A study of 11-year-olds at the University of Durham has found that children who are given more homework do not perform better in tests than those who do very little - and often they perform worse.

This is the latest piece of research questioning the government's policy of encouraging more homework in primary schools.

Research by King's College, London also found that homework made little impact on pupils' maths skills

Last month, researchers from King's College, London claimed that a two-year survey showed that homework makes little impact on raising standards in maths in primary school.

The University of Durham survey of 20,000 pupils has found that those who received only one piece of homework a month were more successful than those who did much more or none at all.

Comparisons of children of similar ability and home backgrounds showed that those given more homework were likely to perform less well in tests for maths, science and English than their counterparts who are only given occasional homework tasks.

Rejecting simplistic views

The results reject the "simplistic view" of homework that more is better, says Steve Farrow, a director of teacher training in the university's education department.

"It shows that there is no clear relationship between increasing homework and improving standards," he said.

The quality of learning is more important than the quantity, says Dr Farrow, with most "quality learning" taking place in the classroom.

There is a wide variation in the effectiveness of the homework set by teachers, he says, and children can struggle to work on their own. There are also problems with the home environment for some children.

This research contradicts the efforts of the government to encourage primary schoolchildren to be given more homework, with the Department for Education recommending that 11-year-olds should have 30 minutes a night, plus additional reading.