PRIMARY CHILDREN AND TEACHERS ATTITUDES TO COMPUTERS

An attitude to computers scale for primary age children was piloted an revised following item analysis. The final questionnaire, which yielded scores on the full scale and three sub-scales (fun, ease of use, usefulness), was completed by 721 children in the P3, P5 and P7 classes of 10 randomly selected local schools. A scale was also administered to the teachers of these classes. Except on the ease of use sub-scale, boys had more favourable attitudes than girls, the difference being unaffected by primary level. There was no overall age effect, except on the fun sub-scale on which scores decreased over primary levels, but there was an interaction between primary level and school. Pupil-teacher attitudes were positively correlated, except at the P3 level, where they were unrelated. Attitudes of neither pupils nor teachers were related to school ethos ratings, but both correlated negatively with a deprivation index (percent of children receiving free school meals).