English and Swedish year one teachers' perspectives on the role of homework in young children's learning of number

Gosia Marschall, Judy M. Sayers, Paul Andrews

Abstract


This paper draws on data from semi-structured interviews undertaken with year one teachers in England and Sweden. The broad aim was to explore how teachers construe their own and parents' roles in supporting year one children's learning of early number. The role of homework within those efforts, surfaced as a key theme. The two data sets were an\-a\-lysed independently by means of a~constant comparison process and yielded perspectives that were, cross culturally, both similar and different. The similarities related to the importance teachers placed on the role of homework in supporting children who struggle academically. The differences were several and included teachers' views on the necessity, or even the desirability, of homework, the purpose of homework, the role of parents in the completion of~homework and the nature of the tasks set. The results, which are discussed against the literature, highlight the extent to which teachers' perceptions of the role of homework in support of young children's learning of number are culturally determined.

Keywords


early number, early mathematics, homework, year one, comparative education

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