COMPUTER ATTITUDES IN AN ENGLISH SECONDARY-SCHOOL

Recent research has shown that there are consistent differences between males and females and between students and teachers in their attitudes towards computers. Specifically they reveal that there are likely to be gender differences with male students having more favourable attitudes towards computers than female students but that those differences are unlikely to be mirrored in the school teaching staff. Research has also shown that students are likely to have more favourable attitudes to computers than the staff. The present paper is an attempt to find out to what extent these findings apply to the staff and first year students in an English secondary school. Both groups were given;a computer attitude questionnaire based on previously published scales [1-3]. The results are in line with the findings of previous research and are discussed in terms of their likely impact on an ongoing study into the introduction of high access to computers in the school.