A Narrative About Homework in Primary Education – the Perspective of Pedagogical Staff

Abstract

Abstract The paper discusses the issue of homework in primary education in Slovakia. It attempts to contribute to uncovering the homework narrative that is created and used by its teaching staff and to relate it to the discourse on homework and its place in education in the Anglo-American environment. The research used content analysis of the written products of 30 participants (teachers, educators in children’s school clubs, and teacher’s assistants). Data processing and analysis were carried out by thematic analysis. The results, concentrated in four topics, showed that the homework narrative in primary education is based on homework support. It clearly resonates with the teacher’s expectation of the involvement of the pupils’ parents in its completion. However, it is without the methodical support of the parents from the school. Part of the discourse is also the teachers’ prescription taking into account, particularly, the appropriate number of tasks, their attractiveness, an individual approach when assigning them, and the comprehensibility of homework for all persons involved. Such a setting should reflect potential inequalities between pupils concerning their family background. The narrative revealed details the semantics of school-family relations and the pedagogical strategies of teachers in primary education.