My teenage daughter's latest report refers to problems with homework; her teachers claim it regularly isn't detailed or long enough, yet she spends hours most nights working on her computer. She used to allow me to see her homework and help with it, but recently she has become unwilling to do this. She's just started her public exam courses and I'm worried - but perhaps the teachers are wrong? Teacher Adam Conway replies: I'm sure many parents would share your concern: you have raised one of the big issues that affect the lives of students and parents. It's also a very complex one. I assume your daughter is perhaps about 15 years old? It may help to break down this topic into three interconnected parts: the way your daughter studies at home, your role in supporting her and what happens when homework is set by teachers. Firstly, there isn't necessarily an exact match between the number of hours a student spends in front of a computer screen and the amount of work done. I am not suggesting that you spy on your daughter, but students regularly have three or four programs or tools open on their computer, apart from their specific homework assignment. Some can even disguise, on-screen, what they are actually doing, but an overzealous or suspicious adult can also be caught out: a student may be using Facebook or MSN as a legitimate part of their homework. Your daughter may also be skilled at multi-tasking, with music downloading that actually helps her to concentrate. However, in many more cases these multiple programmes and stimuli are a distraction that simply makes homework take far longer to complete. One practical issue is where the computer is placed in your home, although if your daughter uses a laptop this is very flexible. She needs privacy and a quiet spot where she will not be disturbed by other family members or distractions, such as television, but her bedroom may not be the best place for focused work. If you have a spare bedroom or other possible study area where she can get on comfortably, you may find an improvement - as well as gain a clearer idea of her study habits. Moving on to your role in helping your daughter, it is inevitable - and right - that she should become steadily more and more independent of your assistance with homework. Somewhere between a five-year-old sharing their nightly home reader with mummy or daddy and a 20-year-old studying marine biology at university, parents lose their direct involvement in a child's academic study. But that doesn't necessarily mean your daughter won't show you her work or discuss it with you - it's just a fact that many teenagers do become very resistant to doing this. The third, and final, issue you have raised is perhaps the most complex, and worth a whole column on its own. When a teacher sets homework it can be the start of a mysterious, labyrinthine journey which is almost impossible to retrace. I'm sure you know your daughter well, and she may be the kind of student who, with no great difficulty, listens to, understands, records, remembers, completes and hands in (on time) homework assignments. However, at every stage of this journey there is the potential for misapprehension, confusion or even deliberate vagueness. A teacher may explain homework clearly and write it on the board, leaving plenty of time for students to check their understanding and record details. Or there may be a hurried, garbled explanation shouted over general classroom noise and sound of the bell ringing to signal the end of the lesson. Similarly, a student may listen attentively, make a diligent, clear record of the homework instructions, then re-read (and remember) them that night as they promptly begin the assignment. Or she/he may half listen, write down little or nothing, leave it several days before checking what has been set, be unable to read their own scrawled handwriting and then hurriedly write something at the last possible moment. Of course, the truth normally lies somewhere in between these extremes, but now may be a good time to talk openly and frankly with your daughter about whether she is overloaded with work, struggling with her new exam courses, being set some assignments that are unclear to her, or actually finding it difficult to focus on her own homework and manage her time effectively.