Time for homework
Doxic expectations on parents’ use of time in the home-school relationship
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24020282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emilia Howker (0000-0003-1775-504X, University of Manchester), Laura Black (0000-0002-3845-0459, University of Manchester, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-06 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Sociology of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0142-5692 • E-ISSN: 1465-3346 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01425692.2026.2709061 |
| OpenAlex | W7197041314 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
This paper analyses how time functions in the home-school relationship focusing on homework in the primary school as a site for parental engagement. Through a Bourdieusian analysis, we highlight how time is central to the conversion of homework into cultural capital and how doxic expectations regarding parents’ use of time misrecognises the ‘true’ function of homework as cultural compensation for non-dominant families. We present interview dialogue with Emma, a working-class, single-mother and her son’s teacher (Mrs Higgins), who each discussed time for homework in contrasting ways. Emma discusses a sense of impossibility in managing time for homework, whilst Mrs Higgins frames homework as necessary compensation for the lack of ‘quality time’ parents engage in. Critical here is the first author’s dual role as fellow parent and researcher. Using Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology, we interrogate her subjectivity in both roles, highlighting how this helps reveal the cultural arbitrariness of homework.
Arbitrariness · Compensation (psychology) · Cultural capital · Cultural reproduction · Ethnography · Function (biology) · Impossibility · Reflexivity · Subjectivity · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Parental Involvement in Education · Social and Cultural Dynamics
Do parents know they matter? Engaging all parents in learning
The Forms of Capital
Unequal Childhoods
Time Perspectives of the Kabyle
Outline of a Theory of Practice
The Logic of Practice
Figured Worlds in the Field of Power
Miseducation
Making it work for their children
The children have only got one education and you have to make sure it's a good one’
A labour of love
The social construction of time in contemporary education
Doing time in the sociology of education
They’d already made their minds up’
Putting working-class mothers in their place
Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home—school relations, with particular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents
You Need to Be More Responsible”
Time for Bourdieu
Meanings of Homework and Implications for Practice
The Motivational Benefits of Homework
Doing the Dirty Work of Social Class? Mothers' Work in Support of their Children's Schooling
A Useful Extension of Bourdieu's Conceptual Framework
Visible pedagogic work
Central Problems in Social Theory
Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships
Towards a Reflexive Sociology
Social Time
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |