Description:
For today’s pupils the Internet is something obvious, a natural environment and simultaneously one of the most typical tools for obtaining knowledge and information, communication with peers and the source of entertainment. Very different or even completely opposite are the attitudes towards the new media presented by teachers, pedagogues and managers of educational institutions. Due to the significant role of new technologies in the socialization of young people as well as in education and communication, it is noticeable that there is a barrier between the generations of pupils and pedagogues and it has a major impact on the quality of the education process. An important aspect is, in this context, the level of knowledge among educators on using the Internet by their pupils: so called models of “presence in the net” and, what in the perspective of the upbringing role of the schools is of special significance, the awareness of the real dangers connected with using computer and the Internet by young people, including netoholism. The article presents data and information regarding the level of knowledge among the management staff of educational institutions for children and youth in the Silesian voivodship, regarding the area of misuse of the new media by the pupils and the threat of Internet addiction. The information has been provided by the project study “Netoholism among children and youth” carried out since 2008 in cooperation of the Higher School of Administration in Bielsko-Biała with the Silesian Education Administrative Body in Katowice (Śląskie Kuratorium Oświaty w Katowicach).