Leon Furze

I’ve taught across a range of subjects and year levels for over fifteen years, and I’ve always been a bit dismissive when it comes to homework. It probably goes back to my own days as a student, when I did everything in my power to avoid doing work outside of school. Back then, I surreptitiously finished my homework in other classes (finishing my Maths in English, my English in Art, and my Art while sitting out PE because I’d “forgotten my shorts” again). But if I were a student now, I’d probably be using the AI in my pocket to hammer out tasks on the walk home.

The recent release of GPT-4o, with free access to OpenAI’s improved capabilities in text generation, image recognition, and code interpretation, has only confirmed what I’ve suspected all along: the days of traditional homework are well and truly numbered.

A welcome end to homework

In some circles, excessive homework has been viewed as a badge of honour; a sign of a student’s commitment and dedication to their studies. The same has been said of office culture, lauding staff who “put in the hours” and “go the extra mile”: both generally code for unpaid overtime. But as we’ve learned more about the realities of workplace culture and mental health, it’s become clear that this approach is a one-way ticket to burnout, resentment, and a terrible workplace culture. And yet, despite this shift in perspective, many schools are still piling on the homework, especially for our senior students.

I wrote a post about this on LinkedIn, and it seems like a lot of educators share my position:

Let’s talk about the numbers. Some senior students in Australia are expected to complete 3-4 hours of homework per class, and complete 4-6 different subjects. That’s up to 24 hours of additional work per week outside of regular school hours. Twenty-four hours beyond the seven hours a day in school; basically a part-time job on top of a full-time job. We wouldn’t take that from our bosses. So why do we expect it for our kids?

A broken paradigm

Some in the comments argued that homework is necessary for students to develop time management skills and take responsibility for their own learning. Those are certainly valuable skills, but let’s be clear – there are way better ways to encourage independence and self-motivation than through mind-numbing worksheets and comprehension questions.

Parents might see homework as a chance to sit down with their kids and get involved in their learning; certainly an important aspect of schooling. I’m all for parental involvement, but not at the cost of a student’s well-being or their ability to just be a kid. Plus, let’s be honest – the students who really need that extra support at home are often the ones who aren’t doing the homework anyway.

And now, we can add the fuel of Generative AI onto the burning tyre-pile of reasons why homework should be cut back, or gotten rid of entirely. Here are a few common types of homework that students can complete in under 30 seconds with a chatbot:

1. Worksheets and other busywork
2. Reading comprehension questions (e.g., 25 questions from Chapter 6 of To Kill a Mockingbird)
3. Memorisation or rote learning tasks without context
4. Short and long written answers, and any kind of essay
5. Assignments that are just leftover classwork in disguise

What stays, and what goes?

While it’s easy for me to reflect on my own antipathy towards homework and say “get rid of it all”, there are certain societal, parental, and systemic expectations that mean it wouldn’t be quite so easy in practice. As a head of faculty, I faced a lot of barriers to removing homework including from leadership, staff, and parents.

But if students are expected to work outside of hours, we need to set some clear boundaries. Some schools already do an excellent job of this, only allowing work to go home which contributes to subject mastery, or which the students are genuinely engaged in. Some students might also actually want to continue learning particular subjects or disciplines outside of class. But they cannot be arbitrary tasks, easily gamed with GenAI. Here are a few examples:

1. Reading for fun and leisure
2. Hands-on, practical activities that brings classroom concepts to life, especially if they also involve parents
3. Passion projects and independent research
4. Practicing and rehearsing skills, like playing an instrument or speaking a foreign language
5. Anything the student is interested in, and independently chooses to pursue further

So long, farewell

Homework, as it currently exists in most schools, is a relic of an outdated education system that values rote learning, competition, and high-stakes testing over genuine understanding and growth. With the rise of AI tools like GPT-4o, it’s no surprise that students are turning to these technologies to help them manage their workload and reclaim some of their precious free time. Most young people have got better things to be doing than pretending to care about my English homework.

As educators, it’s our job to face the, sometimes brutal, realities of the world we work and teach in. That means ditching busywork and focusing on creating engaging, meaningful learning experiences in the classroom: we’re going to have to work harder than ever to convince young people that some skills are worth learning and not offloading onto AI. By cutting back on homework, we can give students the time and space they need to pursue their passions, spend time with family and friends, and grow into well-rounded human beings.

I regularly work with schools, universities, and faculty teams on developing guidelines and approaches for Generative AI. If you’re interested in talking about consulting and PD, get in touch via the form below: