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DOI: 10.15862/16SCSK324 (https://doi.org/10.15862/16SCSK324)

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Proshkova Z.V., Yeremenko Y.Y. [Parental view of online schools: internet forum analysis] World of Science. Series: Sociology, Philology, Cultural Studies, 2024, Vol. 15, No. 3. Available at: https://sfk-mn.ru/PDF/16SCSK324.pdf (in Russian). DOI: 10.15862/16SCSK324

Parental view of online schools: internet forum analysis

Proshkova Zoya Vyacheslavovna
Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: eder57@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6219-6905
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=121960

Yeremenko Yana Yevgenievna
Saint-Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, Saint Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: firfir5@mail.ru

Abstract. The article reflects on a study of family experiences concerning teaching children in online schools that are eligible to issue state certificates. The topic is relevant due to the digitalization of the educational sphere and the search for new educational strategies for schoolchildren.

An analysis of messages on an internet forum of parents that are interested in online schools was carried out. When studying unstructured texts, methods of computational linguistics were used, topic modeling in particular.

The authors presented the results of an analysis of nine topics on the Internet forum. The narratives about the diversity of online schools and the quality of education are among them. The participants in the discussion highly appreciate the level of knowledge acquired in online schools but they believe that the intellectual result does depends not on the school but on the motivation of the student and the needs of the family. Informants cite the advantages of online learning as time management, teacher competence, improved academic performance, exam preparation, and increased likelihood of enrolling in a college or university on a budget. Parents consider the disadvantages of online schools to be increased family control of students, excess free time, high cost, and organization of studies.

An «ideal online school» requires high-quality educational programs, a comfortable environment, and reasonable prices. According to informants, online education is suitable only for students of middle and high school age, but the array of successful stories of studying in online schools includes stories about primary school students. Popular family strategies are switching to online school in grades 8–9 and enrolling in college; dropping grades 10–11 at the previous school, switching to online learning, and entering university. Among the students, there is a predominance of students who are successful in any educational system and schoolchildren who had difficulty coping with the workload in a traditional school.

The findings of the study are useful for social policy in the field of online education and for the development of methods for collecting and analyzing information in sociological research.

Keywords: online schools; students; parents; internet forum; topic modeling; quality of education; advantages; disadvantages; motivation

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