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Principals’ attitudes towards risky internet use of primary school students: The role of occupational factors

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Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate primary school principals’ attitudes towards risky internet use of school-aged students and how occupational factors, such as work self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and burnout, may affect these attitudes especially in a context of economic crisis, which has adversely affected working conditions and duties of school personnel. Two hundred and thirty-seven primary school principals (148 men, 89 women) participated in the survey. The sample completed an online self-reporting questionnaire that explored -through hypothetical scenarios- their attitudes towards incidents of students’ risky internet use. The questionnaire included also three scales that evaluated the principals’ self-efficacy at work, job satisfaction, and burnout. According to the results, the principals perceived incidents of students’ risky internet use as serious and felt confident enough to intervene, although in a relatively low/moderate level. Their attitudes appeared to be differentiated depending on the kind of students’ risky online behavior. Furthermore, the principals’ attitudes were positively predicted by their perceived efficacy in educational and moral leadership, their satisfaction from the general nature of their work, and their sense of personal accomplishments. The above findings constitute a basis for the design and implementation of awareness programs for primary school personnel regarding the safe use of internet.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Thanos Touloupis & Christina Athanasiades

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  1. Thanos Touloupis
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  2. Christina Athanasiades
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Correspondence to Thanos Touloupis.

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Appendices

Appendix

Table 1 Factor analysis of the principals’ self-efficacy scale
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Table 2 Factor analysis of the employee satisfaction inventory
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Table 3 Factor analysis of Maslach burnout inventory educators’ survey
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Table 4 Rates of principals who chose the following way/level of intervention depending on each scenario
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Table 5 Predictive job satisfaction factors of principals’ perceived likelihood of intervention in the incidents of the scenarios (included only the significant predictive factors)
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Table 6 Predictive burnout factors of principals’ perceived confidence for intervention in the incidents of the scenarios (included only the significant predictive factors)
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Table 7 Predictive factors of principals’ perceived likelihood of intervention in the incidents of the scenarios (included only the significant predictive factors)
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Scenarios

1.1 Scenario A

While you are in the computer classroom with students, you notice that a male student watches secretly, via computer, inappropriate images (i.e., with violent content) on Facebook without your permission. This is not the first time you notice this student’s behaviour.

1.2 Senario B

A teacher of your school confides you that, during the last month, one of her female students is usually sleepy in the classroom, while her school performance declines. To find out what happens you ask the student during a school break about this situation. The student confides you that in the last weeks she spends daily many hours surfing on the Internet, often until late at night.

1.3 Scenario C

Mary and Johanna, students of your school, had been best friends. They had a massive argument. The next day Johanna’s inbox in her email account was full and there were numerous postings on her “my space” page. The emails and postings were rude and offensive. When she looked at her account, she realized that a group email had been sent from her own account making racially discriminating comments as well as rude and hurtful comments about all her friends and classmates. She had not written the emails. When friends, Johanna had told Mary the passwords to her hotmail and “my Space” accounts.

1.4 Scenario D

You witness a group of children in the corridor just before their lesson looking at their mobile phones and laughing. You overhear them mention a name of a student in a mocking manner. You have witnessed similar situations before mocking the same student in the same way.

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Touloupis, T., Athanasiades, C. Principals’ attitudes towards risky internet use of primary school students: The role of occupational factors. Educ Inf Technol 23, 497–516 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-017-9614-1

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