Who Can Help a Student to do Their Homework? Reflections on the Knowledge and Beliefs Used to Support Students in Their Individual Work

Abstract

This article examines a homework assistance scheme implemented in French secondary schools since 2017, and more specifically the characteristics of the staff members who supervise these sessions. The present study highlights considerable diversity both in the practices observed, but also in the types of knowledge and beliefs held by the homework assistants. In particular, it seems that the supervising staff rarely has all the a priori knowledge necessary for teaching. This leads us to wonder about the qualities required to be able to support a student in their individual work, and to consider whether or not it is essential to be a teacher in the subject in question to be able to help with completing homework.