Students from the UK receive more homework than most of their European counterparts, a new study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found.

The comprehensive study found that youngsters studying in Britain spend a significant number of hours after school on homework. Their peers in Finland, Germany, Sweden and Austria do less.

However, from an international point of view, British youngsters do far less than pupils in Singapore and Shanghai in China, the BBC reported.

One of the most interesting findings to emerge from the report is the global pattern of children and young people from urban middle classes spending the most time on homework.

This is particularly manifest in the UK, which has one of the biggest gaps in hours spent doing homework between pupils from disadvantaged families and those from more affluent ones.

The broadcaster quoted the OECD's director of education Andreas Schleicher saying that this discrepancy in effort exacerbates divides in standards, perpetuating the imbalance in exam performance levels between rich and poor youngsters.

In October, the head of a private school said that primary-age pupils should not have to do homework. Dawn Moore, who runs King Alfred School in north London, explained that unnecessary homework is actually counterproductive at this age.

"I really question how beneficial homework is, particularity for the younger primary age children," she said at the time in an interview with the Telegraph. "I have been quite concerned about this idea of children doing two or three hours of homework a night at the age of eight or nine."

There is a lot of division in the profession about one, the importance of homework, and two, how early it should be implemented.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers is one organisation that shares a similar view to Ms Moore. It has previously argued for a complete ban compulsory homework for children at primary school level.