The Association of Mothers and Fathers (Ampa) of Lanzarote will support the homework strike that will begin this weekend nationwide at the initiative of the Spanish Confederation of Associations of Parents of Students (Ceapa). The president of the Ampa of the Island, Iván Martín, explained on Radio-Lanzarote Onda Cero that the homework strike that will be held for the first time in Spain "is not a matter of whim" and clarified that this "does not mean that teachers do not assign homework, since they can always assign the usual tasks from Monday to Thursday." He even added, "they could assign homework on Friday, but as long as they have weekdays to do it." For example, set homework for the following Thursday, so they have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to do it.
"We also launched a series of activities that parents could join, to also complement education and cultural and social values." In this case, the president of the Ampa on the Island does not speak of tasks but "of conversing in the family union about some issue of tolerance, groups or visiting a museum," he clarified.
As the educational system is currently set up, "we have cases of children who enter class at 8 in the morning and do not stop until 7 in the afternoon. If you add to that the fact that they bring material to do at home, it adds to that lack of time," he stated.
"We are talking about a custom that is accepted by the majority of parents and that is why homework is sent home. But relationships and times are changing and, in the end, it is necessary to bring it to debate to reach a consensus on the subject and amount of homework", he stressed. Above all, "to see what kind of education we want for our children".
Regarding the debate that this initiative has sparked about whether it is diminishing the authority of the teacher, Martín absolutely denies it. "This is really not the case, because if teachers collaborate a little in this campaign - I am sure that most will do so with pleasure - there will be no conflict," he declared.
I believe that in those cases in which 80% of the class complains that they have a lot of homework, the procedure "begins by talking to the teacher himself and explaining that we are doing a campaign that aims to "loosen" the action of assigning homework because, perhaps, they can be recovered with other activities".
The president of the Ampa believes that despite this conflict, he does not think that they will "encounter a negative environment because there is no legal basis that requires homework to be sent home," he asserted.
In this same line, he recalled that "even the Constitutional Court set a limit to the institutional pressure on the issue of homework. It justified that the time outside of school hours belongs to the parents and was unavailable to the school".
On the other hand, Martín has stressed that there are different issues that should not be mixed, such as the case that in a class only one student complains about their homework. "We should not enter into that particularity because, in that case, perhaps we are talking about that child having a harder time," he insisted.
What the president of the Ampa is referring to is the cases in which, for example, two twins go to different classes and in the same family situation they find that one has homework and the other does not." "Then we are not being fair or equal," he assured.
"Another thing is that you ask your teacher or that your teacher tells you that your child needs reinforcement and is assigning you homework, these are different issues, since it is legitimate for you to ask the teacher for homework for your child," he specified.
However, "we are advocating for those parents who cannot raise their voices because it is a custom to send homework home, and we find that there are many parents who do not want that for their children, since it creates a constant problem with the child. Because if the child does not know the lesson, it creates the problem that I have to spend money on sending him to an academy," he argued.
"We are not talking about the custom itself established, but about the problems that are occurring because of it in families," concluded the president of the Ampa.
