„E-support” for Parents 
in Children’s Home Education Cover Image

„E-wsparcie” dla rodziców w edukacji domowej dzieci
„E-support” for Parents in Children’s Home Education

Author(s): Urszula Bartnikowska, Joanna Maria Garbula
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Education, Preschool education, School education
Published by: Uniwersytet Ignatianum w Krakowie
Keywords: home education; support of parents; social networks; open; closed and secret groups

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to touch on the important issue that is children’s out-of-school education, which goes beyond the existing education system. Home education takes place in the domestic environment, and the teachers are usually the parents, who adapt the curriculum, methods and means to the individual abilities of the child. Home education is a reflection of the needs and educational aspirations of modern parents. To meet this challenge, parents need, and look for, support in their educational activities. Direct help is not always available in the local community, particularly from competent persons versed in the specifics of family functioning within the framework of home education. Helpless parents try, therefore, to find help on social networks, for example in parents’ groups on Facebook. Participation in such groups becomes a key source of informational, emotional and sometimes instrumental e-support.The aim of the study is to determine the scale of the phenomenon that is parents searching for and obtaining assistance online. The subject of analysis were posts from five Facebook groups which have a diverse membership and number of members: two open nationwide groups, two closed groups (nationwide and local) and one secret group. The number of members in these groups varies: the open groups are the largest, with approx. 2,000 to 9,000 members, the closed groups are smaller, with approx. 150 to 1,000 members, and the secret groups are the smallest (the group analysed had 15 members). Posts from 6 months on average were analysed in each group, from the turn of 2015 and 2016.

  • Issue Year: 20/2017
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 31-46
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish