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Parents’ perspectives on homework practices in pre-primary school children in Tanzania: a phenomenological analysis

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Vol. 10 (2024)

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Articles

Parents’ perspectives on homework practices
in pre-primary school children in Tanzania:
a phenomenological analysis

Winifrida Kambona[0000-0002-0618-1346]

The University of Dodoma,

1 Benjamin Mkapa Rd., 41218 Iyumbu, Dodoma, Tanzania

[email-masked]

https://www.udom.ac.tz/staff/staff_profile?id=VG5wak1RPT0=

Abstract. This study investigated parents’ practices in helping
pre-primary school children with homework in Dodoma City, Tanzania.
The study was guided by two specific objectives: to investigate the
learning opportunities perceived by parents and the perceived challenges.
The study involved 23 respondents from 15 families in Dodoma City,
Tanzania. A convenience sampling technique was used to obtain families
and parents. A phenomenology design was used, and semi-structured
interviews were conducted to obtain data from the respondents.
Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the collected data. The study
revealed several learning opportunities among children, such as fostering
child-parent relationships, knowing and monitoring children’s academic
progress, and reinforcing learning and discipline among children. Also,
several challenges were revealed from the study findings, including
time-consuming, stressful and tedious activities for parents and children.
The study concludes that parents’ involvement in children’s homework is
vital for improving child-parent relationships and monitoring children’s
academic progress. Therefore, the study recommends that teachers
provide clear guidance to parents on assisting children with homework.
Further, school administrators should encourage parents to participate
in their children’s education to improve their learning.

Keywords: homework • pre-primary education • early childhood
education • parental involvement • learning attainment

1 Introduction

Early childhood education (ECE) has become a central issue for governments in many
countries. Early investment in ECE has been shown to help young children build their
competence in all areas of development. The assumption is that returns on
investment in young children in early years exceed those of investment in later life
because the development of a new skill builds on skills acquired during the
early years of schooling [20]. Again, parents, policymakers and researchers
consider early childhood education essential for fostering school readiness and
long-term success in life [2]. In that case, investment in ECE is vital for a
child’s socio-economic and cognitive development. In this study’s context,
ECE, also termed pre-primary education (PPE), refers to the education of
children who have not started primary education. However, schools and homes
play a significant role in facilitating the acquisition of PPE among young
children [47]. Nevertheless, pre-primary teachers use various school strategies to
help children acquire important skills for their learning and development in
their early years. Among the strategies used is the provision of homework for
children.

2 Literature review

2.1 The concept of homework

Homework is an obligation given by the teacher to the pupils that has to be done
outside school hours and without the participation of the teachers [23]. Providing
homework activities to young children is common in many countries, including
Tanzania. Available evidence indicates that homework plays a critical role in
children’s learning and acquisition of knowledge and skills in early years [3, 35, 47].
Homework is provided to young children to serve various purposes. Literature reveals
that homework is provided to ensure children are ready for the next lesson, reinforce
the concepts that they studied at school, determine if children can transfer new
knowledge or skills to a new situation, and foster children’s personal development
[15, 41]. In addition, homework has been shown to increase the time on
task and promote pupils’ success [19]. Furthermore, Fox [16] believes that
when well designed, well planned and meaningful to children, homework
becomes the most effective way of improving learning among children. The
homework may vary from one child to another due to the age and learning
ability of the child. However, some teachers give homework for the whole class
without considering the cognitive ability of a particular child. As a result, some
children consider homework as punishment. Since homework is often done at
home, parents’ involvement in facilitating their children to do homework is
crucial.

2.2 Parental involvement in homework

Studies have shown that parental involvement in their children’s education
increases their academic achievement, motivation to learn and behaviours
[3, 18, 40]. Besides, Ekinci-Vural [13] and Mercan et al. [27] are of the view
that parental involvement in their children’s early learning experiences has a
pivotal impact on children’s development of early literacy, numeracy and
socio-emotional skills. Importantly, Wildmon et al. [55] further confirms that
parental involvement in PPE has a significant role in children’s holistic development
compared to a family’s socio-economic status, educational level and cultural
background. On this basis, parents should be encouraged to participate in various
academic activities to successfully acquire early learning skills and the overall
development of their children. Among the types of parental involvement in PPE for
their children is learning at home, especially assisting homework activities
[14].

It is important to note that preschool children need ongoing parental support to
ensure homework completion is obtained [24]. Again, it is well noted that parents
possess the capabilities to assist their children with improving the engagement
levels of homework completion and with improving levels of achievement on
homework [10]. Literature suggests that parental involvement in children’s
homework contributes to the efficiency of the homework activity, reduces
undesirable consequences of heavy homework content and increases parent-child
relationships [54]. Through parental involvement in homework, young children
receive numerous opportunities to model from their parents’ experiences how
to deal with homework activities and thus improve their academic skills
[4].

Nonetheless, in Australia, for example, it was noted that parents who were
involved in assisting children’s mathematics activities supported the development of
mathematical skills in their children [32]. A similar experience has been documented
in New Zealand, where parents were positively involved in assisting their children’s
mathematics homework and thus supported the understanding of the mathematical
concepts among children [6]. In that sense, parents’ involvement in helping their
children complete their homework is essential for the overall development of young
children. In contrast, some studies reported that parental involvement in children’s
homework activities contributes to children’s stress, anxiety, frustration and lack of
motivation towards doing homework activities [8, 42]. However, de Jong
et al. [8] and Rousoulioti et al. [42] identified low self-efficacy, socio-economic
status and parents’ educational level to be the factors for the children’s stress
and lack of motivation to engage in homework activities their parents. This
indicates that the prevalence of parents of preschool children with limited
knowledge of how to assist children with homework compromises better learning
outcomes.

2.3 Parental involvement in preschool children’s homework in Tanzania

In Tanzania, like other countries, homework practice has been common in PPE,
especially in private preschools, to ensure children’s learning and development. This
study was conducted while recognising previous initiatives introduced by the
Tanzanian government to ensure parental involvement in their preschool children’s
education. Among the initiatives was the establishment of the Education and Training
Policy of 2014, a 2023 version and pre-primary curriculum of 2023 [49, 51]. The two
policy documents emphasise parents’ involvement in providing PPE for the
development of social skills and the preparation for primary education among
children. However, it should be noted that policy documents rarely provide guidelines
on how parents may support children’s homework activities at home to ensure
effective learning.

Studies on parental involvement in preschool children’s education in Tanzania
primarily focused on the general involvement of parents, such as buying school
materials, curriculum development, attending school meetings and learning, in
general, [12, 30, 44]. While parental involvement in homework activities
with children has been shown to contribute to overall children’s learning
and development[4, 54], in Tanzania, little has been documented on how
parents are involved in their preschool children’s homework activities. The
few available studies on homework, such as Mbogo [25, 26] in Tanzania,
rarely investigate parents’ experience in homework assistance among their
preschool children. This study aimed to explore perceived opportunities and
challenges experienced by parents in helping their preschool children with their
homework. It was expected that the findings would improve how parents
support children in doing homework to improve their academic and social skills
in the early years of learning, which builds the foundation of learning at
higher levels of education. Therefore, the study was guided by two research
questions.

2.4 Research questions

a.

What are the perceived learning opportunities for parents’ involvement in
supporting their children’s homework?

b.

What are the perceived challenges for parents’ involvement in supporting
their children’s homework?

2.5 Contributions of the study

This study was expected to raise awareness among educational stakeholders such as
teachers, parents and educational policymakers on the significance of parental
involvement in homework activities for their preschool children. Parents would be
informed of the benefits of assisting preschool children with homework. Also, parents
could provide appropriate support to their children’s homework while addressing
the challenges encountered. The study is significant as it would strengthen
teacher-parent collaboration to ensure children receive meaningful homework
activities to acquire early learning skills. Policymakers would understand
the current experiences of parental involvement in homework and devise
appropriate guidelines to ensure the effective involvement of parents in homework
activities.

2.6 Theoretical framework

This study was guided by the theory of parental involvement developed by Epsteins in
1996 [37]. The theory maintains that parental involvement focuses on parents’
interaction and interrelationship with the community in their function to promote
children’s education [14]. Children always learn through socialising with the
immediate agents of socialisation in society: school, family and community.
These agents are more important spheres in influencing children’s academic
achievements. The theory suggests six categories for parents to overlap in preschool
academic activities: parenting communication, volunteering, learning at home,
decision-making and collaboration with the community [37]. The author believes that
if preschool teachers and parents work together to implement learning activities
through all six involvement categories, it can increase children’s academic
performance.

The theory recognises the importance of parents’ and teachers’ shared
and interrelated roles and responsibilities in children’s education. Epstein
further proposes that each school should recognise every child’s interest and
uniqueness and provide a family-like environment to make the child feel at home.
This makes learning a continuous process both at school and at home. The
theory also states that parents should play active school roles at home, like
helping their children with homework and other school-related activities,
promoting their academic achievement. This theory relates to the study in
that both the school and family are vital in socialising the child, and both
parties share equal responsibilities that overlap in meeting children’s preschool
educational needs. This study adopted Epstein’s theory due to its emphasis on the
need for parents to engage in their preschool children’s education, especially
in homework activities, to improve children’s learning and development in
general.

3 Methodological considerations

3.1 Research approach and design

This study used a qualitative approach to collect data from parents on their
experiences in assisting their preschool children with homework activities. The
qualitative approach involves discovering and describing participants’ experiences
in their own context by using in-depth interviews [28]. In this regard, the
qualitative approach was significant in obtaining parents’ views on learning
opportunities and challenges in assisting preschool children with homework. In
addition, the study employed a phenomenological design to explore parents’
learning opportunities and challenges in assisting pre-primary school children
in doing their homework. Specifically, a transcendental phenomenological
design was used to describe parents’ experiences assisting their children in
doing their homework. Transcendental phenomenology describes participants’
experiences of the phenomena under investigation while bracketing the researcher’s
assumptions on the phenomenon under investigation [29]. Transcendental
phenomenology was appropriate to this study as it supported the researcher in
describing parents’ opportunities and challenges in assisting children’s homework
[39].

3.2 Study area, sample and sampling methods

This study was conducted in Dodoma, a city in the Dodoma region of Tanzania.
Dodoma City is one of the seven districts constituting the Dodoma region. Dodoma
city was selected because it has many (56) private pre-primary schools compared to
other districts in the region [52]. The assumption was that many parents would have
children in these schools. Thus, it was necessary to explore their experiences assisting
their children with homework, as private schools often provide homework
compared to public pre-primary schools. Parents participating in this study were
conveniently sampled to share their experiences assisting children with homework.
The convenience sampling technique was deemed necessary in this study
as it helped the study to obtain parents who were available and willing to
respond to the interview questions [48]. In this regard, the study obtained 23
parents who participated. Parents’ demographic characteristics are provided in
table 1.

3.3 Data collection procedures

The study employed semi-structured interviews to collect data from parents regarding
their views on opportunities and challenges in assisting children with homework.
This study deemed a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions

necessary because it is a standard data collection method in qualitative studies;
thus, it helped the researcher obtain first-hand information directly from
parents [57]. Practically, in-depth person-to-person interviews in the form of
conversations were conducted. The interview sessions were conducted at
the parents’ premises at their convenience. The interview sessions took 20
to 30 minutes per parent. Data were recorded in the field notebooks and
audiotape recorders during the interview sessions to facilitate transcription during
analysis.

3.4 Ethical considerations

The ethical issues associated with human subjects research were considered in this
study. Before the data collection process commenced, informed consent was obtained
from each parent involved in the study. Thus, no parent was forced to participate
in the study. This was possible after the researcher explained the study’s
purpose and how parents would participate. Moreover, parents were assured
about the confidentiality of the information and that the data they gave
would be reported without disclosing the participants who provided them.
Anonymity was ensured by assigning letters to the informants instead of their
names.

3.5 Data analysis procedures

The data recorded in the field notebooks and audio tape recorder from parents were
subjected to thematic analysis. Thematic analysis was employed in this study because
it is a standard data analysis method in qualitative studies, which makes the findings
credible due to its openness and flexibility [7]. Specifically, the data analysis
process started with the transcription of the recorded data, and then the
translation process from Swahili, the language used in data collection, to
English was conducted. The researcher completed the translation process,
and later, verification was done by the translation experts. After that, the
next step was to read and reread each transcript to make sense of the data
through the coding process. In this step, inter-coder reliability was conducted
whereby two independent coders coded the same transcripts to maintain
consistency and transparency of the coding process and ensure the reliability of
the codes [38]. The inter-coder reliability value was 0.88, indicating a very
good agreement between the coders. Further, similar codes developed by
the two coders were merged to develop themes and categories for report
writing.

4 Results

This section presents the study’s results conducted in Dodoma City, Tanzania. The
study had two objectives: to investigate the learning opportunities in supporting
children’s homework as perceived by parents and the perceived challenges. Before
presenting the findings, the demographic information of the informants is presented in
table 1 below.

Table 1: Parents’ demographic characteristics (field data, 2024).

Educational level

Male

Female

Total

Secondary education

–

6

6

Bachelor degree

7

6

13

Master’s degree

3

1

4

Total

10

13

23

Data in table 1 reveal that the number of female parents participating in the
study was bigger than that of male parents. This conveys that female parents are
more flexible and willing to participate in the study than male parents. This could be
associated with the assumption that female parents participate more in assisting
children in doing homework than male parents. However, the focus of this study was
not to find out whether male or female parents participate more in assisting with
homework; instead, it was necessary to find out gender participation for a better
interpretation of the findings. Regarding the educational level, parents with
bachelor’s degrees outnumbered those with other levels of education, such as
secondary education and a master’s degree. This implies that most parents
involved in the study possessed a higher level of education in a way that
they could be in a position to assist their children in doing their homework.
Further findings regarding parents’ experiences supporting their pre-primary
school children doing homework are presented by reflecting on the research
questions.

4.1 The learning opportunities for parents in supporting children with
homework

This objective sought to investigate potential learning experiences for parents
helping their preschool children with homework. The data analysis shows
that parents had shared and diverse learning opportunities in supporting
children with their homework. Figure 1 presents responses from interviewed
parents on the learning opportunities gained in assisting children with their
homework.

Fig. 1: Parents’ learning opportunities in supporting their children’s homework
(field data, 2024).

Data generated using face-to-face, in-depth interviews with parents indicate
diverse perspectives among participants regarding the opportunities to support
children’s homework. Specifically, the analysis revealed that most parents believed
that assisting children’s homework made them learn new knowledge. Parents
expressed that when they assisted their children in doing homework, they
acquired new knowledge and skills unfamiliar to them. On this, one parent
responded:

I learned various concepts that I did not know previously. Nowadays, our
children are learning things that we have not learned. For example, how
they learn letters differs from what we used to. They pronounce them by
their sound, like ‘a’ they pronounce it /a/ while we pronounce it /ei/.

(Parent X, 2024)

The quote above indicates that when parents assist their children with homework,
they acquire new knowledge regarding the homework content. This implies that the
involvement of parents during homework with their children improves parents’
knowledge and skills. Therefore, parents would be in a good position to assist their
children with homework assigned at school to improve children’s learning and
development.

Regarding awareness of children’s academic progress, the responding parents
expressed that they knew their children’s academic progress by assisting them with
homework. Parents believed that by assisting children in answering different
questions, they could know whether children understood what was being
taught in school each day. About this, one parent was quoted as saying the
following:

Assisting my child with her homework helps me monitor her academic
progress. This is because I use this time to cross-check the previous and
current exercises. There, I observed whether there was an improvement
compared to the previous exercises regarding scores and handwriting.
Now, I know whether my child’s handwriting/scores have improved or
not.

(Parent Z, 2024)

The quote above indicates that helping children do their homework simplifies and
influences parents to know their children’s academic progress. This implies that for

parents, doing homework together with their children helps to know if a child has
understood/ mastered what was taught in previous lessons. Also, through this, it is
easy for parents to assess their children’s daily academic progress, whether positive or
negative, so they can take proper action to promote their children’s academic
achievements.

Further analysis of the findings revealed that parents’ involvement in assisting
children’s homework improved the parent-child relationship. Parents explained that
when they assisted children in doing homework, they created a positive relationship
as both parents and children had the opportunity to share various issues regarding
their welfare. In doing so, their relationship increased; one parent further explained
it:

When I assist my child with homework, my child uses that time to tell
me various stories about school, his best friends, and around home. I also
use that time to encourage him to behave at school and at home. So, we
are having a conversation that strengthens our relationship.

(Parent Y,
2024)

The quote above states that parents’ involvement in doing homework with their
children is vital for forming strong relationships among them. This implies that,
through homework, parents would understand their children’s needs, interests, friends,
likes, and other things. Knowing this would help parents know how to develop their
children academically.

While most parents concentrated on the learning opportunities mentioned above,
other parents (19%) believed that supporting children with homework increased their
ability to remember and master the contents easily. According to some of the
interviewed parents, helping their children with homework made it easier for them to
remember and master the content learnt. This was expressed by parent X, who was
quoted as saying:

You know what? Most of the time, my child comes with homework, and
I discover that the tasks are based on what he learned at school on that
particular day. So, the homework given is just to make him exercise more
of what he learned at school. Thus to me, I think that is good as I can
see my child mastering the contents

(Parent X, 2024)

The quotation above implies that doing homework together (parent and child)
increases children’s ability to remember and master the subject content. When
parents ask their children questions about what was taught in school or a previous
lesson, it helps them remember and explain it.

However, it was found that parents rarely pinpoint the increase in independent
study habits among children as among the learning opportunities in supporting them
with their homework. Although parents lowly prioritised this, its importance to
children’s learning cannot be understated. Parents clarified that assigning homework
helps children cultivate independent study habits. They claimed that it was
sometimes good to assign children homework, particularly on weekends or holidays, to
keep them busy and focused on their homework. About this, one parent
expressed:

I watch my child in her room every evening as she works attentively on
her homework. She closes the door and does not want anyone to bother
her unless she needs help, which is when you might hear her call for help.
This is good, in my opinion, because she is learning how to learn on her
own.

(Parent Z, 2024)

Parent Z’s statement highlights the importance of homework activities in
facilitating independent learning. This implies that children learn how to concentrate
and discover various concepts and skills independently through homework.
These skills are essential for children as they improve their motivation and
confidence.

Generally, parents perceived learning opportunities as supporting their children, as
shown in their homework. Most parents expressed that assisting children in doing
homework increased their knowledge about the content they were taught and the
methods teachers used to teach their children. Also, it was noted that parents were
taking this chance to help their children as a learning opportunity for new things
since the contents keep changing day by day. Moreover, the relationship between
parents and their children increased, and parents became aware of their children’s
academic progress.

4.2 Perceived challenge for parents’ involvement in supporting children do their
homework

Data collected for this objective were analysed to explore the perceived challenges for
parents’ involvement in assisting children with homework. The analysis of the findings
reveals that parents cited different constraints they were experiencing in
supporting their children with homework. Figure 2 summarises parents’ responses
on the challenges they were experiencing in supporting their children with
homework.

Fig. 2: Parents experienced challenges supporting their children’s homework
(field data, 2024).

Analysis of the data collected from the interviews conducted with parents revealed
that the most frequently mentioned challenge was that it was time-consuming when it
came to helping their children do their homework activities. Participants agreed that
assisting with children’s homework was time-consuming as making their children
understand specific content took a long time. They expressed that assisting children’s
homework took too long as they needed to motivate them and explain the concepts
with examples for them to understand clearly. Reacting to this, one of the parents
revealed the following:

I spend much time assisting with my child’s homework. You may find you
start assisting her, but a few seconds later, she wants to play something.
So, I needed to wait until she finished her play, and then we proceeded
with the homework exercise. In the end, I found that I spent almost two
hours on homework exercises. That is too much for me, given the many
activities I must do apart from helping my child.

(Parent Y, 2024)

The statement given by parent Y highlights that parents were spending extended
time assisting their children with homework. This implies that the homework
exercise affected parents’ engagement in other activities required for the
family’s welfare. Thus, they were seen as engaging in it as a time-consuming
activity.

Besides, the parents who participated in the study reported that assisting children
in doing their homework was a stressful and tedious activity even for children. Parents
explained that some children were afraid to be taught by their parents just because
they were not teachers. Consequently, parents also felt it was tedious helping
their children accomplish some homework tasks because of their many daily
duties at work and home. This was confirmed by one parent who said the
following:

Assisting children with their homework is indeed very exhausting.
Sometimes, you assist the child, but she does not believe in your
assistance. At the end of the day, you become frustrated and choose to
let her go on her own. Sometimes, after a tiring day at work, you come
home and find your child’s homework waiting for you.

(Parent M, 2024)

Moreover, the results based on the data collected from parents show that
insufficient knowledge of teaching strategies among parents was among the prominent
challenges some parents encountered when helping their children do their homework.
It was revealed that parents believed that teaching children was not an easy task that
everyone could do; instead, it was a professional activity that someone needed skills to
do effectively. Therefore, to effectively assist children in doing their homework, one
needs to have some basic teaching strategies used in teaching early children. Some
parents, especially those with a low level of education, reported failing to help
their children do homework at home effectively. They would just give them
directions on how to do such homework. For instance, some parents found helping
children do homework about reading literacy without having the knowledge of
teaching preschool children difficult because they did not have skills that would
make them do that correctly. This was noted when parent Y explained the
following:

You know, these teachers of young children have the skills to teach them.
For example, I am a secondary school teacher but do not know the
techniques to teach a young child. That is why we often end up arguing
with the children; we know nothing of the methodology required to teach
them. These things really require expertise.

(Parent Y, 2024)

The assertion by Parent Y regarding parents’ lack of professional skills indicates
that parents were aware that teaching young children was a professional endeavour
that required someone with pedagogical knowledge and skills.

Similarly, the findings pinpointed that homework contents were too heavy and
oversized for children. Parents explained that some homework activities given to
their children were too heavy and oversized for them. Taking examples from
mathematics/science subjects’ homework, some parents were not educated at all, so
they did not have any understanding of some subject content. This ignorance proved
to be a real challenge to them when children brought such homework, and they failed
to understand the subject matter, thus failing to help them with their homework.
However, this was not a problem for educated parents because they comprehensively
understood academic issues. This was revealed when parent X expressed the
following:

To be honest, these days, children get really difficult homework. The
questions exceed their age level. When you start assisting him, you both
struggle to find the answers. This is especially because we are unfamiliar
with the subjects they are studying. As you watch the child struggle,
you cannot help but feel sorry for him.

(Parent X, 2024)

The quote above implies that homework given to children was inappropriate for
their age. As a result, they, with their parents, were spending too much time finding
answers for the given tasks. In contrast, children whose parents were educated were
being assisted in doing their homework, thus highlighting the need to have some basic
knowledge for parents.

Additionally, the findings from in-depth interviews with parents indicated a lack of
concentration among children as another challenge they were experiencing when it
came to assisting their children with homework. Parents reported that children
tended to lose concentration when assisted in doing homework because of their
relationship with their parents. They explained that since parents were not teachers,
some children took it easy, thus not listening carefully when being assisted compared
to when their teachers taught them at school. They clarified that, compared to when
they received instructions from their teachers at school, some children were not taking
their parents very seriously when receiving assistance from them because these
parents were not teachers. In connection to this, one parent was quoted as
saying:

My child frequently loses focus when I help him with his homework.
If you help him, you might notice that he starts playing with his toys
hardly three minutes after you have started the lesson. Thus, you should
hold off doing his homework until he feels like sustaining interest again.

(Parent Y, 2024)

The study findings generally indicate that assisting children with homework has
greater benefits for parents and children. As the participants reported, this is
because assisting children with homework improves child-parent attachment
and relationships. This relationship is important for children in developing
cognitive, emotional, and social skills that are important for their growth and
learning.

5 Discussion

5.1 Perceived learning opportunities in supporting children with homework

The findings indicate that parental participation in assisting children with homework
is crucial for enhancing good relationships with children. Through homework, parents

are likely to develop a deeper understanding of their children’s strengths and
weaknesses in the sense that they can support them to meet their learning needs.
Similar to what the parents in this study reported, Wang [54] also found that
parental involvement in homework activities improved children’s acquisition of early
knowledge and parent-child partnership. More findings indicate that parental
involvement in homework significantly impacts an increased parent-child interaction
[1, 45]. This indicates that parents can develop a sense of self-motivation and
responsibility through homework.

As the study established, parental engagement in homework activities increases
children’s mastering of the content, making parents understand their children’s
academic progress. Parents who assisted their children with homework activities could
know their children’s academic progress. Similar to the finding of this study, Mwania
et al. [33] and Chophel and Choeda [4] maintain that parental involvement
in children’s education through participating in school activities and other
home-based learning, like homework, contributes to holistic learning outcomes.
With such participation, it is likely that parents will be able to identify and
understand the child’s potential and perhaps can be strengthened. Notably, higher
parents’ engagement in their children’s homework can serve as an avenue for
both collaborating and achieving intended learning outcomes, which in turn
improve academic performance [1, 3, 18, 22, 34, 47]. Other researchers have
also reported that parents’ involvement in homework can foster children’s
autonomy, good habits and emotional encouragement to struggling learners
[5, 26, 55].

5.2 Perceived challenges in supporting children with homework

In addition to the learning opportunities, the study’s participants revealed some
challenges they were experiencing in assisting preschool children with their homework.
It was reported that some parents were inadequately paying close attention to their
children’s homework. They felt that close homework supervision would compromise
their children’s ability to think independently. Similar findings have been reported
in other countries such as Kenya and Ghana that parents were not fully
involved in children’s academic activities and rarely assisted their children with
homework, which in turn negatively affected children’s academic performance
[17, 31, 53]. It should be noted that a lack of good relationships between
children and parents in homework supervision may create a hostile environment,
which may lead to poor learning achievement, stress, anxiety and negative
attitudes towards schoolwork. Thus, it makes sense to note that parents are
responsible for building trust among children during homework supervision to
enhance the relationship with their children, thus promoting their well-being in
general.

The findings also highlighted that insufficient knowledge of teaching strategies
among parents was compromising their ability to supervise homework. This created
an impression that some parents were misleading their children, which might result in

inadequate learning attainment. It should be noted that when parents lack adequate
understanding of the homework expectations, they may struggle to assist the child,
which may cause some frustrations for both. In other similar studies, it has been
reported that parents’ involvement in their children’s homework was minimal due to
several factors such as limited knowledge, inadequate time, poor and late
communication [8, 9, 42]. A descriptive study conducted in Ghana indicated that
parents had confused their children with different teaching techniques in the sense
that they were using teaching homework instructional strategies that were different
from those used in the classroom by teachers [17]. As a result, about 60% of the
parents complained about the new subject matter and modern ways of responding to
subjects like mathematics questions compared to their days at school [17].
Again, some parents felt limited engagement in their children’s homework
due to repetitive, lengthy, tedious, overloaded content, which sometimes
generated frustration, discouragement, and emotional reactions such as crying,
abandonment, anxiety, and sleep deprivation [36]. Although the current study did not
explore teachers’ perspectives about homework, other research indicates a
lack of a general standard for setting homework, and most teachers lack
professional development for homework planning [46]. This indicates that there
could be a mismatch between what teachers know and plan for children and
parents’ knowledge about what is given to children. This mismatch may lead to
variations in developing a proper understanding of key concepts and essential
skills in their learning, which detrimentally may hinder their overall learning
progress.

The current study also indicated that parents felt time limitations in helping
children with homework due to their work commitments, economic activities and
household obligations. In such a situation, it is difficult for parents to provide
adequate guidance for their children’s homework, which may affect their children’s
learning attainment. Lack of parental support may also lead to poor home-school
relationships as teachers may consider it negligence. Other studies point out lack of
awareness, busy schedules, poverty, low self-efficacy and limited parental care as some
of the factors that compromise their ability to engage in their children’s
homework [4, 11, 56]. Likewise, Ujudi [50] found that most parents had poor
parental involvement in academic matters of their children due to poor parental
awareness concerning academic issues, poor parental attitude and some cultural
backgrounds.

Despite parents’ enthusiasm to engage in their children’s homework, they
opposed their engagement in their children’s homework as it compromised the
family life [43]. These findings convey that homework may increase learning
inequalities as children from families with low levels of education may not
benefit fully from parents’ support. Children from disadvantaged families
may also face extreme challenges as they are usually marginalised. It has
been reported that children from low socio-economic families, where the
parents have a low level of education or are illiterate, experience greater
marginalisation in getting access to learning [12, 44]. Children from marginalised
families may have limited exposure to learning opportunities and support

from families, which in turn may contribute to low aspirations about the
potential provided by education. It makes sense to conclude that poor support
from parents through homework can contribute to unequal access to learning
opportunities, which can contribute to the intergeneration of the poverty
cycle.

6 Conclusion and recommendations

The findings about parents’ perspectives on opportunities and drawbacks of
homework among pre-primary school children have revealed a number of insights.
First, parents appear to appreciate the role of homework in strengthening child-parent
relationships and reinforcing learning and discipline. More significantly, parents
acknowledge that homework is pivotal in helping them know the best ways to monitor
their children’s academic progress and behavioural changes or discipline. Moreover,
homework activities for preschool children have been shown to improve mastering the
subject contents. Despite these opportunities, parents also felt that children’s right to
play might be hindered by excessive homework. Furthermore, parents’ economic
activities and limited appropriate knowledge and skills inevitably affect their
engagement in helping children with homework. Parents were reporting several
indicators that homework pressure among children was likely to lead to excessive
stress and anxiety among children. Thus, providing clear guidance to parents on what
to do, considering the mismatch between what they know and the homework
requirement, is of equal importance for the effectiveness of the homework
activities.

Based on the findings reported by this study, the following recommendations are
made: Given that parents reported that homework improves parent-child positive
relationships and children’s overall learning, educational policymakers should devise a
clear guideline on how parents should engage in homework for their children with
them. Moreover, the study recommends that the school administration, through
parent-teacher meetings, should emphasise parents losing their children, helping them
with homework and following up on all issues concerning school matters. This will
help them be active in their children’s academic issues, thus strengthening
relationships with their children and bringing more openness and holistic behaviour
among them.

7 Study limitations

This study was limited to pre-primary schools in urban areas whose findings
are difficult to generalise to all parents in Tanzania, including those from
rural areas. In that regard, another study should be conducted involving
parents from rural areas to paint a general picture of their involvement in
homework activities. Also, further investigation should focus on comparing

parents’ activities/job and their involvement in homework activities by covering
large samples since the current study does not, even though it served the
purpose of the study. Nevertheless, this study rarely addressed teachers’
perspectives on homework practices among preschool children. Therefore, another
study should focus on teachers to strengthen teacher-parent collaboration
and promote effective homework practices. Lastly, the current study did
not critically analyse the cultural factors that may significantly enhance
attitudes and practices towards homework. Thus, its findings may not be
generalisable to other contexts with different characteristics. Again, further
ethnographic research may be carried out to provide a deeper understating
of cultural issues’ influence on the implementation of homework in various
contexts.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all the parents who spent their precious time participating in
this study in Dodoma City.

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