Original scientific paper
Digital Differentiation in Croatian Schools: Differences in Using Computers in Relation to Some Socio-Demographic Variables
Iris Marušić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4837-790X
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb
Ivana Batarelo
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb
Abstract
The analysis of the results obtained from the research carried out in 2003 on a representative
sample of the schools in the Republic of Croatia is aimed at determining the presence
of differentiation among 8th grade pupils of the primary school. The research was carried
out in 121 schools from all Croatian regions and it included 2674 pupils, 14 years old on
the average. The researches on digital differentiation made in the last ten years in the USA
and West European countries have been a basis for the theoretical part of the work. The
results obtained on a representative sample of the pupils of the 8th grade indicate a digital
differentiation in view of the region and size of the locality they come from, educational
background of their parents and gender. There are more pupils from bigger cities and
more developed regions, more boys and the pupils whose parents are more educated
who have computers at home and use them together with the Internet more frequently
than the pupils from smaller communities and less developed regions and those whose
parents are of lower education. This clear digital differentiation in households is not quite
reflected in school that gives more opportunity to the pupils from smaller communities to
use the computer and have access to the Internet, where the information and communication
technology is being used without making any distinction between the pupils’ genders
and different educational background of their parents.
Keywords
digital differentiation; information and communication technology; gender; socioeconomic status; primary school education
Hrčak ID:
93803
URI
Publication date:
22.12.2006.
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