Abstract:

Digitality is regarded as the central cultural technique of the 21st century. The task of educational institutions is to adequately promote this cultural technique in the next young generation so that all of them have the opportunity to participate in the society of the present and future [1]. However, it is precisely this area of education that poses a challenge for society, because media work at primary schools is controversial not only on the part of teachers [2]. Parents are also often irritated by the inclusion of digital media – especially at the primary level [3] – although almost all children aged six to ten have the opportunity to go online at home [4].

School administrations, which are now introducing digital media work, purchasing tablets and smartboards as part of major political education initiatives in Germany, see themselves often on the defensive first internally in the teaching staff and then vis-à-vis parents and ask themselves how they should justify their digital work.

As part of an empirically supported digital initiative in a medium-sized city with almost 600,000 inhabitants in Germany, the project presented asked teachers and parents at a primary school what they think and expect of the usage of digital media in the classroom. The lecture will present selected results of a qualitative study working with a semi-standardized survey.

The results show that parents support the usage of digital media education at school, especially in the areas of media criticism, media studies, and general media use. In doing so, they outwardly emphasize a regulative media education in their own family. Teachers see the possibilities of digital media more for their own preparation and communication with each other and less as an object or didactic aid in the classroom. There seems to be a „spiral of silence“ [5] in primary school - similar to preschool education [6] - regarding digital media responsibility between teachers and parents. In terms of educational policy, we want to try to resolve this spiral of silence through targeted project communication.

References:
[1] C. Redecker and Y. Punie, European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017.
[2] M. M. Bordalba, J.G. Bochaca, “Digital media for family-school communication? Parents’ and teachers’ beliefs”. Computer & Education, Vol. 132, 4/2019, pp. 44-62
[3] S. Kontovourki, E. Garoufallou, L. Ivarsson, M. Klein, R.-L.Korkeamaki, D., Koutsomiha, G. Marci-Boehncke E. Tafa, S. Virkus, Digital Literacy in the Early Years: Practices in Formal Settings, Teacher Education, and the Role of Informal Learning Spaces. A Review of the Literature. COST ACTION IS1410. 2017.
[4] Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest, KIM-Studie 2018, Stuttgart 2019, Retrieved from https://www.mpfs.de/fileadmin/files/Studien/KIM/2018/KIM-Studie_2018_web.pdf
[5] E. Noelle-Neumann, T.Petersen, „The Spiral of Silence and the Social Nature of Man“. In: Lynda Lee Kaid (Hrsg.): Handbook of Political Communication. Erlbaum, Mahwah 2004,pp. 339-356.
[6] S. Viernickel, I. Nentwig-Gesemann, K. Nicolai, S. Schwarz and L. Zenker, Schlüssel zu guter Bildung, Erziehung und Betreuung – Bildungsaufgaben, Zeitkontingente und strukturelle Rahmenbedingungen in Kindertageseinrichtigungen, Berlin: Alice-Salomon-Hochschule, 2013.

Keywords:

Digital media education, teachers beliefs, teachers competences, parents beliefs, primary school media education.