Examining the Utility of Homework for Students with Special Educational Needs

Introduction

This research paper is going to investigate the usefulness of homework for students with Special Educational needs (SEN). It will explore the impact of homework activity on the lives of young people with SEN in the further education.

I am passionate about the education of children and young people with disability and I believe that regardless many barriers and challenges they are facing in education they can still be educated with the use of adequate interventions and supports in the education system. From my understanding, young people with learning disabilities who can succeed academically and in the society are the ones who received appropriate interventions according to their individual needs and conditions.

In recent years, the issue of learning disabilities for children with SEN has been a matter of great concern. In this context, the selection of this topic, ‘Effectiveness of homework in case of students special education needs’’ is expected to be highly appropriate and relevant to develop proper concern in the society about the special educational needs of these children. The topic is selected to highlight that how homework assignments should be helpful for children and young students suffering from SEN in terms of developing their cognitive skill, decision-making skill and intellectual ability. Additionally, through selecting this topic, researcher is going to not only highlight the usefulness of homework in case of children with SEN, but also demonstrate the risks as well limitations that are also associated with the homework and how these issues can be overcome. In current social context, the topic is highly relevant which is expected to be able to highlight the importance of homework in improving the behaviour, activities and decision of children with learning disabilities.

Research Questions

Are homework activities such as attaining quiz and making poster and videos of different recipes are appropriate type of tool?

Is homework activity effective?

What could be the impact of homework on young people with disabilities learning? Is it negative or positive?

Literature Review

This chapter is concerned the literature relating to this inquiry entitled “Homework effectiveness in the special educational needs field.”

There is considerable debate over the effectiveness of homework among researchers, practitioners, parents and students. Historically, Homework has been defined by various philosophies as the way of seeking truths, discovering ways to solve issues, learning to think and support achievement (Ozman & Craver, 1981).Cooper et al. (2006) emphasised that traditionally homework has been given to student with the main purpose of preparing learners to new learning, practicing skills and extending learning by offering to learners an opportunity to go further than what they did in classroom time.

In the article published in 2012, Janine Bempechat defined homework as an essential pedagogical practice which might plays a critical and long-term effect in the development of learner’s achievement and motivation. It provides students with time and experience to enhance positive beliefs about achievement, as well as strategies for coping mistakes, problems and barriers. Coleman et al. (1982) clearly highlighted that homework activity is one of the reason why private educational institution was more successful than public sector. According to Bembenutty(2011), the homework activity can be seen as a task assigned by practitioners that are meant to be carried out of instructional time, it has been found generally necessary as it increases student’s responsibility, accountability and academic performance.

However, Butler (2001) spoke specifically about the importance of the homework for people with disability by saying that ‘completing homework could help students with learning difficulties and disabilities. For him, the homework activity will significantly help them to grasp concepts more fully in all curriculum areas being taught. He re-enforced also that homework help learners with disability develop study skills and may provide an opportunity for additional practice time in order to reinforce and increase their learning. This experience may increase self-esteem and confidence of students with learning disabilities. In addition, Cooper et al. (1998) brought a similar point of views, they said that homework might refine the academic achievement of students with learning difficulties. Through doing homework, children with special education needs can evaluate their strength and limitations.

Additionally, evidences have suggested that, through assigning homework to children with SEN, it is possible for teachers to assist parents to conduct repeated learning ad revision of the class activities that assist the children to develop their decision-making, intellectual ability and problem-solving skill.

As all children and young people are entitled to an adequate education as suggested by the Salamanca statement (UNESCO, 1994) regardless their mental, physical, emotional or social condition, it is required that educational institutions should give and include each learner to an appropriate provision which responding to their needs by promoting high standards and the fulfilment of the potential. According to the SEND Code of practice(Department for Education, 2015), this appropriate education should enable students with learning difficulties and disabilities to achieve their best, to become confident individuals living fulfilling live.

Moreover, the SEND Code of practice (Department for Education, 2015) proposed a high quality teaching and differentiation as good practice in order to meet the needs of pupils and students with SEN. Practitioners should introduce new skills in small stages in order to build success of students, give confidence and reduce any risk of failure.

Without any doubt the homework can be consider as an effective intervention as recognised and confirmed by the code of practice (Department for Education,2015), the entitlement to education for everyone with disability by implementing practical interventions or supports which could benefit and give them a full access in the education provision and in the society. Through implementing practical intervention in the education process for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), it is possible for teachers to develop cognitive, intellectual and decision-making skill in these children. Through providing homework (practical work such as making video on different food recipes and making poster on maintaining safety in cooking process), teachers and parents can work together to improve the overall education system in which the overall learning process for students with SEN is not confined to the traditional classroom process, rather the children are exposed to practical and open place learning process that assist them to develop their understanding and intellectual skills and problem solving skill.

Furthermore, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 focused on ‘education plans’ which will place a strong emphasis of the individual education plan design in order to help the student to succeed and this can include settings targets such as homework. In this process, teachers can provide practical and theoretical assignments to students with SEN on which they can work from their homes. There teachers set such homework activities that will be highly relevant to meet the social educational needs of these students. Here the selected students with SEN are provided with homework regarding maintaining safety and health in cooking, which is expected to be highly useful for these children to develop their knowledge on healthy food recipes and the cooking process of these recipes. The homework needs to be set in different steps such as first, second and third, that will assist teachers to meet all the special needs of these children accordingly.

In contradiction, Bryan et al. (1995) stated that learners with learning disabilities may misunderstand and misinterpret homework. They may not be able to complete long homework due to their listening or memory deficits which may make homework activities difficult to understand or remember. The authors (Bryan et al. 1995) re-enforced that homework activity is a challenging point to learners with disability, for them it is a hot topic or an ongoing debate for several years. While some argues if homework activities are important to learners with disabilities, other argues about the type and the amount of homework learners with disabilities should received, another group are disputes about its effectiveness on the lives of students with disability. Based on researches, Polloway et al.(1992) reported issues related to the homework activity for students with learning disabilities. They highlighted that students with learning disabilities might encounter problems such as forgetting to complete homework, misplacing homework before leaving or returning to school, facing issue to complete complicated or long homework. In addition, the authors (Polloway et al. 1992) perceived that most of students with learning with disabilities are missing their homework deadlines due to the shortage of management or organizational skills, ability to work independently and a prior acquaintance needed in order to complete homework.However, Bruner (1978) suggested Scaffolding which consists of breaking in chunks activities for a better understanding. Furthermore, Gathercole (2008) proposed that people with working memory issues should go through repetition, over learning and revision so information could be stored. In addition, Nicholson and Fawcett (1990) also pointed out that automaticity develops from a long practice under consistent conditions. Evidences suggest that of people with learning disabilities will be undergoing through the repetitive learning and development process it is effective to develop their problem-solving skills, decision-making power and cognitive ability. In this research the student with SEN were provided with different homework, through which they would undergo through repeated learning and revision process at their whom while working in these homework assignments. On the contrary Partanen (2016) argued that, sometimes repeated learning and revision process I consistent manner can make children with disabilities bored with the activities, which can interfere with their decision making and cognitive skill development. For avoiding the issues, here in this research the selected students with SEN had been provided with interesting homework related to safe cooking that are expected to make their interest onto these activities despite repeated revision and learning through this homework process.

Soiberlmann, (2008) emphasised that setting homework for learners with special educational needs can be difficult for teachers for two significant reasons, firstly because they should introduce to parents’ various types of strategies that will enable them to help their child. Secondly, they should also root each homework tasks in the interests of the child and centre those tasks on comprehension. Nevertheless, the SEND Code of practice (2015) states that educational institutions should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. The guidance also proposed that an Individual Educational Program should be developed for students with learning disabilities, each IEP should include what a learner will learn, how he will learn, where he will be educated and the amount of learning that should be expected over a predetermined time. Moreover, the SEND Code of practice (2015) encouraged practitioners to use a range of strategies such as early identification of needs, implementing interventions or assessments in order to get a full rounded picture of a specific learner’s needs and monitoring progress and impact.

For instance, the RARPA (Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement) approach suggests the measurement of learning and progress of the individual with learning disabilities in further education. This process give the practitioner the flexibility to develop individualised programme for students with learning disabilities. The practitioner can check the effectiveness of the task and the progress on student’s lives as it intended to encourage students to engage actively. Research show that the RARPA approach and the homework tool might

Methodology

Research methodology is important part of any research study that outlines the systematic process through which the entire research has been completed (Kumar, 2019). The aim of this inquiry was to find the homework effectiveness within the special educational field. This research will use an interpretative paradigm in order to frame the enquiry. As Clough and Nutbrown (2002, p22) pointed out that methods can be seen as the “ingredients of research” whereas “methodology presents the motives for using a specific research ingredient.

My project is about the effectiveness of the homework within the special educational needs field. The aim was to find out about the impact within the lives of my learners with learning difficulties and disabilities in the foundation skills programme. During 10 weeks, learners needed to be engaged in creative homework tasks such as quiz, poster and video in order to check the consolidation of their skills.

Research paradigm

According to Cohen et al. (2007) the interpretative paradigm is concerned with how individuals think, the way they construct perceptions of the world and how their world is constructed. As Tracy (2013) emphasised that within interpretative paradigm, the researcher himself is playing the principal role, the researcher himself is part of the tool used. Therefore, I chose to use this paradigm in order to understand the homework effectiveness, my aim is to discover the impact of homework on young people with SEN in the foundation skills because the main purpose of this programme is to acquire basic skills for their future lives. This is the most appropriate paradigm for this inquiry as reality is constructed by people’s attitudes which are consistently interpreted. Whereas, positivism is concerned with uncovering truth as Henning, Van Rensburg and Smith (2004, p.17) stated. I did not use the positivism paradigm because it considers human attitude as passive. In addition, a positivism paradigm do no takes into account any interpretation but can de-personalize, the researcher is detached. (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2007).

As Rumrill, Cook and Wiley (2011, p.175) pointed out that ‘the real experts in disability studies are those with disabilities and their fundamental others, as understanding the viewpoints and troubles of family members is also significant, because of the critical role that families playing in helping individuals with disabilities to attain their educative and life goals’. My positionality in this inquiry is firstly based on my experience, I am an insider, I know how it is this journey of disability and how young people with SEN are struggling due to various barriers, and secondly, it is based on the knowledge received through my education in the UK. This, for instance, permitted me to understand more about the education of people with disabilities as I remembered what I experienced and cases seen in DRC, but the impact on my mind was not as strong as now after I learned about the education and the effectiveness of different interventions on young people with SEN. However, with this active inquiry I chose to use homework activity as an intervention in order to explore in depth its effectiveness within students with learning disabilities. As mcnary et al., (2005) stated that practitioners should give homework to students with learning disabilities where required by providing various rubrics, shorter tasks and more adequate to their conditions or adjusted to their individual need, through this inquiry the intervention will be done towards 3 activities such as posters, quiz, video during 10 weeks.

Method of data collection

Nicholas (2006) pointed out that the data is the key element which should be the most considered. While Jorgensen & Philips (2002) proclaimed that semi-structured interviews are the best because of naturalistic side which allows the response and the follow up of information. On the other hand, Hopkins (2009) listed various elements as the disadvantages of semi-structured interview as a data collection, he stated that one of the essential issue is that the data organisation and analysis are difficult. The sample was composed of 6 participants, I used a purposive approach to sampling.

As Luttrell (2010) emphasised that a purposive sampling is about a selective which can represent a group with specific experiences. I chose those participants purposely as they are all students with learning disabilities in the foundation skills programme. I have done action research in terms of reflecting on skill and knowledge development in students with SEN by engaging them in different homework. According to Coghlan (2019), active research the research process or methodology hat is used by the researcher to evaluate social sciences and social issues. This research process is different from the other research study, as it is associated with simultaneous activities of doing research and taking actions to make effective transformative changes in the society. Action research assisted me to not only analyse the easefulness of homework for developing skills, abilities and educational knowledge of students with SEN, but also it assisted me to analyse the risk as well as limitations associated with the homework activities for these students. I have focus on making constant modification in the types of homework given to these students to analyse that what types of homework will be highly effective to enhance overall cognitive development and learning abilities students with SEN. I used my past experiences of judgemental and analysing skills in terms of determining the limitations associated with homework to these SEN children, such as they can get hurt by different objects while working on the project at their homes or they can face accidents while doing the homework activities.

Ethical Considerations

Bryman (2004) emphasised that ethical issues cannot be discarded so in this active enquiry participants will be protected from distress, exposure, privacy and anonymousness. Curtis (2014) suggested that the researcher and the researched should be both protected by Ethical guidelines such as confidentiality, anonymity, minimization of harm. According to the author, respect is the most important key required through the proceeding of each research.(Curtis, 2014). Guidelines have been followed in this active inquiry. All the ethical considerations were addressed during the ongoing process of the inquiry.

During conducting this research, I have followed the ethical guidelines set by BERA (British Educational Research Association). Under the ethical guidelines set by BERA, the first important thing that needs to be done in a research is collecting ‘informed consent’ (BERA, 2020.). Informed consent is the process in which researchers take voluntary consent of the participants who are selected for collecting database for the research and inform about actual purpose of conducting this research to these participants before taking their consent.

In this context, parents of young people with SEN were informed by letters, which illustrated the purpose of my project. During the infirmed consent process, I assure that all the parents are informed thoroughly about the actual purpose of conducting this research before taking their consent. In addition to this, I also assured that parent will sign the consent latter voluntarily without facing any forces and pressure. My request has been accepted and consent forms were signed (see appendix). Participants were reassured that identities will be kept anonymously. Moreover, through the inquiry, all participant names will be changed by types of codes or appellations chosen at random. Furthermore, Bailey et al. (2011) proposed four remarkable ethical recommendations and lawful guidelines through each study such as: Firstly the confidentiality which required that findings should be protected throughout the research or inquiry, secondly the anonymity where the interviewer names must be kept safe through the ongoing process of the study and have to be coded, thirdly the minimization of harm which suggest that researcher need to avoid any type of harm such as emotional risks as some participants may become upset and finally the self-determination where the interviewers have rights to agree to participate in the project, and they can also withdraw at any point.

Under the ethical guidelines set by BERA, another ethics that needs to be maintained by researcher is to assure that all the participants make their voluntary participation in the research (Fancourt, 2017). I assured throughout the research that all children make their voluntary participation in this reserach and no forces or pressure have been applied on their parents and family members to involve them in the research process. In this context, I personally meet with each parent and discuss the clear goals and purpose of this research process, that would assist the parent to decide whether they will allow their children to take part into this research process.

The third ethical consideration that is maintained throughout the research process is maintaining confidentiality of database that are collected from participants. Based on the ethical guidelines set by BERA, researcher need to assure that all the database that are collected from participants will be protected from any unauthorised access. Under Data Protection Act 1998, researcher needs maintain privacy of professional and personal database collected from respondents. During conducting the research, I assured that all database that are collected from the selected student will be stored in protected manner with using proper security password to avoid any unauthorised access.

The fourth research ethics that I maintained throughout the research is that, all the database collected would be strictly used in academic purpose but not in any commercial purpose.

All these elements will be taken into account during this active inquiry journey.

Evaluation

The first activity within my inquiry is “The Quiz”, as Roediger et al. (2011) emphasised that it helps learners to retain information. For the author, the quiz in education is forcing the student’s brain to retrieve information and ensures that it becomes embedded for the future use. The quiz was about to reveal about 5 basics kitchen rules required in health and safety. This quiz was expected to improve the knowledge and understanding of students with learning disabilities about health and safety. The activities associated with this quiz assisted the students to make strong understanding about how to maintain safety in the kitchen by using kitchen appliances in safe manner. On the other hand, through working in thus homework with help of their parent the students can learn about new things such as safe as well as healthy cooking, process of maintaining safety during cooking and maintaining hygiene during and after cooking. However, there are also some limitations or risks associated with the quiz that can cause harm to these children with SEN (Partanen, 2016). First these children can have high chances of getting injured or meeting with an accident while cooking by their own. Second, as the children are with learning disabilities, they can face issues in developing clear understanding about maintaining safety during cooking and using kitchen appliances that can enhance chances of their injuries throughout the homework. On third, children who participate in this quiz without help of their parents is highly vulnerable to health and safety risk, for example they can be caught into fire if they are not knowledgeable about using stove.

My second activity is “The poster”, it has been defined as a visual representation of research, scholarly, or creative work. Posters should be able to stand alone giving a clear concise representation of work, without any explanation from the student as the title only should give to viewers the ‘full picture’.(Gundogan, 2016). For this activity, learners suppose to make 3 posters with different topics such as ‘How to make English breakfast’, secondly ‘How to make pasta Bolognese sauce’ and thirdly ‘How to make a chicken salad wrap’. They need to produce posters with every steps and ingredients required for those recipes. The main purpose of this creative activity is to check the consolidation of their skills, I want to know if they have developed their skills. However, there are also some limitations associated with this homework, such as while on these posters through using the PC and internet, children with learning disabilities can be exposed to some social news while searching for suitable images for poster, that can impact adversely on their innocent mind. In addition to that while, student is engaged in making online poster on different food recipes they can develop high interest for searching different things on internet, which can expose them to the brutal and illegal activities operated across the world. Additionally, spending times on searching on internet for making attractive poster, brain and eyes of student can be affected adversely.

And my third activity is “The video”. Roberts (2004) said that producing a video is an excellent way for students to demonstrate their learning or their understanding and it is also the way of empowering students to create their own rich. Students suppose to produce videos and show how they can cook independently at home 3 various meals. As the main purpose of the foundation skills is to make students to become independent in their lives in order to make difference in the society. This task will assist the students to improve their knowledge on independent cooking and using the cooking appliances in safe manner to protect their health and safety. On the other hand, this video is also expected to be highly effective in developing intellectual skill and cognitive ability of children with SEN as during independent cooking they need to use their brain to cook healthy foods. Limitation of this task may be that, students can get injured while they taking the video of their own cooking if they are not helped by their parents and any family members.

Conclusion

Essentially, this inquiry tries to answer and to understand the main phenomena with the effectiveness of the homework in the special educational needs area. It must be noted that there were various challenges during this inquiry. The active inquiry was done through extensive reading of books, journals, interviews, student works and observation.

Designing this active inquiry with those 3 types of homework activities for my learners with disabilities in the foundation skills course helped me to improve my teaching practice in the special educational needs field. As Cathy Vatterott (2010) emphasised that teachers should give learners homework that are purposeful for the and methods that work better for their learning, I understand now which types of activities I should give my future learners in the foundation skills in order to improve their skills as the main purpose of this programme is to make them to gain and improve skills in order to become independent in their lives. In addition, in order to improve the use or effectiveness of this tool I will refer to the Cooper and Nye (1994) point of views as they highlighted teachers need to take into consideration every recommendation given for students with learning disabilities as noted on their ieps. Therefore, I will choose the most appropriate or suitable to each learner’s need and will make sure that activities are given according to their unique conditions by explaining further and scaffolding it adequately to ensure effectiveness and success.

On the other hand, through designing the three type of homework, researcher is able to understand that how working on these projects has assisted the young students with SEN to develop their knowledge, understanding and decision-making skill. In addition to this, through reflecting on the benefits and limitation of these activities’ researcher is able to highlight that what impact the homework would have on young students with SEN. Therefore, it can be stated that research paper has successfully answer the second question.

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