Why Are Some Countries Removing Homework From Schools?

For generations, homework has seemed almost inseparable from school.

A teacher explains a topic during the day.

Students go home.

They complete exercises, write essays, memorize vocabulary or finish worksheets.

The next morning, they bring the work back.

So why are some countries reducing homework—and, in certain primary-school grades, removing compulsory written homework altogether?

The answer is not that governments have suddenly decided children should stop learning after school.

The real debate is about whether more homework automatically means more learning.

Evidence increasingly suggests that the relationship is more complicated.

Homework can reinforce material, develop independent study habits and help older students practice difficult skills. But its benefits depend heavily on age, quality, quantity and the student’s home environment.

Too much homework can consume time that might otherwise go to sleep, physical activity, reading, hobbies, family interaction and unstructured play.

It can also magnify inequality. A child with a quiet room, high-speed internet, educated parents and private tutoring experiences homework very differently from a child sharing one room with several siblings or helping with family responsibilities after school.

Those concerns have pushed several education systems to reconsider the traditional model.

Poland introduced major restrictions on primary-school homework in 2024 and adjusted the system again in 2026. China prohibits written homework for first- and second-grade primary pupils and imposes time limits on older students. Finland has not banned homework—as internet myths often claim—but students there have historically reported relatively modest homework loads.

Meanwhile, the latest OECD data show a wider international shift: students across OECD countries reported spending about 1.4 hours per day on homework in 2025, around 11% less than in 2022.

So the real story of countries reducing homework is not about abandoning education.

It is about asking a harder question:

How much homework actually helps—and when does extra work stop being useful?

Countries Reducing Homework: What Is Actually Happening?

Country / System	Policy or Pattern	What It Really Means
Poland	Major restrictions in primary schools	Youngest pupils do not receive specified written/practical homework; older primary pupils have mostly non-compulsory written homework
China	Strict homework limits in compulsory education	No written homework for Grades 1–2; time limits for older pupils
Finland	Relatively low reported homework time	Homework exists; there is no national homework ban
Ireland	School-level discretion	Individual schools can reduce or redesign homework; no national ban
OECD overall	Homework time falling	Average reported daily homework fell 11% from 2022 to 2025

This distinction is important.

Very few countries have simply declared:

“Homework is abolished.”

Instead, countries reducing homework are usually changing one of three things:

• how much homework can be assigned;
• whether it is compulsory or graded;
• which ages should receive it.

1. Poland Became the Most Visible European Example

Poland attracted international attention in 2024 when new primary-school homework rules came into force.

But describing the reform as a complete national “homework ban” is inaccurate.

For pupils in Grades 1–3, teachers stopped assigning written and practical-technical homework to be completed during free time, with a limited exception for exercises designed to develop fine motor skills.

For pupils in Grades 4–8, written and practical assignments could still be given, but they were non-compulsory and initially could not receive conventional grades. Poland’s Education Ministry emphasized that studying at home—including reading books, revising material or learning vocabulary—had not been abolished.

That distinction makes Poland especially useful when examining countries reducing homework.

The government was not saying:

Children should never learn at home.

It was asking whether traditional written assignments should dominate children’s time after school.

Poland Adjusted the Rules Again in 2026

The policy also demonstrates that education reform is rarely final.

Following evaluation and debate, Poland modified the rules for the 2026/27 school year.

From September 1, 2026, practical-technical homework for Grades 4–8 could no longer be assigned for completion during free time. Written homework remained non-compulsory, but schools gained the option to allow completed voluntary written homework to contribute toward a higher annual grade under conditions set in school rules.

Teachers are also required to check completed written homework and provide feedback.

That is important because Poland did not simply move from:

homework → no homework.

It moved toward:

less compulsory homework → more feedback-focused and voluntary practice.

2. What Happened After Poland Reduced Homework?

Because the Polish reform has now been in place long enough to study, it provides unusually useful evidence.

In a government response published in January 2026, Poland’s Education Ministry summarized findings from an evaluation of the new rules.

Among the reported findings:

• the absence of assigned homework showed no statistically significant effect on eighth-grade examination results;
• more than 60% of school principals and more than 50% of teachers believed children had gained more time for rest, play and physical activity;
• 52% of teachers said the reforms reduced students’ educational workload;
• school leaders reported reduced student stress, particularly in Grades 4–8.

These findings do not prove that homework never improves learning.

They do show why countries reducing homework are willing to experiment.

If compulsory homework can be reduced without immediately causing measurable academic collapse, policymakers have more room to ask whether children’s time could be used differently.

Poland’s subsequent 2026 adjustment also shows policymakers trying to preserve useful practice and feedback rather than treating homework as entirely good or entirely bad.

3. China Has Strictly Limited Homework for Younger Students

China provides another major example, although its approach is better described as homework reduction than abolition.

Under national rules, primary-school pupils in Grades 1 and 2 should receive no written homework to complete at home.

For older pupils:

• Grades 3–6 should generally have no more than 60 minutes of written homework per day;
• junior middle-school students should generally have no more than 90 minutes per day.

China’s Ministry of Education also requires schools to avoid repetitive and punitive homework and encourages differentiated, flexible and practical assignments.

These measures became a major component of China’s broader “Double Reduction” policy, designed to reduce both excessive homework and excessive off-campus tutoring burdens for compulsory-education students.

China therefore offers another useful example of why the phrase countries reducing homework is more accurate than “countries banning homework.”

The aim is not zero learning after school.

The aim is to limit how much children’s evenings are dominated by formal academic work.

4. Finland Has Not Banned Homework

Few education myths spread as widely as:

“Finland has no homework.”

That is false.

Finnish students can and do receive homework.

What is true is that Finland has often reported relatively low homework time compared with many other education systems.

OECD’s PISA 2022 data showed that students in Finland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic reported less than one hour of homework per day, compared with an OECD average of about 1.5 hours.

That makes Finland relevant to the debate over countries reducing homework, but it should not be falsely described as a homework-free country.

Finland’s example raises a broader question:

If a school system can educate students without requiring several hours of work every evening, does homework volume itself really indicate educational seriousness?

Not necessarily.

Teaching quality, curriculum design, school resources, student support and the effectiveness of classroom instruction can matter more than simply increasing hours.

5. The Latest OECD Data Suggest Homework Is Already Declining

The shift is broader than a handful of government reforms.

OECD’s newly released PISA 2025 results found that students across OECD countries reported spending approximately 1.4 hours per day on homework.

That represents an 11% decline compared with 2022.

The drop was observed in almost all education systems with comparable data and was partly driven by fewer students reporting more than two hours of homework per day.

This does not necessarily mean governments are officially banning assignments.

Several changes could contribute:

• schools assigning less;
• more work being completed during school;
• changing teaching methods;
• greater use of supervised study;
• different attitudes toward workload.

But it shows that countries reducing homework are part of a larger educational conversation rather than isolated experiments.

6. More Homework Does Not Always Mean Better Results

One of the strongest arguments for reconsidering homework is that learning does not increase indefinitely with the number of hours assigned.

A classic research review by Harris Cooper and colleagues found generally positive links between homework and academic achievement, but the relationship was much stronger for secondary-school students than for younger primary pupils. Countries reducing homework

That distinction has shaped the modern homework debate.

A 16-year-old preparing for advanced mathematics is not developmentally equivalent to a 7-year-old completing worksheets after spending most of the day at school.

The latest OECD data provide another important clue.

PISA 2025 found an inverted U-shaped relationship between homework time and science performance.

Up to approximately two hours per day, homework time was associated with stronger performance.

Beyond that level, additional homework was associated with lower performance—although the OECD warns that causation cannot automatically be inferred because struggling students may simply need longer to complete the same work.

PISA 2022 showed a similar pattern in mathematics: moderate amounts were positively associated with achievement, while longer periods produced diminishing or negative associations.

So the research does not support either extreme:

Homework is useless.

or

More homework is always better.

Quality, age and workload matter.

7. Younger Children May Benefit Less From Traditional Homework

This is one of the major reasons reforms often begin in primary school.

Younger children spend significant portions of their day developing skills that are not measured easily through worksheets.

They need:

• physical movement;
• play;
• language interaction;
• social development;
• family interaction;
• sleep;
• curiosity-driven exploration.

The academic benefit of formal homework is also less consistently strong for younger children than for adolescents.

The Cooper research synthesis found the homework-achievement relationship was stronger in Grades 7–12 than in kindergarten through Grade 6.

That does not mean a young child should never read at home.

Reading with parents, practicing a difficult skill, exploring nature or finishing a meaningful project can be extremely valuable.

The criticism is aimed more strongly at large quantities of routine work whose educational purpose is unclear.

That distinction explains why countries reducing homework often start by removing compulsory written assignments for the youngest students rather than eliminating every form of home learning.

8. Too Much Homework Can Increase Stress

Another concern is student wellbeing.

A well-known Stanford study examined 4,317 students in high-achieving secondary schools.

Researchers found that 56% described homework as a primary source of stress. Students also reported sleep deprivation, exhaustion, headaches and reduced time for friends, family and extracurricular activities.

The researchers concluded that excessive homework could become counterproductive when workloads exceeded reasonable levels.

This study was conducted in relatively affluent, high-performing U.S. schools, so its findings should not automatically be generalized to every student worldwide.

But it demonstrates a real trade-off.

Adding another hour of homework does not add another hour to the day.

It removes an hour from something else.

Possibilities include:

sleep,

exercise,

family meals,

sports,

reading for pleasure,

creative activities,

or simply rest.

For students already facing long school days, tutoring and commuting, the cumulative burden can become substantial.

The News Ink’s guide to science-backed ways to improve sleep quality explains why consistent sleep is particularly important for attention, memory and overall health.

9. Homework Can Increase Educational Inequality

This may be one of the strongest policy arguments behind countries reducing homework.

Homework assumes a student has an environment in which learning can continue effectively after school.

But homes are not equal.

One child may have:

a private bedroom,

a laptop,

high-speed internet,

a parent with a university education,

paid tutoring,

and several hours of uninterrupted time.

Another may have:

no quiet study space,

shared devices,

poor internet access,

parents working late,

younger siblings to care for,

or paid work after school.

Give both students the same assignment and technically the teacher has treated them equally.

In reality, the conditions are completely different.

OECD research has warned that homework can contribute to educational inequality because socioeconomically advantaged students often have better resources and support for completing it.

The OECD identified differences in:

• quiet places to study;
• internet and computer access;
• parental assistance;
• school-based homework support.

This is why some policymakers argue that more important academic work should happen inside school, where teachers and resources are available more equally.

10. Homework Can Quietly Become Parents’ Work

Ask parents of young children about homework and another issue frequently emerges:

Who is really completing it?

A project may officially belong to a nine-year-old.

But one family provides expensive materials, edits the writing and builds half the model.

Another parent has neither the time nor technical knowledge to assist.

The final grades can therefore reflect family resources as much as student learning.

Poland’s Education Ministry specifically cited unequal parental resources when proposing its primary-school homework reform. It argued that homework quality and completion can depend significantly on parents’ education and capabilities, potentially placing disadvantaged children at a disadvantage.

That is another reason countries reducing homework increasingly prefer assignments that students can complete independently.

Good homework should reveal what the student understands.

Not how skilled the student’s parents are.

11. Schools Want Children to Have Time for Other Forms of Learning

Removing a worksheet does not create “empty” time.

A child might spend that hour:

reading,

playing football,

practicing music,

talking with family,

building something,

drawing,

cooking,

sleeping,

or pursuing a personal interest.

These activities may develop abilities schools also value:

creativity,

physical health,

communication,

independence,

problem solving,

and social skills.

Poland’s Education Ministry explicitly argued that its changes could give students more time for reading, preparing for assessments, pursuing interests, physical activity and rest.

This reflects a broader philosophical disagreement about education.

Is childhood primarily preparation for examinations?

Or should schools leave enough room for other forms of development?

Countries reducing homework are generally moving closer to the second position without necessarily rejecting academic practice altogether.

12. Schools Are Asking Whether Homework Is Designed Well

A page containing 50 nearly identical arithmetic problems is technically homework.

So is asking a student to interview a grandparent about family history.

So is reading a novel chapter.

So is designing a science experiment.

These tasks are not educationally equivalent.

Modern reform increasingly focuses on homework quality rather than simply quantity.

China’s Ministry of Education explicitly calls for:

• differentiated assignments;
• flexible homework;
• personalized tasks;
• scientific inquiry;
• practical activities;
• interdisciplinary work.

It simultaneously prohibits repetitive and punitive homework.

Poland’s 2026 rules similarly state that written homework for older primary pupils should reinforce, develop or allow practical application of material already taught in class, with completed work receiving teacher feedback.

That represents a meaningful shift.

Old question:

“How much homework did the teacher assign?”

New question:

“What exactly is this assignment helping the student learn?”

13. Artificial Intelligence Is Making Traditional Homework Harder to Evaluate

There is also a new twenty-first-century problem.

Generative AI can now produce:

essays,

summaries,

mathematics explanations,

computer code,

translations,

and answers to factual questions within seconds.

That means teachers increasingly have to reconsider what unsupervised take-home work actually measures.

A beautifully written essay completed at home may demonstrate:

student understanding,

parental assistance,

private tutoring,

internet research,

or AI assistance.

Sometimes it may combine all of them.

This does not mean homework must disappear because of AI.

It does mean assignment design must evolve.

Teachers can use:

oral explanation,

in-class writing,

draft histories,

personal reflection,

project work,

problem-solving processes,

and classroom discussion

to better assess whether students actually understand what they submit.

The News Ink’s guide to AI in education examines how generative AI is changing assessment, teaching and student learning.

The rise of AI gives countries reducing homework yet another reason to question assignments based mainly on unsupervised production of written answers.

Poland vs China vs Finland: Three Different Models

System	Approach	Homework Abolished?
Poland	Restricts compulsory primary homework, particularly written/practical tasks	No
China	Removes written home assignments for youngest grades and caps time for older students	No
Finland	Generally modest homework load compared with many countries	No
Ireland	Individual schools decide homework policy	No national ban

This table exposes one of the biggest problems with viral articles about countries reducing homework:

The word ban is frequently used when the policy is actually:

restriction,

time limit,

voluntary work,

younger-age exemption,

or school-level discretion.

Why Hasn’t Every Country Abolished Homework?

Because homework can still be useful.

There are legitimate educational arguments in its favor.

Homework Can Reinforce Learning

Retrieval and practice can strengthen memory.

Students learning mathematics, vocabulary, languages or science may benefit from repeated practice beyond classroom time.

Homework Can Build Independent Study Habits

Older students eventually need to manage projects, revision and deadlines without constant teacher supervision.

Secondary school can provide practice for university and professional life.

Class Time Is Limited

Teachers cannot always provide enough individual practice during lessons.

Some Students Need Extra Practice

A student who has not mastered multiplication or grammar may benefit from targeted practice.

Parents Can See What Children Are Learning

Well-designed assignments can give families insight into classroom material.

That is why serious educational reform rarely argues that all homework is always harmful.

The debate is mostly about quantity, age and design.

Is Two Hours the Maximum Students Should Ever Do?

Not necessarily.

The latest OECD data show an average performance pattern rather than a universal medical limit.

PISA 2025 found science performance was positively associated with homework time up to a threshold around two hours per day and negatively associated beyond it. However, OECD explicitly warns against interpreting this as proof that doing more than two hours causes worse scores.

Struggling students may simply take longer.

Older students preparing for major examinations may occasionally need longer study sessions.

Different subjects require different types of practice.

So governments should be cautious about turning one statistical relationship into a rigid universal rule.

The central lesson is simply:

more time does not guarantee more learning.

The Difference Between Homework and Studying at Home

This is another point frequently lost in the debate.

Removing compulsory homework does not mean removing all study outside school.

Poland’s government explicitly clarified this.

Students can still be expected to:

read assigned books,

learn vocabulary,

revise material,

prepare for tests,

memorize information,

and study independently.

That distinction matters.

Traditional Homework

Teacher assigns specific work due on a specific date. countries reducing homework

Independent Study

Student reviews or learns material outside class according to educational needs.

A system can reduce the first while still encouraging the second.

Could Less Homework Make Students Lazy?

There is no simple evidence supporting that conclusion.

Independent learning habits do matter.

But independence is not necessarily produced by assigning large piles of worksheets.

Schools can teach self-regulation through:

projects,

reading,

revision planning,

research,

goal setting,

classroom responsibility,

and voluntary practice.

PISA 2025 actually found that students reporting more homework time also tended to report higher curiosity, perseverance and goal setting, showing that homework can correlate with positive learning behaviors.

That is important evidence against treating homework as entirely negative.

The educational challenge is finding the point where useful independent practice becomes excessive workload.

Will More Countries Remove Homework?

A worldwide homework ban looks unlikely.

A broader move toward less compulsory homework for younger pupils and more purposeful homework for older students appears much more plausible.

Recent evidence points in that direction.

OECD homework time is already falling.

China has established strict limits.

Poland has implemented and then refined its primary-school restrictions.

Individual schools elsewhere are experimenting with homework-free days, reading-focused assignments or voluntary practice.

The likely future may therefore involve homework becoming:

shorter,

more age-appropriate,

more personalized,

less repetitive,

less dependent on parents,

and more clearly connected to classroom learning.

That is very different from abolishing it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are some countries removing homework?

The main reasons include concerns about excessive workload, student stress, sleep, unequal home environments and weak evidence that large amounts of homework improve learning—particularly for young children.

Which countries have banned homework?

Very few countries have completely banned homework nationwide. Poland restricts specific forms of primary-school homework, while China bans written homework for first- and second-grade pupils and caps it for older students. Finland has not banned homework.

Did Poland ban homework?

Not completely. Poland stopped specified written and practical homework for Grades 1–3 and made most written homework for Grades 4–8 non-compulsory. Other home study remains possible. Rules were further adjusted in September 2026.

Does China have homework?

Yes. China has not eliminated homework. Written homework is prohibited for first- and second-grade primary students, while older primary pupils generally have a 60-minute limit and junior middle-school pupils a 90-minute limit.

Has Finland banned homework?

No. Finnish students receive homework. OECD data simply show comparatively low reported homework time, with Finnish students averaging under an hour per day in PISA 2022.

Does homework improve grades?

Research generally finds benefits, particularly for older students, but results vary by age, assignment type and quantity. The homework-achievement relationship is weaker for younger primary-school children.

Can too much homework hurt performance?

OECD data show diminishing returns. PISA 2025 found an inverted U-shaped relationship between homework time and science performance, with performance no longer improving once homework became very lengthy. This is an association and does not prove that excessive homework itself caused lower scores.

Does homework increase inequality?

It can. Students differ significantly in access to quiet study areas, devices, internet, tutoring and parental help. OECD research has highlighted these disparities as a concern.

What should replace excessive homework?

Possible alternatives include supervised practice at school, reading, targeted exercises, project work, physical activity, practical learning and assignments designed around specific educational needs rather than volume.

The Homework Debate Is Really About What Childhood Is For

The story of countries reducing homework can easily be turned into a false argument between two extremes.

One side supposedly believes children should work constantly.

The other supposedly wants children to do nothing after school.

Real education policy is far more complicated.

Homework can work.

Practice matters.

Reading matters.

Revision matters.

Students eventually need to become independent learners.

But quantity alone is not quality.

The latest OECD evidence shows that students across OECD countries now report about 1.4 hours of homework per day, down approximately 11% from 2022. It also shows that the relationship between homework and performance is not linear: more time helps only to a point.

Research has consistently found stronger academic benefits for older students than for young children.

Poland’s experience is especially instructive.

Its restrictions gave primary students more time away from compulsory assignments, and an evaluation found no statistically significant effect on eighth-grade exam performance while teachers and school leaders reported reductions in workload and stress. Poland nevertheless refined the rules in 2026 rather than treating the original reform as untouchable.

China provides a different model: formal limits rather than broad optionality.

Finland demonstrates that a comparatively low-homework system is not the same as a homework-free system.

Together, these examples explain what countries reducing homework are really trying to accomplish.

They are not necessarily asking:

“Should children study after school?”

They are asking:

“Which work is important enough to take children away from everything else they need to do?”

That includes sleep. Countries reducing homework

Exercise.

Family.

Friends.

Reading.

Creative interests.

Independent learning.

And simply having enough time to recover before another school day begins.

The most likely future of homework is therefore not zero homework.

It is better homework.

Shorter when students are young.

More purposeful when they are older.

Less repetitive.

More independent.

More equitable.

And assigned because it genuinely improves learning—not simply because generations of students before them were expected to do it.

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