Home as a site of educational governance: how caregivers’ enforcement of homework reflects the devolution of school accountability

In England’s high-stakes accountability regime, schools routinely depend on parents to secure academic performance beyond the school day. This article conceptualises homework as a policy technology of governance that responsibilises caregivers and extends performative accountability into the domestic sphere, a perspective that has received limited attention in UK education policy research. Drawing on a sequential mixed-methods study across three secondary schools in England, the research explores how school expectations are translated into family routines and how they are associated with adolescents’ use of time and experiences of stress. Stage 1 data indicate associations between homework hours, perceived stress and reduced perceived adequacy of free time, while Stage 2 data illustrate how caregivers internalise school logics, moralise time and enforce homework even when recognising its pressures. The article makes a fourfold contribution. Conceptually, it applies theories of governmentality and responsibilisation to explain how homework operates as accountability within family life. Empirically, it shows how governance logics are enacted through caregivers’ everyday practices and relate to adolescents’ stress and discretionary time. Contextually, it situates these dynamics within England’s accountability reforms. Practically, it highlights how responsibility may be more evenly balanced and adolescents’ access to restorative leisure better supported.