Homework and academic achievement across Spanish Compulsory Education

Homework (HW) is one of the most common school-related activities among parents, students and teachers. However, the need to assign HW to students has been extensively debated. The present investigation examines the relationship between specific HW variables (i.e. amount of HW completed, time spent on HW and perceived quality of HW time management) and academic achievement, while controlling for students’ gender and grade level. Participants included 454 students (ranging from 10 to 16?years of age) from three schools in northern Spain. A multivariate analyses of variance and path analyses showed that the amount of HW completed decreased with increased schooling, as did students’ perceived quality of HW time management. Data from hierarchical regression analyses completed by path analyses provided evidence that time spent on HW conjointly with perceived quality of HW time management explains how academic achievement is mediated by the amount of HW completed. These findings deepen the understanding of the complex impact of time spent on HW and on academic achievement.     

Can Teachers’ Reflections on Digital and Curriculum Resources Generate Lessons?

This article presents a critical action research study of six participants who reflected on their experiences and practices of digital resources in teaching Grade 12 mathematics Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). One-on-one semi-structured interviews, reflective activities, and journals were used for data generation to explore these reflections in order to encourage the teachers to reflect. Purposive with convenience sampling was used to select the teachers. The study reveals that ideological-ware (IW) resources and critical reflections are the main ingredients to ensure the success of CAPS implementation. When the teachers critically reflected on their practical use of the digital resources, they overcame the curriculum challenges that affected their teaching practice. This study recommends the promotion of IW resources and critical reflections in order to produce teachers’ reflective framework for teaching. This study consequently concludes that there were limited forms of reflections that were not compulsory to the teachers.     

中央苏区的“五老”

何叔衡、徐特立、谢觉哉、林伯渠、董必武五人，被尊称为中央苏区“五老”。1934年10月，红军主力部队北上抗日时，徐特立等四老参加了长征，克服种种艰难险阻，顺利到达陕北；何叔衡留在苏区坚持斗争，在突围时负伤后壮烈牺牲。