If you have chanced upon this blog article but you haven’t had the opportunity to read Parts 1 & 2 by the same name, then we strongly suggest that you begin there. If, however, you have understood the syndrome of ‘work refusal’, know what it can look like, what can cause it and what to avoid if faced with that situation, then read on!

This final article serves as the silver lining – it covers strategies, tips and techniques that we have tried, read about and heard from others as good practices. Note, that the suggested strategies should NOT be considered as a magic wand. They are meant to be support ideas, so treat them as interventions techniques that you can try in helping kids refusing to work, to and get them back on track! Bear in mind that they might take time to work or some may not work for a particular learner. There is no one-size-fits-all formula; it is all about finding what works best for you and your concerned learner.

Here’s what you CAN DO:

• … give them ‘wait’ time. When a student refuses to work at first, often times all they need is a little wait time. It’s okay to let them have their head down or keep their arms crossed, briefly. Give some time and wait to see if they come around within 5 minutes or so.
• … turn a blind eye to small misbehaviour. If a student crumples up the paper, breaks the pencil, or scribbles all over the paper, avoid the immediate desire to tell the student off or that they shouldn’t do that or give any further instructions. When things like this happen, the student is basically seeking attention with negative behaviour. One trick that will help in this instance is just giving space, letting them know they are there but not focusing on the behaviour.



• … continue teaching. Just because a student doesn’t have the pen/pencil in hand and is not taking notes or writing, doesn’t mean they’re not listening and learning. A good idea would be to continue teaching, talking, and even involving that student if they want to participate in the discussion.
• The ultimate goal is to educate the student, NOT force them to work. Our duty in the classroom is to offer opportunities for learning so we should just keep at it – with our plan.
• … focus on building ties and bonds. For many kids, relationship is everything. We could try putting the work aside for a bit and spending time with the ‘work-refusal’ student during lunch break, or talk with them after class, and really just get to know them. Tell them about you as a person, by sharing your challenging moments at their age. Once a bond is built between a teacher a child, many students have a much easier time working for that teacher, because they know the teacher cares. This isn’t a quick process, but it’s super important and worth the time and effort for their long-term success.



• … help them to understand the goal and how to proceed. Sometimes students refuse work due to social and emotional challenges, but other times it might be because they think the work is just too hard for them. Analyse the situation and see if the student needs guided, personalised assistance with reading, comprehension, writing, or math.

  Sometimes learners might even need step-by-step direction for executional functioning. You can help them get started and work through challenges. Where necessary, consider discussing the student with the Special Educator or School Counsellor to get some ideas and strategies.

• … apportion the larger tasks into smaller work packets. Another cool way to get students to work is to allow the student to choose the problems they will finish for a start OR which 1 question out of the 3 essay questions, they were ready to show us the next morning. Some of our colleagues did argue that this made life too easy for the students and it seemed unfair, when viewing the totality of the class deadline.



• … communicate with the student privately. When meeting with a student who is struggling to complete work, the most important thing is to just listen! Talk to the student, ask them what’s going on, and problem-solve about how you could help him/her. It is important that this personal meeting no be considered as a punitive measure.

  One could try with, “I noticed your morning work isn’t finished, where can I help you?” Try to avoid interrupting the child’s sharing with your own thoughts / point of view / assumption about what’s happening – just let the student first talk. In our experience, we were amazed with some of the responses we got – “… because of a seating arrangement next to a noisy classmate; … haven’t been getting any sleep at night due to a crying younger sibling; … failed to make it into the school sports team.” By being open-minded and by listening we were able to problem-solve with many students.

• … try logical consequences (prepare for them in advance). Logical consequences are outcomes from behaviour that make sense. For example, if a student is refusing to finish their morning work, a logical consequence would be using some break time later in the day to finish at least 3-4 questions or sending it home as homework to be done later.



• … prepare the student in advance with the consequences. Consequences shouldn’t be a surprise to the student. The students with work completion challenges must know ahead of time about consequences in a positive way, sans anger. We preferred to create this awareness with the whole class, by saying something like, “Everyone needs to finish their work so we can finish watching the rest of the Gandhi movie.”
• … try neutralising the moment. The difficult ‘won’t-work’ argumentative moment, can quickly become a power struggle when a student outwardly tells the teacher they are not doing the work. It is critical to know how to de-escalate a situation. Our time-tested strategy has been, “Let’s talk about this later.” It gave us the perfect way out of a heated situation with a student in class, while letting other students around know we were not ignoring the ill-behaviour; we had just planned on dealing with it later.
• … offer choices. For some students struggling with work completion, we explored offering limited choices for assignments – to a maximum of 2 choices to avoid making it confusing or overwhelming. This made the student feel s/he has control and choice. Here is an example, “Would you rather write the complete answer in pure text or would you like to draw a scene from the text and write a few sentences about it?” Isn’t the ultimate goal to get the student back to completing all the work? Without a doubt! When a student was outright refusing to do work, completing just one item over none was counted by us as a eureka success moment. We all have to start somewhere!



• … identify what makes the student tick. Another way was to go the extra mile of finding out topics the student enjoyed reading about, mulling over, working with and learning about. It could be any topic: cricket, go-karting, drawing, animals, garba time or dance, or even a certain television show. The topics and ideas were endless. Driven by our creative mind-set, we used bits of those realisations in our instruction to hook the learner and help him/her to feel more interested and start working.
• … think about patterns in work habits. Patterns are everywhere and they can make the seemingly invisible much more visible! We worked around finding out – Is the work refusal only happening during math? Or maybe during group work? Maybe it’s only in the pre-lunch hours or in the post-lunch session? By thinking about these patterns and really delving into the evidences, we were able to build an informed judgement about what was really going on and to handle it.
• … try to use a ‘push-start’ button for task initiation. Skills for task initiation are very much like a car starting up. When kids lack these skills to get started, it can be extremely frustrating for them, for us and for parents at home. Oftentimes, kids don’t actually know HOW to start a challenging task or assignment. One must be alert and aware that if such skills are lacking, we must push the start button by teaching them how to!



• … try giving a choice of different writing tools. This may sound crazy, but some kids get inspired when given options for what to write with. Tools such as gel pens or coloured pencils instead of just a plain old pencil / pen worked like magic. Sometimes, the freshness of a new eraser can help kids get over that road block of starting. It sure worked for us; you could give it a try.
• … provide some leeway. Giving leeway or accommodations doesn’t necessarily mean we are making an assignment easier; it just gave more options for how the student approached the task. So, you could try these:
  • Allow a student struggling with reading to listen to audio books.
  • If a student isn’t writing, allow them access to a laptop and type or complement their textual answers with visual art.
  • Give out a calculator to a student who gets fatigued with math problems (provided the math skill isn’t calculations themselves).
  • Give a word bank, provide multiple choices, let the student use manipulatives, and so on.
• … stretch accommodation into taking turns. Where necessary, another strategy in line with accommodation that one can try (when one really wishes to hand-hold and help), is to take turns writing and completing problems with the hesitant student. For example, one of us completed the first problem and wrote it in the student’s notebook. It helped us to think aloud while solving the problem, and this was the work-habit we wanted to see in the student. Then, we got the student to complete the second problem. Next, we tried completing only a few lines of the third problem and so on. This emerged as a more collaborative approach that eased some of the kids into working and finishing their assignments with independence.
• … give bite-sized breaks. Most kids need a break sometime. Consider adding a preferred activity right after an assignment you want your student to complete. Plan some meaningful brain break – say with a trick quiz question, or catching up on some world sports & games event (especially cricket, football and tennis).



• try an incentive plan, if needed. Yes, yes, we know incentive plans aren’t considered to be a good idea; and most educators refuse to use it as a strategy. We agree that they shouldn’t be used as a first strategy, but there is a time when they can help a struggling student work towards their goals.

  We even tried using a fun ‘work contract’ that detailed logically, what the student was responsible for and what incentives the student would get by completing the work. Such a work contract set the tone that we meant business, that we would stick by our word AND that we expected that the student made an effort to do the same. The trick is to find the sure-shot push button around the child’s interest area, remembering that each individual student is motivated by different things. You could also draw up a reward inventory with the student, so that s/he is motivated to earn the reward.

• … bring in the family. Sometimes we needed help from the parents. When we had to call in the family for the first time, we always believed in sharing something positive first. With that said, we then progressed into the areas of concerns about the ward and our observations on their challenges with work completion. One needs to be extremely mindful while communicating this with parents. Rather than saying, “Your child is refusing to work,” we preferred to tone it down with something like, “XX seems to be struggling with getting started even on assignments that are at his level.”

  Invite parents to walk the journey of their child’s learning as Partners in Education, and enquire if anything else is going on in the home or outside of home with the child. Often, parents are more than willing to talk about the concerns with their child and on many occasions, this fixes the concern. The rule is – both school and parents must speak the same language and have the same ‘logical consequences’ approach.



• … become a reflective practitioner. At times, we needed to step back and reflect, introspect on what WE could be doing that might be triggering the student to refuse to work. For example, are we using a harsh tone? Did we embarrass the student by calling them out for something right before? Sometimes, there isn’t anything apparent, but it’s always worth considering!

And finally, unwind, energise and rewire yourself. Self-care for teachers is definitely not stressed enough in the world of education. Working with ‘work–refusal’ students can be emotionally and physically draining. It is important to take time to focus on one’s well-being. After all, there is much truth in the famous quote “You can’t pour more from an empty cup!”

We hope this blog has offered some good ideas for you all to try in the classroom and at home, to convert resistance to work into a lifelong skill of becoming a self-driven, independent student in charge of their own learning. God Bless our Little Ones! ***

If you have chanced upon this article but you haven’t had the opportunity to read Part 1 by the same name, then we strongly suggest that you begin there. If, however, you have reached here after Part 1 AND you are a teacher facing the very challenging classroom situations of ‘work refusal’, we empathise with you. Been there done it! Also know, that we do not wish to add pages of reading to compound your work nor your woes.

If you are unsure, stuck, helpless and don’t know how or where you are heading…try our guidelines and strategies; they’re worth a try since we hit successes with many of them. Remember though, even the most perfect classroom management and support strategies may NOT fix every problem or challenge.

How Can One Cope?

Parts 2 and 3 offer some strategies to consider when handling kids that are struggling and hence refusing to work. We completely get it if classroom teachers cannot do it all, nor do we expect them to. Perhaps schools (institutions with a solution-focussed culture) can help educators in these tough situations, with complementary support from admin and other staff. The biggest shifts in achieving success in this area can be attributed to making teachers, families, and the student work together in tandem – as Partners in Education.

There are certain DOs and DON’Ts that we have listed based on our experiences, research and sharing. In Part 2, we shall cover the latter and leave the icing on the cake for Part 3!

Let’s start with the DON’Ts…

• … send the child out of the class. Often times, teachers believe that out of sight means out of my hair! Sending a child out from class to the corridor or to the Principal may appear to be a good option (because it deals with the situation swiftly for THAT teacher), but it does not fix the problem. In the long term, it makes matters worse, with the ousted child feeling anger and resentment towards the teacher and finding the corridor (with nothing to see-hear-do) an open space to misbehave even more!

  Ousting a child from class sends the message that the teacher is unable to deal with the situation and that she is passing on her problem to another teacher or the Principal. If a student is just sitting at their desk and refusing to work, it should not be a reason to send them out of class – even non performing kids receive much more education by just being in the room and hearing the discussions, rather than being cornered in the staff room or principal’s office.

• … simply attribute it to laziness. From a child’s point of view, it is often actually easier for the child to comply and do their work than refuse. So, it’s clear that the work refusal is due to something else in play and not just laziness. A good tip here is to reframe one’s thinking and to never forget that the child could be struggling and may need our support.



• … get into a power struggle. I think as mature adults we all recognise the fact that no one ever wins in a power struggle, especially between adults and the kids! Not fair play at all if we look at the ages involved in the sparring! So much energy is wasted and even if the student eventually complies, s/he is bound to be filled with resentment.
• … appear or feel angry & frustrated. When the work refusal situation is becoming overwhelming, it is important to understand – “She’s not giving me a hard time, she’s having a hard time.” There is no shame in taking a deep breath and walking away from the tug-o’-war. The little eyes are upon us and children observe adults us on how we cope with challenges. We need to teach them that while facing challenges, we need time to contemplate, think things through and then respond with ideas for a way out; rather than having an unpleasant, knee-jerk violent reaction! It’s understandable to feel frustrated with a situation, but we must not act on that frustration. We must remain calm, collected and make the best choices in each situation.
• … punish the child. If a learner is struggling with some social or emotional challenges at the moment, a punishment is only going to push them further away. The punishment will appear as a harsh, mean, and an uncaring stance by the teacher. We know that teachers do not intend for punishments to feel that way, but for many students, punishments often do, especially for the ones with trauma in their past. That doesn’t mean that we “let the student get away” with any kind of behaviour! Instead, we can use the approach of logical consequences.



• … publicly embarrass the child. Calling out a ‘work-refusal’ student in front of the whole class (often with anger in the teacher’s tone) might result in a power struggle or escalation of the situation. All because the student feels belittled in front of his / her peers. Instead, teachers should consider ways to privately support the student to help both to get the work done.
• … threaten the child. As teachers and parents, we often end up making the proverbial “conditional statements” like, “If you don’t do your work, I’m going to inform your parents,” or “Finish this or you can’t go for your PE class.” Sometimes, these threats only make a student more adamant, stubborn and may corner him/her into digging their heels in deeper. When better sense prevails, we may even regret what we’ve said. Instead, we need to try to be mindful about what to say and make sure our stated consequences fit the ‘misbehaviour’.

Read Part 3 by the same name, to learn about what you CAN DO to work with “work refusal” children and lead them into productive work with independence. ***

Based on our experiences over decades, across kindergarten, preparatory, middle and high school kids, we at Team QEDRAK have faced varied instances of the “I don’t wish to work” or “I won’t complete my task” syndrome. This is better known in the education space as “work refusal”.

Understanding this Syndrome

Work refusals are typically situations when kids just refuse to start or engage in the work assigned to them, for a wide variety of reasons (be they at school or at home). They might simply ‘switch off’ and rest their head on their desk or have an anger bout, or close-up with crossed arms, or aggressively state how they absolutely ‘will NOT’ do what has been asked of them. This can be very frustrating for parents at home as well as for school teachers! Especially, when teachers are teaching a well-designed lesson that they thought would go as per the perfectly made plan! In reality, the lesson plans and activities themselves may have little or no impact on whether or not a student refuses to work. There are, quite often, bigger challenges at play that you will read about further on.

Quite frankly, our educational qualification, research and theoretical reading had not really prepared us for what to do when students refused to work. Handling such children required skills and strategies we had to literally develop on the task, while on the move, during our typical days at school. It’s an area that can be nerve-racking, but when overcome, presents some great eureka moments. More so, since we have always been passionate about innovative classroom practices and in our hearts, we truly believe – all kids deserve to learn and feel good about themselves!

It’s important to remember that students who are refusing to work, may actually be reaching out for help in some way, and WE educators CAN be the one to help them. Who can deny that we ALL have bad days here and there! So can kids. A word of caution – just because a student puts his/her head down during a lesson and doesn’t finish an assignment because of a headache, it doesn’t mean we need to sound the alarm! This blog is intended to help teachers get some ideas & tips on handling the students who repeatedly refuse to complete work and need specific targeted strategies to help them overcome these challenges.

What ‘work refusal’ can look like

Frankly, it can be different for different learners in a class. The manifestations of this were heightened during the Covid and post-Covid school-shutdown years. As stated earlier, many children put their heads down, despite all the coaxing and prompting. Other kids may hum-haw, look around and say, “I don’t feel like doing it now”; and some others may just brazenly look you straight in the eyes and say “I’m NOT doing it!” Some others might say

“Can I do it tomorrow” OR they may say “Yes, yes, I’m on it!” and the moment we move our gaze away from them onto the others, they ignore our directions completely and continue doing what they want to do – whether it be colouring, reading, doodling or any other activity they were engaged in. Such behaviour is what work refusal can look like – overt evidences of students avoiding doing the tasks that the adults expect them to complete.

Possible Reasons for Work Refusal?

We can safely say with our collective experience that there is always a reason behind a student outwardly refusing to engage in work in the classroom; and by that we mean persistently refusing to work over a period of time. Most often, we may not know the individual reasons.

• Some students may have history of deep hurt / pain. Although, we may or may not know about the potential trauma.
• Other kids might be dealing with social or emotional challenges at home or in their personal life – like a new sibling born at home, parental discord, death in the family, feelings of loneliness with working parents; to share a few examples.
• Sometimes, children are faced with unpleasantness that overwhelms them, they may have a need to control parts of their life that they can control (like doing work in school or not).
• Some learners might be diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, while others aren’t.
• Other times, a child or teen may truly be bored and not interested in the topics or the way it is being taught.

Regardless of the actual reason, as educators, it is vital at that point to take a step back and understand that the child is struggling with SOMETHING, whether or not we can see it. Thinking in this way encourages us to be solution-focused, which is what really matters in the end, isn’t it?

Read Part 2 by the same name, to learn about how you can cope and what you should absolutely avoid as teachers and parents, if faced with a “work refusal” child. ***

Hello Parents and Teachers! Season’s Greetings and warm wishes for this festive month of October! If you have chanced upon this Blog article before listening to the linked Podcast by the same name, we strongly recommend that you first enjoy Making Homework Work – Part I, before reading further.

When and where did HOMEWORK begin?

While we aren’t exactly sure about who invented homework, we do know that the word “homework” dates back to ancient Rome when Pliny the Younger asked his followers to practice their speeches at home. We do that even today, don’t we? Memorization exercises and scriptures as homework continued through the Middle Ages and Enlightenment by monks, saints, rishis and other scholars.

In the 19th century, students of the German Volksschulen or “People’s Schools” were given assignments to complete outside of the school day. This concept of homework quickly spread across Europe and was brought to the United States by Horace Mann, (the father of American education, and a major force behind establishing unified school systems), who saw the idea in practice in Prussia.

Then in the early 1900s, progressive education theorists, criticised homework’s negative impact on the physical and mental health in children. This led California to ban homework for students under 15 until 1917. In the 1930s, homework was portrayed as child labour, which was newly illegal, but the prevailing argument was that kids needed time to do household chores. Helping mum was more of a priority those days!

Later in the 1950s, US Public opinion swayed again in favour of homework due to concerns about keeping up with the Russians in their technological advances during the Cold War. And in 1986, the US government included homework as an ‘educational quality boosting’ tool.

As you can see, homework is NOT new, but the purpose and objective behind it has changed. For better clarity, let us now consider the pros and cons of ‘homework’ being an Educational Quality Boosting Tool!

HOMEWORK is GOOD

Student achievement is impacted positively with home assignments: Many studies conducted the world-over have shown that home assignments have improved students’ study habits for regular revision and improved achievement in assessment results, as well as the likelihood of easily making it through to higher education.

Homework helps to reinforce classroom learning, while developing good study habits and life skills: Students typically retain only 50% of the information teachers provide in class. At-home assignments help students to independently revisit & practice, to internalize the concepts. The outcome of such assignments provides valuable data to teachers about the depth of understanding by each learner.

Homework allows parents to be involved with children’s learning: Home assignments help parents to connect with what’s happening in school, as well as their ward’s strengths and weaknesses. Positive, motivating parental involvement in homework and school academics is directly proportional to student achievement. At times, learning disabilities become apparent when parents observe their children attempting homework and the challenges they are facing. So, one thing is clear – Tuition classes aren’t homework; nor is homework meant for the Tuition teacher to solve.

HOMEWORK is NOT a MUST

Homework – harmful if too much: Psychologists have reiterated that children should have a chance to just be kids. It is absurd to insist that children must be engaged in constructive activities every minute of the day, right up until their heads hit the pillow. Too much homework can lead to sleep deprivation and other health problems such as headaches, exhaustion, weight loss, stomach problems and in some cases loneliness, including depression. This, in turn, defeats the purpose of helping student learning – particularly when older siblings and parents complete the homework for the child who is exhausted, unwilling or cranky.

Homework gap due to lack of equity in access to digital resources: Much of the homework assigned today require students to access the internet for online material. This increases the digital divide – the technical and financial ability to utilize available technology for learning, along with access (or a lack of access) to the Internet. Completing homework for such adversely affected students is very difficult, since locating a safe place with an internet connection, or borrowing a laptop, or waiting till the parent returns home with the family’s only available digital gadget, can be challenging.

Actual efficacy of homework for very young and high school students is questionable: According to an NAEP study, 4th grade students who did no homework got roughly the same score on the math exam as those who did 30 minutes of homework a night. Students who did 45 minutes or more of homework a night actually did worse.

Like everything in life, there are varied views about Homework; there is a favourable side to it and an unfavourable one. Having said that, if Homework has a targeted purpose, is holistically designed, and is well-balanced in terms of quantity, difficulty level, time required and learner specificity, then the pros clearly outweigh the Cons.

Conventionally, Homework has been assigned mainly for 4 reasons: completion, practice, preparation and extension. However, to really make Homework ‘work’, we need to consider paradigm shifts across the following areas, that all stakeholders need to make:

• Change in Mindset: parents, students and teachers alike, need to appreciate the long-term benefits of learning, driven by balanced, well-timed, well-designed, purposeful, meaningful homework with scope for independent internalisation of learning at home.
• Change in Curriculum and Pedagogy: Curriculum planning and pedagogy must have a fresher perspective of looking at home learning being just ‘that little bit more’ than classwork. Homework must be designed with activities which, while being cognitive extensions and expansions of what was learned in class, must also embrace development of 21st century skills, independent life skills and build confidence.
• Change in Goals and Objectives: For years homework has been designed to complete answers of pending questions behind a chapter, or voluminous practice questions in math and science with the repetitive foci, styles and concepts –as if to live up to the adage “Practice makes perfect.” The adage holds true only if one is able to apply the concept and perform with consistency & confidence across different scenarios, including real-life applications.
• Change in Approach: Teachers must also rise to the occasion to design home assignments that are customised to address the specific learning gaps of each student and at the pace that allows them to view and celebrate incremental advancements and achievement.

A Note for TEACHERS:

In order to make homework ‘work’ for your kids, we recommend that you take a close look at the quality and purpose of the tasks by asking 8 basic questions. These questions apply to whether learning is happening primarily at school, at home, or a hybrid of the two:

1. On thinking back in time, during your student days, what kind of homework…

• … truly helped you in advancing and cementing your learning?
• … did you find redundant, a drudgery and a waste of time?

2. Do students understand the purpose and value of the assignment designed?

• Teachers can increase interest and participation by explaining the purpose of the work and by giving students the freedom to choose which problems to do or which topics to research.
• They can also allow students to stop when by self-assessing they are sure that they understand the concept.

3. Will all students be able to do the task independently?

• Students are more likely to put aside and be unwilling to complete a task when the homework feels either too hard or too easy. Teachers can use a variety of strategies, such as student check-ins and daily exit tickets to strive for the “just-right” challenge for each student and ensure that homework can be done without help from parents or tutors.

4. Is this assignment better done in class versus as homework?

• Skill practice, such as learning when and how to apply algorithms in math or parsing difficult text passages, might be more effective during class, where teachers can clarify doubts, misunderstandings and provide proper individualised coaching.
• But some other activities such as reading a book-chapter/notes or researching on some additional facts to prepare for class discussion, or interviewing a community member for an oral history project – can’t be done effectively or efficiently in class. These tasks might be better to assign as homework thereby allowing students to complete the task at their time & convenience.

5. How much time should this assignment realistically take?

• It is important for educators to consider how much time the assignment should take and recommend an appropriate cut-off time for students without penalty. ‘Purpose of the assignment’ as well as student ‘age’ and ‘ability’ should be the factors to suggest cut-off time limits.
• One can even have students start the assignment in class to help estimate how long it may take different students to do it and if they need help.
• Since students may have homework from several classes each night, try to plan, schedule and distribute large assignments and assessments with other teachers over a longish time period, and be lenient on submission schedules or allow “homework passes” when workload or home obligations are heavy.

6. What kind of additional resources would the student need? Does it allow for reading, research, analysis and independent solutions?

• When planning homework that requires students to look for more information, it is good idea to set up collaborative groups with each student fact-finding on a specific aspect. Then they can collaborate and put together the complete task with their individual contributions. This allows for time well spent, distribution of tasks, individual and group skills, and of course accountability for a common cause.
• Avoid assigning homework that is shared at a short notice, resulting in emergency situations for parents to handle – like internet access, buying stationery items, complex model-making, meeting people in the community (which may need adult presence), etc.

7. In what way is this task empowering students and making their learning relevant for the future?

• Homework, across subjects, should allow students to engage in the task of planning, prioritizing and scheduling the completion of home assignments. The assignments shouldn’t be too short, too easy or too mundane. Moderately challenging tasks that are a wee bit out of their comfort zone excites them.
• Design activities that allow students to develop very important life skills that will help them in adulthood – the 7 golden habits (being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, put first things first, seek first to understand and then be understood, synergise, sharpen the saw), PLUS accountability, autonomy, discipline, time management, self-direction, critical thinking, collaboration, and independent problem-solving.

8. What kind of feedback should you provide on the homework?

• Feedback or even grading homework can be challenging. Some students may have organizational issues or other reasons beyond their control due to which they don’t turn in the homework, give excuses or do it incorrectly. Others may have relied on outside help to edit and perfect the work, which you may not be aware of, thereby leaving gaps in the child’s core conceptual understanding.
• If grading the homework, ensure that you provide actionable and timely feedback on assignments and offer students opportunities to revise and resubmit. Aim to return graded assignments prior to the next assessment so students can learn from their mistakes.
• Don’t forget to make your comments specific and constructive enough for students to identify the flaws and make self-corrections. E.g. Just a tick or cross won’t help; add a comment suggesting they redo the work and show you or explain that they need to add more supporting evidence to a paragraph to strengthen their answer.

Teachers, here are some ideas of alternative strategies for engaging learners in meaningful homework –
https://www.classcraft.com/blog/alternatives-to-homework/
https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/alternatives-to-homework-a-chart-for-teachers/

A Note for PARENTS:

Parents often struggle with getting their children to complete their daily homework and in many homes, it turns into an unpleasant battle of sorts! Frankly, there’s no standard, magical solution for this daunting task, but here are some tips that could help parents figure out how best to utilise the ‘after school time’ that includes Homework.

Give your child time to unwind after school. Most children left alone after entering home from school tend to play home soccer, build a Lego set, watch TV, or engage in imaginative play. It is their way of saying – “I need my space, time and chance to chill!” The brain and body need that time to settle before being ‘expected to work’.

Always make sure they have had a snack. You want to make sure kids have some snacks / food before they start with the work they are being asked to do. Refuelled children are happier and more pliable!

Involve them in making the plan: Parents often think that by involving their kids in decision making, they are relinquishing control and authority. Wrong! Collaboration is known to make children feel included, heard and valued. When children feel they aren’t just being told what to do, they are more likely to want to participate.

Ask them what they think would help them get their homework done. Imagine getting the answers from the them! Obviously, some boundaries will need to be set; you certainly don’t wish to allow your kids to do homework in front of the TV or while listening to some loud modern sound tracks. Make a plan together, try out that plan, and reassess it after a set amount of time.

As the parent, ensure YOU are going into homework time stress-free. Parents set the tone, and if YOU are regulated and calm, it is more likely your children will follow suit. Take time, deep breathe alone, decompress and feel happy before helping your child complete their homework. These days homework is perceived as a source of stress and if your mood at the onset is keyed up, it will be a double whammy for the kids!

All work, no play is no fun. This could be challenging! Perhaps between your spouse and you, one of you is better at it! Homework is meant to be a review of things already taught and learned, so bring in a bit of slap-stick humour to it. Think of creative ways with which you can get your child to complete the homework – revisit your school day goof-ups, your academic boo-boos and how you overcame them (or did not).

‘Homework time’ is time for bonding with children. This is not even fit for argument! Who wouldn’t want to bond with one’s kid? But we know, life gets busy, and homework has to get done. As hard as it sometimes is, try to remember that homework isn’t just a chore but also dedicated time to spend time with your child. Make time for it!

So in the end, one thing is for sure – homework is here to stay. With mutual understanding, cooperation, a supportive environment, due diligence and care – we can all Make HOMEWORK Work in the interest of our young ones!

March 2020:

All of us remember when the World Heath Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Life came to a standstill as the largest national lockdown in the democratic world was imposed and the world as we knew it changed before our very eyes. We moved from physical offline work and studies to a digital, online mode. The transition (initially forced upon us) was not entirely smooth but soon enough everyone settled into it. Teachers led the crusade by example.

Since children could not come to school, they took the school to the children. 2 years and 3 official “waves” later, parents, teachers and children alike are pleased and relieved that some semblance of normalcy seems to be returning to our life. However, all of us know that it can be a little complicated to pick up the threads from where we left them 2 years ago- more so as the pandemic is still not over and many experts suggest that Covid and its variants might be here to stay.

June 2022:

As schools gear up for their new academic session, they must now balance the educational, social and emotional needs of their students. They must also ensure that the health and safety of both students and staff alike is taken care of. Having said that, it is not only the schools and teachers facing the pressure, reopening of schools is a stressful time for parents and children too. While all of us agree that returning to school is important because children need in-person learning and social interactions with their peers, this alone cannot ensure that the switch from online to offline classes will be seamless.

The youngest pre-schoolers and foundational stage learners will either be going to school for the first time or have only a faint recollection of how things work at school. The older students might be excited and eager to get back to face-to-face learning and see their teachers and friends, yet they may also feel anxious and unsure about catching up on learning and getting back to a tight school schedule.

Whether your child is excited or nervous about starting school, it is natural for parents to feel concerned too. Here are a few questions you can ask the school authorities to put your mind at ease.

YOU MAY CHECK WITH THE SCHOOL ABOUT:

• How will the classroom spaces be set up?
• What will happen during recess? Will children be playing together outside?
• What will be the status of sports and extra-curricular activities?
• How will the school manage face masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, sanitizing etc.
• Will some kind of health screening be done every day?
• What is the policy if a child shows symptoms in school?

Once we are satisfied with the school’s preparedness, it is time to turn our attention to our children. There are certain safety guidelines that we must discuss with them. It is imperative that they understand that when it comes to Covid-19, we cannot afford to let our guard down.

PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE:

• If your child is in the age group eligible for vaccination, make sure they get both doses at the earliest.
• Remind your child to follow Covid-19 protocol at all times- wearing masks, keeping physical distance and maintaining good hand hygiene.
• Discuss with your child why it is important to follow all the rules in place at school in order to maintain their safety.
• Label your child’s mask clearly and always give spare masks to them in their bag. Advise them to change their mask if it gets sweaty/ dirty/ wet. Never should they trade or exchange masks with their friends or classmates.
• Emphasize the importance of frequent and thorough hand washing.
• Do not send your child to school if they feel sick. Look out for symptoms like fever, sore throat, runny nose, stomach ache, nausea, vomiting, pink eye, headache or body ache.
• If you have senior citizens or any immuno-compromised family members at home, take extra care. Make sure once children are back from school, they wash up and change their clothes before they meet others.

This covers the physical aspect of returning to offline classes, but we know there is more to the back-to-school situation than that. Though senior students have been going to school intermittently since late 2021, it’s the middle and junior schoolers who have been totally out of the school going routine. Regardless of the age and grade, there are few things parents must remember in order to make the shift from online to offline studies smooth and stress free. Here are a few pointers.

SUPPORTING CHILDREN THROUGH THE TRANSITION

• Establish a routine: Routines provide structure and predictability which in turn makes children feel secure and in control. Get your child back into their school routine with regular sleeping and waking hours and meal times so that they get sufficient time for rest, sleep, study and recreation.
• Communicate: Talk and listen without judgment to your child’s feelings about returning to school. Let them know that their feelings are okay and acceptable. Tell them that it’s alright to feel nervous but also assure them that they will get through.
• Prioritise social adjustment over academics: It may be hard to focus and get involved in studies right from the get-go. Children may have become used to attending virtual classes alone at home and re-joining a class full of friends may come with several distractions (necessary ones). Keep in mind that your child is moving from social isolation to interactivity. They may feel overwhelmed and may not be able to jump right into academics. Be patient with them and do not expect things to go back to the pre-Covid state immediately.
• Speak up: Feel free to ask as many questions as you feel necessary to the school authorities and if needed, schedule a chat with the school counsellor. You may also consult a counsellor outside school to help allay your child’s fears and help with any anxiety you may be experiencing.
• Acknowledge changes: Two years is a long time. It is possible that friendship equations may have changed in this duration and your child may not be part of the same group as before. Do not force them to go back to how things were. Acknowledge and accept the changes that have happened and encourage your child to keep moving on. Extend support if they confide in you. Do not start offering solutions.
• Relax: Children read cues and can absorb our anxieties. Be confident about your child going back to school. This sends out a positive message to the child that they will be okay and will have fun once they settle into the school routine.

Going back to school after such a long gap can be a scary proposition. However, given plenty of love and support at home, soon children will get accustomed to the new routine and before you know it, they will be back to enjoying the most carefree years of their life with each other- the way it should be.