UK pupils do more homework than many European countries

School pupils in the UK are given more homework than many other European countries, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Teenagers in the UK take home more work from school than those in countries such as Finland, Germany, Sweden and Austria, but far less than pupils in Singapore and Shanghai.

Italy, Ireland and Poland also had higher levels of homework than the UK.

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The OECD found that the UK has one of the widest gaps in homework hours between wealthy and disadvantaged pupils.

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director of education, told the BBC that the difference in homework hours carried out by richer and poorer students might be related to a lack of space to study and the amount of help parents could offer with the work.

He suggested that schools could help bridge the gap by providing a space where pupils could do their homework in school.

The time spent on homework is linked to higher achievement, said Schleicher. However, Finland and South Korea are examples of countries that achieve high results with some of the lowest levels of homework.

The weekly average for the UK was five hours, but the OECD said this was balanced with figures from young people who appeared to do almost no homework at all.

Here are the countries/cities that offer the highest levels of homework:

1. Shanghai

2. Russia

3. Singapore

4. Kazakhstan

5. Italy

6. Ireland

7. Romania

8. Estonia

9. Lithuania

10. Poland