Parents get in on the act
Making parents aware of the benefits of computers in class and the need for online safety could prove difficult for schools without the annual Parents Online Week. By Alice Tarleton
Last week saw the country's biggest-ever Parents Online Week, with more than 500 events taking place at schools and ICT centres throughout the country. The government initiative is intended to show parents how ICT can be useful in learning, and raise awareness of internet safety issues.
The timing is good: internet use is on the rise, with 84% of young people now using it at home, school or elsewhere. Virtually every school in the country is now online, and homes with school-age children are more likely to have internet access: about 50% of homes are linked up to the net, a figure rising to 70% in families with school-age children.
A range of drop-in sessions, presentations and activities for parents and children took place at schools and ICT centres, and many events used the parents online presentation, available on the website, which tackled issues such as online pornography, bullying and paedophiles, as well as web content, addiction, spam and computer viruses.
At Byron primary school in Kent, two lunchtime sessions and two after-school sessions, one which was aimed at dads, allowed children to show off their ICT skills to parents. "We explained how to use the internet and make it safe for children at home, and let children take the parents through using their knowledge from ICT lessons," said Lisa Hawker, the school's ICT technician. "Children can often be the best teachers."
Holding this kind of event can have knock-on benefits in getting parents more involved with the school as a whole, says Alison Lister, project manager at Parents Online. "It's important to raise awareness among parents without making them feel they need to be technical experts, and this is a great way for schools to get parents interested.
"We tell schools to open up the ICT suites, give [the parents] a tour, and give them a go themselves. We are trying to get ICT accessible for parents, and build the communication between schools and parents and ICT centres. If you can get parents to know a bit about what's going on in the school, hopefully they will then want to find out more."
The signs are good. After raising £13,000 to refurbish an ICT suite at Crigglestone St James school in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, parents' attention is now shifting to online educational resources.
"Parents used to ask, what should we do to help our child learn at school, and now they are also asking, which websites can we look at with them," says Lee Wilson, the school's ICT coordinator.
After a successful Parents Online session looking at the BBC and GridClub websites with parents, the school is hoping to suggest websites to parents in its regular information bulletin. Parents were recently invited to the ICT suite during the school's open morning, a regular event that lets parents participate in lessons across the curriculum.
The school has also found parents keen to learn more about the ever-advancing technology. Although Andrew Sutton, a parent at the school, is ICT-literate and uses spreadsheets and databases at work, his seven-year-old daughter has still been able to pass on a tip or two.
"She uses different applications from me, and often will say, 'Dad, why are you doing it like that?', and show me her way to do things," he says. "Things like maths have completely changed since I was at school, so it's really good to be able to see what they actually do in ICT lessons or how they use ICT in other areas of the curriculum."
Sutton also credits the school with instilling a responsible attitude to ICT in his daughter. "We have the PC in the living room, but even if we are not all in there, she will still come and ask if she can check her emails or go on the internet, rather than just doing it. I think that's probably because, at school, they are taught it's something you need to get permission to do, which is a good thing."
ICT is also helping to connect schools to the older generation - in September this year, the first Grandparents Online Week took place.
At Dolau school, a bi-lingual primary near Pontyclun in Mid-Glamorgan, children are looking forward next month to Christmas cookery sessions, including favourite cake recipes, with grandparents who got involved with school via an ICT event. The grandparents were shown around the school by year 6 pupils, and arrangements have since been made for them to use the ICT suite's 10 computers and the school's swimming pool.
"Before the event, we were trying to involve grandparents with things like reading, but it wasn't happening," says headteacher Gareth Evans. "The children were proud to show the adults around the school, and in response the grandparents have set up a little working party to help pupils with things like the cookery.
"It's good to be able to share the school's [computing] resources in this way, and good for the school to strengthen its local links with the community."
Help for have nots
Although 91% of households in the two richest social groups have internet access, the figure drops to 42% in the poorest groups. This affects families at home as well as at school. Already, the educational charity Tools for Schools (TfS), which is supported by the Guardian, has provided more than 20,000 refurbished computers to schools since 1999 and targets schools in poorer areas.
However, some schools are extending the scheme to provide PCs for pupils: schools buy computers cheaply from the charity, then rent them to families for around £5 a month or sell them at a small mark-up to cover admin costs.
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