Guidelines for Proportion of Work To Be Completed In School and At Home
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns whether the Ministry of Education (MOE) assesses guidelines on the proportion of schoolwork completed in school versus at home, as raised by Ms He Ting Ru. Minister Desmond Lee responded that MOE does not dictate specific proportions, as teachers use professional judgment to assign work that reinforces learning based on student needs. He explained that schools maintain individual homework policies, which are monitored at the system level to ensure assignments remain purposeful, manageable, and supportive of student well-being. For pre-schools, home-based activity kits are used to foster family bonding, while Institutes of Higher Learning follow internal academic guidelines to align workloads with learning outcomes. Schools continue to review these guidelines regularly to calibrate homework loads appropriately for their students' learning and development.
Transcript
45 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry conducts assessments on implementing guidelines regarding the proportion of schoolwork and homework that should be completed (i) in-school and (ii) as take-home assignments across pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels; and (b) if so, what are the Ministry's findings.
Mr Desmond Lee: The Ministry of Education (MOE) does not dictate the proportion of schoolwork to be done in school or at home. Based on the teachers' professional judgement and the students' learning needs, teachers may include class work as part of a lesson or assign work to be done at home to reinforce learning. Schools have homework guidelines to keep homework purposeful and manageable.
MOE monitors the implementation of these guidelines at the system level. Based on our findings, all schools have a homework policy which articulates the objectives of homework and how homework load is monitored and regulated. Schools review their homework guidelines regularly to calibrate homework load, with due consideration for student learning and well-being.
For pre-schools, the involvement of families in their children's learning is key. As such, home-based activities, such as take-home activity kits, may be provided in preschools. This encourages families to extend their children's learning at home and to foster family bonding and interactions.
Our Institutes of Higher Learning also have their respective academic policies and guidelines to ensure that student workload is appropriate and aligned to learning outcomes.