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Learning in the Family
Parental Engagement in Children's Learning with Technology
November 2008
ISBN: 978-1-906171-03-2
By Robert Hart, Dr. Magdalena Bober, Prof. Karen Pine
Intuitive Media Research Services
University of Hertfordshire
78 pp colour report in PDF
Price per copy: FREE download
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Learning in the Family - Research Report
We've found that 60% of children's learning in IM's Social Learning Networks, SuperClubsPLUS and GoldStarCafe takes place outside school - and most of it in the home. Intuitive Media's latest research initiative Learning the Family - Parental Engagement in Children’s Learning with Technology looks at how these children learn with their families at home.
Funded by a Becta Research Grant to support the DCSF Harnessing Technology strategy, and supported by the University of Hertfordshire, the research focuses on children learning with their parents and other family members.
The UK Government's Children’s Plan suggests the next steps for improving children’s lives must be taken in partnership with parents and children and this is manifested in the Government’s £300m Home Access project which aims to provide computers and internet access to families to enhance learning at home. This research takes a timely look at how 4600 children currently learn with technology in the context of their families.
"It is clear from results that the Internet has gained a significant place in children's daily lives. Almost all of the children surveyed use the Internet at home with their parents. Their mothers are particularly engaged with their homework and formal learning and take an interest in their online safety. Fathers join in to a lesser extent but encourage children with the fun aspects and help them with their hobbies." - Robert Hart, Research Director
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“I help him searching on Google, we will search together. I will be with him when he is doing his homework in the same room and ask him all the time what he is doing. He generally knows where he can and can’t go. We play the games together, but apart from that he knows how to work it better than me.”
- Mother of Joe, 8
“A few months ago, i had a French test at school, so my mum sat with me and searched the internet for a good French website for kids. She wrote down all the main words and phrases to remember, then she tested me on it. I passed my test with flying colours, and I think it was all because of her help.”
- Lauren, 12
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4600 Children Speaking
The research approach included two online surveys with over 4600 children supported by interviews with children and their families.
The first community survey establish overall community behaviour in relation to learning at home in the family and covered such areas as:- What form does children’s learning at home with technology take?
- What is the pattern of their evening and weekend activity and how does learning with technology fit in?
- When and where (in the house) do children learn in their online communities?
- How is their learning exposed to or hidden from the family?
- Which siblings and parents get involved?
The second survey built on what we learned from the first and homed in on the detail of learning in the family:- Which parents get involved and how?
- When and where do parents get involved?
- What do mothers and fathers do with the children?
- How welcome is their involvement?
- How do children think it could it be improved?
Parents Speaking
There is strong government interest in involving parents, particularly fathers, in children's learning. We invited some of these children and their families to one-to-one interviews to help us identify the factors that make paternal involvement possible, desirable and effective- How much time do parents have available to become involved with their children’s learning at home?
- What motivates and enables mother or father to become involved?
- What de-motivates and disables them?
- How could parental involvement be improved?
- What support to parents need?
The research findings are now published. Download the final report.
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