Homework around the world: How much is too much?

Every child's dream is, it turns out, many New York parents' nightmare. A public school for primary-aged children in New York has decided to end all homework assignments, but angry parents have responded by threatening to pull their kids out of the school.

Teachers at P.S. 116 on East 33rd Street, Manhattan, have stopped asking children to work on maths problems and English essays at home, and are instead telling kids to play outside.

The head teacher, Jane Hsu, wrote to parents telling them that studies on the effects of homework in primary school "could not provide any evidence that directly links traditional homework practices with current, or even future, academic success."