Written question asked by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Tuesday, 25 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 27 October 2005. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 November 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Homework

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to revise Ofsted inspection criteria to include monitoring of the amount of homework set in schools to enable assessment of compliance with recommendations in her Department's publication Homework: Guidelines for Primary and Secondary Schools.

Answer: The new school inspection framework requires inspectors to evaluate the school's provision in terms of its impact on achievement rather than compliance with non-statutory guidelines (in this case on the amount of homework provided). If the school's self-evaluation form, or other evidence, suggests that the school's policy on homework is contributing to unsatisfactory progress being made by pupils, inspectors may specifically examine this as part of the inspection. There are currently no plans to revise the inspection criteria in this regard.

Secondary information