Expert studies in this area did not reach consensus about the benefits of homeworks on pupils' education so far. And, no research has ever previously charted the homework load in the Czech Republic in comparison with other countries, nor what factors (schools, teachers, pupils) affect it, says the latest analysis published by the IDEA think-tank at CERGE-EI.

The findings of the study based on data from surveys among pupils in the 4th and 8th grades at school in natural sciences and mathematics show that Czech pupils are rather underburdened with homework in comparison with those in other countries. Both in the Czech Republic and globally, there is a marked difference between mathematics and natural sciences: pupils are given approximately one third more homework tasks in mathematics and these are approximately one third longer than those given in the natural sciences. In the Czech Republic, teacher, school and pupil characteristics only explain 5% of overall difference in homework load.

This study's findings reveal that Czech pupils have a very low homework load in comparison to pupils from other countries. (This, however, does not mean the pupils should be given more homework, as there is no evidence that greater homework loads automatically improve learning outcomes.)

>> Read full study by IDEA CERGE-EI.

Look also at online maths and STEM learning developed by VSB-Technical University in Ostrava