Education: How to avoid doing homework

Everybody has their own way of putting off unpleasant tasks, but new research shows that students are past masters when it comes to avoiding exam revision.

The survey, carried out by the publishers Hodder & Stoughton and WH Smith found that although television is still the biggest distraction, some 12 per cent of children in the south will offer to clean the house rather than sit down behind a desk. Once the housework is done they are twice as likely to spend time on the phone to their friends.