A new Ofsted regime will encourage “completely pointless” homework for students, a teacher and education expert has claimed.

Tom Bennett, writing in the Times Educational Supplement, claims students will be forced to undertake “back breaking” after school tasks with little educational value.

Mr Bennett, director of the ResearchEd conference, alleges that children’s post-school workload will be increased by teachers in order to prove they are meeting the new targets set by Ofsted, in which progress will be measured though schoolbooks and homework.

He told The Independent the reaction had been "overwhelmingly supportive."

Continuing: "I'm not anti homework- it can be a useful tool - but too often it's an exercise in back covering, or box ticking, with no real thought for the educational outcome."

The Essex philosophy and religious studies teacher, one of two British teachers recently nominated for a Global Teacher Prize, wrote: “I have no problem with setting challenging homework but I do disagree with the pickpocketing of family life to serve the requirements of a school’s homework timetable.”

His comments come shortly after as OECD think tank report that indicated British schoolchildren were getting more homework than children in Finland, Germany, Sweden and Austria.

Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Show all 7 1 /7 Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated MPs Hardly a surprise: One in three (33 per cent) of MPs went to private school, compared to seven per cent of the public. This includes 52 per cent of Conservatives, 41 per cent of Liberal Democrats, and 10 per cent of Labour MPs PA Wire Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated The media More than half of the top 100 media professionals (54 per cent) are privately educated, compared to 47 per cent in 1986. Half of them went to Oxbridge, while two thirds of new entrants to journalism have managerial and professional family backgrounds Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Judges Although the Government is committed to ensuring a more diverse judiciary, seven in 10 senior judges went to independent schools Rex Features Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated The England cricket team A large percentage of England's cricket team is privately educated: 33 per cent PA Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated BBC executives 26 per cent of BBC executives went to private school. Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Civil Service Over half (57 per cent) of Whitehall permanent secretaries are Oxbridge educated, while 11 per cent went to comprehensive schools Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated House of Lords Although it doesn't seem possible, the House of Lords is even more dominated by the elite than the Commons: two thirds of Conservative peers, half of Labour, and 62 per cent of crossbenchers attended an independent school. A miserable 12 per cent went to a comprehensive AFP/Getty

But UK children lag behind pupils in Russia, Singapore and Shanghai in China, who spend the longest on homework.