Added: I found an interesting review
(available here): Page 4:�Research and case studies in the UK and US suggest there be no more than 10 minutes of homework per school day in Year 1, increasing by up to 10 minutes a day with each year level to a maximum of two hours per day in Year 12. This maximum time allocation for each year level is generally consistent with national and international policies.
Overall it seems that some homework is better than too much or none at all, however the time on homework needs to be responsive to the student�s age and development. The research indicates that a �more homework the better� view is misleading and should not be the basis for policy and practice.�
From pages 6-7:Researchers in the past decade have not conclusively agreed on whether homework is effective in improving student achievement. Cooper and Valentine (2001) [found] that students who did homework generally outperformed students who did not. The authors found a low association between the amount of homework young students complete and their subsequent achievement and that the relationship between homework and achievement was moderated by the students� age and grade level (Cooper
and Valentine, 2001).
The evidence also suggests that although homework has a positive impact on student achievement, too much homework or homework not completed properly appears to reduce this positive effect.
Further evidence includes:
� The relationship between homework and achievement appears to be curvilinear, so that moderate amounts of time spent on homework are related to higher subject test scores, while a lot or very little time spent on homework is less productive (Keys et al., 1997).
