Education Minister Norma Foley is refusing to debate the homework ban issue with Michael D Higgins after the President called for schoolwork outside of school hours to be scrapped.
Instead, she said it is up to schools to decide homework policy, which is at odds with the President’s call for schoolwork to be left at the school gate.
The controversial comments, made on RTE’s news2day children’s news programme, have had the country’s students, teachers and parents debating the issue since the remarks were made last Friday by the President.
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Minister Foley finally broke her silence on the matter last night when she told the Irish Mirror that she was not going to get into it with the President.
She said: “It would not be appropriate for a Government Minister to engage in public debate with the office of the President.
“Currently schools are free to have their own policy on homework and these policies are created in conjunction with senior management and staff, the boards of management, parents and the pupils.
“Schools are in of themselves places where creative pursuits are cultivated, nurtured and encouraged and that creativity may also be reflected in homework.”
Meanwhile, a Government Minister has said that it is “important” to include children in discussions about homework policies in schools.
It comes days after President Higgins’ call for homework to be banned at home and for all work to stay in the classroom.
Irish Mirror readers were also overwhelmingly in favour of banning homework, with 98% of our readers in favour.
In a landslide decision, 57,440 readers voted yes, while just 1,211 voted no.
In an interview with RTÉ’s news2day, President Higgins said that he believed that time at home should be spent doing more creative activities,
He said: “I think myself, really that the time at home, and the time in the school is an educational experience and it should get finished at the school and people should be able to use their time for other creative things."
Minister Foley recently said that her Department does “not issue any guidelines relating to homework being given in schools.
“It is a matter for each school, at local level, to arrive at its own homework policy”.
It followed a question from Fine Gael Minister of State Neale Richmond who asked if research has been carried out by her Department into the benefits of ending the provision of homework for primary school pupils.
He told the Irish Mirror that children should be involved in conversations about their schools homework policy.
Minister Richmond said: “I submitted the Parliamentary Question following a visit to one of my local primary schools.
“The pupils were genuinely interested in the policy relating to homework going forward and I agreed it’s an important discussion to involve pupils in.”
Minister Foley told her Government colleague that the Department of Education has not commissioned research on the matter.
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