Current Issue
Rethinking Homework
Excellent Educator
Volume 3 | Issue 18 | October 2026
Preface
Homework has long been treated as an extension of classroom learning, but what happens at home may be shaped by circumstances teachers cannot always see. This issue brings together research examining homework through the lenses of family involvement, language, student emotions, workload, and technology. The studies highlight how economic and linguistic circumstances can affect participation, while worry and disaffection can influence students’ experiences of completing homework.
At the same time, homework can extend school expectations into family life, affecting students’ leisure, rest, autonomy, and family routines. The emergence of generative AI adds another challenge, prompting teachers to reconsider whether assignments encourage genuine thinking or simply the production of answers. Together, these studies invite educators to look beyond homework completion and ask a more important question: Is the homework we assign actually supporting learning?
Editorial Team
Excellent Educator
Table of Contents
| Page | Article |
|---|---|
| 1 | When Homework Excludes Parents |
| 2 | When Homework Creates Worry |
| 3 | Making Homework Work Across Languages |
| 4 | When Homework Moves Into Family Life |
| 5 | Designing Homework for the AI Era |
Classroom Briefs, Issue 3(18)
When Homework Excludes Parents
Homework can become difficult for families when economic hardship, language differences, limited educational resources, and unfamiliar curriculum expectations restrict parental involvement. The review highlights the need to examine whether homework unintentionally assumes resources and support that some families may not have……………….. Read Classroom Brief
When Homework Creates Worry
This study developed the Homework Disaffection and Worry Scale (HDWS) to examine students’ negative emotional and cognitive reactions to homework. Findings from 821 eighth-grade students indicate that disaffection and worry are distinct but related experiences associated with homework effort, expectancy, value, and achievement………………….Read Classroom Brief
Making Homework Work Across Languages
This study explores how multilingual learners and caregivers navigate homework when school language practices differ from the languages used at home. The findings show how learners draw on their linguistic resources to manage homework and highlight the importance of treating multilingualism as a resource for learning………………..Read Classroom Brief
When Homework Moves Into Family Life
This mixed-methods study examines how homework expectations extend into family routines and are associated with adolescents’ stress, leisure, and perceived autonomy. The findings highlight the importance of considering the cumulative homework load and how assignments affect students’ discretionary time and family life………………….Read Classroom Brief
Designing Homework for the AI Era
This article examines how generative AI is changing the role of homework and the distinction between using AI as support and using it as a substitute for learning. It proposes assignments that emphasise reasoning, metacognition, evaluation, personal interpretation, and reflection rather than simply producing answers…………………….Read Classroom Brief