Parents would be better off reading to their children than spending hours nagging them to complete their homework, a Canberra education expert says.
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Australian children complete an average of six hours of homework a week, which is the fifth highest amount among developed countries and above the average 4.9 hours, an OECD report found.
And it has sparked a backlash as more schools and parents in the ACT opt out of the homework cycle to maximise teacher's time and take pressure off families.
Watson's Bianca Brownlow said her decision to send her two children to the independent Blue Gum School in Canberra's north was due in part to its homework-free ethos.
She said it allowed her son, Murphy Elkins, seven, to play outside and spend time measuring objects, writing stories and making craft projects.
"We often feel grateful there's no homework because I don't see how we would fit it in.
"It would take away from some of those beautiful, spontaneous, creative things he gets to do which are actually really educational."
"There's got to be time to be bored and find out what your interests are," Ms Brownlow said.
Wanniassa mother-of-two Larissa McGrath moved her daughter, Madelone, seven, to a Catholic primary school earlier this year partly because the public school she attended didn't give homework.
"She was saying, 'I'm really worried I don't have homework, I'm not going to learn.'"
Ms McGrath valued homework to monitor her daughter's progress and foster a routine before she started high school.
"It's not like it's a lot of time, it's 10 minutes of reading and 10 minutes of a few maths questions or writing."
She said it left plenty of time for other activities and she counted being able to help her daughter with her education as family time.
"As a parent, you do have to sit down and take that time to help them, which maybe not all parents can do."
University of Canberra senior lecturer in language and literacy Misty Adoniou said although homework was often an unquestioned part of school education, there was no evidence to suggest it improved learning outcomes for young children.
"It's wrong for people to assume that homework is important in terms of educational outcomes when research suggests it's not and, for a significant proportion of students, it's not good."
She said teachers often didn't like marking homework because they didn't know if the child completed it, and many parents resented the time it took away from family activities.
"That pressure of having to nag kids to have to do their homework doesn't help relationships at home."
Dr Adoniou said reading out loud with a parent would help young children learn, give them a thirst for knowledge and build their vocabulary. Time to pursue their own interests and imagination was also vital.
"We're too busy trying to fill empty spaces that kids are very capable of filling themselves."
