuscek

Ryan Rakuscek | Year 8W| All Saints’ College

Ewing Avenue, Bull Creek WA  6149 | Tel 08 9313 9333 | Fax 08 9310 4726

Email:  Ryan.Rakuscek@allsaints.wa.edu.     

1. What is the project you have been working on?  What are the success criteria for the competition (i.e. how will your video be assessed)?  You may like to include a link to your video at this point (you can upload your video to Microsoft Stream).

We were working on the Sleek Geeks video presentation about change. Our category of change is rising ocean levels.

• How did you organise your group? Did each person have specific roles? Did each person have the opportunity to contribute their ideas?  How would you improve your work in this aspect if you had another opportunity to repeat the project?

We all worked together to do what needed to be done not really having a scheduled or organized role. We just did what needed to be done at that time.

• Did your group have any disagreements? What strategies did you use to resolve these conflicts? How would you improve your work in this aspect if you had another opportunity to repeat the project?

Yes, but we managed to choose the best option that all knew something about I think.

• How did your group manage your time? Did you finish the project on time? How would you improve your work in this aspect if you had another opportunity to repeat the project?

We did finish on time but I do think that we could have used the time given more efficiently to get it done quicker.