Different worlds? A comparison of young people's home and school ICT use

This paper explores young people’s access to and use of computers in the home and at school. Drawing on a questionnaire survey, conducted in 2001 and 2003 with over 1800 children in the South-West of England, on group interviews in school with over 190 children and with visits to 11 families, the paper discusses: (1) children’s current use of computers in the home and in school; 2) changing patterns of computer use in home and school between 2001 and 2003; (3) the impact of age, gender and socio-economic area on young people’s computer use in home and school. The paper then goes on to discuss young people’s perceptions of the differences between home and school use of computers and to address the question of whether young people’s home and school use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) are really ‘different worlds’. Through analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, the paper proposes that the boundaries between home and school are less distinct in terms of young people’s ICT use than has previously been proposed, in particular through young people’s production of virtual social networks through the use of instant messenger that seem to mirror young people’s social school contexts. The paper concludes by suggesting that effective home–school link strategies might be adopted through the exploration of the permeability of home/school boundaries.