Girls spend more time on homework

Pupils in the first year of secondary education spend an average one and a half hours a day on their homework. Most of this time is spent on maths, English and Dutch. It takes girls about one and three quarter hours to do their homework, about quarter of an hour longer than boys.

Average time spent on homework

Pupils in prevocational streams spend an average one and a quarter hours on their homework, while higher stream (havo) pupils devote an average one hour and forty minutes a day to schoolwork at home. In all streams of education, girls spend more time on homework than boys.

Although one in five pupils think that homework takes up a lot of their time, most pupils consider they spend neither a large nor a small amount of time on schoolwork.

Six out of ten pupils start their homework within an hour of coming home from school. At the weekend most homework is done in the afternoons. Sunday afternoon in particular is a popular time for homework.

Parents hardly help their children with homework

In the first year of secondary school, most parents hardly ever help their children with their homework. Over 80% only do this a few times a month at the most. Parents rely on their children to complete their homework on time. Over 60% consider homework to be their children’s own responsibility, while 16% of parents check their children’s homework at least a few times a week.

Parental involvement with homework

Parents of girls in the first year of secondary education more often feel that their daughters spend enough time on their homework than parents of boys in the same year. Girls also less often have to be prompted by their parents to do their homework than boys, who have to be checked and encouraged relatively frequently.

Sabine Lucassen