Children and young people’s uses of the Internet for homework

Abstract

This article extends current research by more closely examining children and young people’s uses of the Internet for homework support within the familial context. In particular, it examines how young people find and deploy resources, how levels and quality of access influence use and the participation of other family members in homework support. It argues that whilst families view the Internet as a useful resource for homework, there are pitfalls which centre on the relatively high cost of home access in the UK. In some families, these costs may impact negatively on the affordances of the Internet for supporting homework and learning the functional skills and competencies needed to use the Internet autonomously.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the guidance for this article given by David Buckingham. I would also like to thank Andrew Burn, Diane Carr and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on an earlier draft. None of these individuals bears responsibility for any of the views expressed here.

Notes

1. The focus here is on the activities undertaken for general homework purposes. Whilst it is acknowledged that the changing demands made by schools in relation to homework and the ICT curriculum may influence Internet practices, they are outside of the scope of this article.