Your education questions answered by Brian Mooney

I want to give my daughter all the support she needs, but her teacher spoke to a group of us recently about parents' tendency to do the homework for their children. Could you outline some ground rules for parents around homework?

Every school will have its own policy in relation to homework. Similarly, every home should have one. The best policies are those that are worked out jointly, between all interested parties. The key is to establish a routine and stick to it. If you have concerns about your child's progress, or if there is a persistent problem for your child in doing certain homework, you should always discuss it with the teacher.

Some helpful tips

The following tips might help:

• Agree on a set time for homework with your child. Give them some element of choice for example homework is done between 5.30 and 7.30 each evening, but the children start and finish at a time of their choosing, within that time frame.

• When you've made decisions together, stick to them until they need to be reviewed. This applies to everything, not just homework issues!

• Make sure they're sitting comfortably at a table

• Be consistent. Discuss, monitor, check and sign homework every night if possible, but at least very regularly. Better to spend five minutes every night than to leave it for three weeks and then spend two hours!

• The child should be encouraged to complete the homework, working independently

• Try to avoid confrontation with children over homework. If you're getting impatient, it's best to stop and try to come back to it a little later

• Allow children to make mistakes. Rather than correct them all the time, encourage them to find and correct their own mistakes. Children must be able to accept that making mistakes is part of the learning process and it's important that they are willing to go back and try a different method or approach.

• If your child is having genuine difficulty, try to help them, but don't exceed the allotted time. Make contact with the teacher, explaining that your child worked honestly for the allotted time. If you can, point out the child's specific difficulties.

• If you display undue anxiety about children's schoolwork or homework, it creates tension within the child. Acknowledge and respect their effort, honesty and enthusiasm.

The benefits of homework

Homework will tend to have a specific purpose and will be given consistently, in small quantities. It is extremely useful for a number of reasons:

• It acts as a form of communication between school and home

• It allows you to see how your child is progressing in different areas

• It helps to develop the child's self-discipline

• It helps a child become an independent learner

• It is helpful to revise or reinforce work done in school

• It may be used to finish work that was begun in school

Don't judge your child's teacher by the amount of homework they give. Valuable school time can be used ineffectively if too much homework needs to be corrected.

Some time guidelines on a class-by-class basis

The infant classes will not get homework. Parents of children in the infant classes are always encouraged to read stories to and with their children as often as possible, to play games with them (not necessarily educational games) and even watch television with them.

In first and second class, 20 minutes a night in one or two subject areas, with a little reading, should be sufficient. In third and fourth class, this goes up to 40 minutes and typically, in fifth and sixth class, homework time will not exceed one hour.

• Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. E-mail questions to bmooney@irish-times.ie