The Conservative education spokesman John Bercow accused the government of interfering in decisions that ought to be taken by schools. Children need to be challenged to get the best out of them. But this highlights the problems of the government's need to centralise everything in David Blunkett's office. Teenagers in Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Israel and Italy also do between eight and nine hours a week. Nearly half of all pupils in their final year of primary school are not given regular homework at all.
Research shows a clear link between regular homework and educational achievement, ministers say.
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