Schoolwork in times of Covid-19 lockdown. Family perception as a function of school variables

Abstract

The debate on homework opens up again in pandemic times to remind us not only of the responsibility of the agents involved, but also of the controversies that exist around the time, emotional exhaustion, benefits and competencies it promotes. With the aim of finding out the status of homework during confinement, an empirical study was carried out with a descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional and non-experimental design. For this purpose, an ad hoc instrument called "Coping with homework in the family during confinement", validated by experts, was administered telematically, in which a total of 1982 families from all over Spain participated. The results show that there are significant differences for each of the study variables (quantity, benefits, competencies and emotional exhaustion) between the different educational stages (infant, primary and secondary), with the academic performance of the students and with the presence of specific educational support needs, except for the quantity variable. On the other hand, no significance was found with the type of school. In this way, both teachers and educational centers have to establish non-mechanistic creative tasks and, in turn, articulate support and collaboration with families in the performance of school tasks, especially those with children with specific needs.