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Chinese children have long stood out in Australia with their high scores in  final school exams,  and  a new study has found the secret to their success: good home-study habits instilled by their parents  from an early age.
In the first investigation of its kind, researchers at University of Western Sydney looked at how children from different ethnic groups in their fourth year at primary school reacted in class and how much homework they did after school.
Among the eight- and nine-year-olds, Chinese children spent more time on  homework and did  it more regularly than Anglo-Australians or pupils from the Pacific Islands.
Chinese children also tended to be better behaved and were able to sit still and concentrate on their tasks.
The researchers, associate professor Greg Noble and  Megan Watkins, had set out to check the widespread belief that Chinese students do better at school because of a 'cultural disposition to study' and because they have greater natural abilities in maths and the sciences.
The  researchers also wanted to test the belief that  children whose parents came from Pacific Island countries were 'culturally prone to educational under-achievement'.
The researchers conducted a survey of parents, carried out classroom observations and interviewed  children,  parents and teachers in a number of primary schools across Sydney.
They say the findings dispel some of the myths and instead they argue that the study habits young children learn at home  are key to  how well they  do at school.
The researchers' report  says that 56 per cent of the Chinese pupils spent more than an hour a night on homework, compared with 24 per cent of Anglo children and 35 per cent of those from the Pacific Islands.
It  says there were significant differences between the different groups  in how  they developed 'a discipline of independent study' and particularly important was the degree of parental supervision.
'The emphasis given to academic endeavour within the home was also evident in terms of the location and environment in which homework was undertaken,' the report says.
'The majority of Chinese students completed their work at a desk in their bedroom or a study, or another space set aside for this purpose, which was not the case with the Pacific or Anglo students.
'This self-discipline was also fostered through a range of extracurricular pursuits and reading practices. These home practices connected to school practices in ways that contributed to students' dispositions to learning.'
The report notes that it is not that more homework necessarily produces better educational outcomes but that the extra time 'demonstrates an extended application to study and the formation of a disciplined approach to academic engagement'.
The children's enthusiasm for doing homework varied markedly: whereas 57 per cent  of the Chinese parents said their children enjoyed homework, only 26 per cent  of Anglo parents said they did.
Dr Watkins said the study habits seen in  Chinese children should be promoted in schools among all  students. It was possible to learn 'the habits of learning' and this did not just happen in  secondary school but needed to be slowly learned.
'The primary years are an academic apprenticeship not only in the basic skills of literacy and numeracy but also skills of application to work and independence in learning,' she said.



Chinese children 'learn good study habits at home'