«Παιδιά με το κλειδί: Εμπειρική Διερεύνηση»


Published: Jul 28, 2020
Keywords:
all day school kids with the key
Μαρία Τότσα
Abstract

The phenomenon of "latchkey kids" appears to have coincided with the founding of the all-day school institution and refers to young children, mainly elementary school students who remain without adult supervision, several hours after school until Parents return from work. The research on this phenomenon is limited and there are few references to the Greek educational context in recent years, making  necessary its investigation.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate students' views on this phenomenon and in particular their personal experiences from their school age.

Methodology

The quantitative research approach was adopted because this topic has not been explored by quantitative methods, and its purpose was to generalize conclusions. The 310 students who participated in the study were asked to respond to a self-report questionnaire. Sampling was convenient (convenience sampling). The questionnaire included two sections. The first section referred to student demographics. The second included questions about students' experiences.

Conclusions

The analysis of the primary data revealed that a percentage of the participants could be considered key children.

Respondents were initially asked to answer yes / no to the question: "When your students were in elementary school did both of your parents work?" In order to examine, and based on the rest of the results, whether or not the work of the parents affects the existence of " of children with the key. " In this question, students who answered “yes” were the dominant percentage with 60.06% and “no” the remaining 38.96%. As expected, the fact that both parents were working contributed significantly to the phenomenon of "children with the key" as a result of the correlation of variables. Another significant statistical difference was found between the parents who both worked compared to the hours spent alone at home and the comparison of the hours spent alone at home with only one working parent. Concerning all-day school, the survey found that 28.43% of key children attended full-time school. Most went because of their parents' work, however, and the percentage that said he went to full-time school and met his friends was significant, with about 70% not attending All Day. In addition, the experiences of the students regarding their activities while they were alone at home were recorded, the impact of this event on their psychology and finally some intense incidents were recorded.

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Author Biography
Μαρία Τότσα
Απόφοιτος Παιδαγωγικού Τμήματος Δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλίας / Δασκάλα