More studying 'on home computers'

Pupils are more likely to use computers for their schoolwork at home on a daily basis than they are to use them every day at school, according to a survey.

A study carried out in the UK for technology company Microsoft showed 37% of secondary pupils used computers for study every day at home.

This is a more intensive use than at school - where 30% of pupils were using computers each day.

The survey considered the computer use of 512 families with children.

The study reveals the increasingly pervasive use of technology for homework by pupils in their own homes.

Playing on the computer

Among these secondary level pupils, aged between 11 and 18, more than 90% used a home computer for schoolwork at least once a week.

And more than a third were using their family's computer for homework or revision every single day.

There have been concerns about the "digital divide" - in which children from better-off families get an advantage in school from better computer equipment at home.

The government says there are about a million children without the internet at home - leaving them at the other end of the scale from the two in five pupils who are using computers at home every day for schoolwork.

As well as using computers for homework, they have become a major feature of leisure time - identified by 71% of young people as being among their favourite activities.

Parents also use computers as a leisure activity - but at a lower level than their children - with 65% saying it was one of their favourite activities.

There is also a strong belief among parents that having a computer at home is valuable to their children's education.

'Essential as pen and paper'

Microsoft's Ray Fleming suggests that the higher levels of computer use at home for schoolwork by pupils is a reflection of the limitations on computer use in school.

Young people say computer use is one of their favourite activities

"School use of information technology can be very scheduled - it's often structured around particular lessons," he says.

At home children look for information on the computer in a more informal way, he says.

And he forecasts that this trend for studying at home with a computer will increase.

"There is an increasing blurring between learning-time and leisure-time and so computers in the home are becoming as important as those in the classroom," he says.

The widespread availability of computers at home also raises questions about handling this information.

"There are so many sources of information, that the challenge now is not about finding information but finding the most useful questions," he says.

Earlier this month the government announced a £300m Home Access scheme to give a laptop to 270,000 low income families and free broadband access.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said that being without the internet at home leaves pupils "at a disadvantage to their peers".

"Computers are no longer a luxury for the few, but are as essential a part of education as books, pens and paper."

Assaults by youngest pupils 'rising'

Assaults by children aged five or under led to 2,600 suspensions from schools in England in 2007-8, figures show.

The figures, highlighted by the Tories, show an increase of 150 suspensions on the previous year and reveal that of the assaults, 1,650 were on adults.

The Conservatives say there is an "increasing problem" with the behaviour of very young children.

The government says exclusions across the school population are falling and its behaviour policy is working.

As a whole, permanent exclusions - or expulsions - have fallen in all types of state schools in recent years, but there has been an increase in suspensions or temporary exclusions.

Teachers' powers

England's schools inspectorate Ofsted, in its annual report this autumn, said behaviour in 95% of primary schools was good or outstanding and that it was satisfactory in 5%.

The new figures show the total number of suspensions of the youngest pupils for assault but not the actual number of pupils involved as the same child might have been suspended several times.

The data was given to the Conservatives in response to a parliamentary question.

The vast majority of infant and primary schools do not exclude any children Iain Wright, Schools Minister

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said: "Children cannot learn if there are other pupils in the class that are acting violently.

"There is a real and increasing problem with the behaviour of the youngest children in primary schools and it makes life impossible for their teachers."

He said the Conservatives wanted to make teachers' lives easier by giving them more powers to keep order, so that possible problems could be "nipped in the bud before they spiral out of control".

A study earlier this year by Ofsted said that exclusion of children aged under seven was still "very rare".

The government says exclusions should be used as "a last resort" - although it backs head teachers' rights to exclude children even for a first or one-off offence.

Schools Minister Iain Wright said: "The vast majority of infant and primary schools do not exclude any children and a recent report by Ofsted, on exclusions of young children, found that almost all children in the schools they visited knew how to behave properly.

"Ofsted are clear that behaviour standards have significantly improved over the last decade, but we know there is more to do to ensure all children learn in an orderly school where discipline is tough and bad behaviour that disrupts the learning of others is not tolerated."

'More aggressive'

He said the government had given teachers and head teachers tough new powers to discipline pupils and would be legislating in the coming weeks for home-school agreements to make sure parents took their responsibilities seriously too.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) recently surveyed its members in primary schools on behaviour in the classroom.

It said that three-quarters of the 1,078 members who responded to the survey said they thought children in primary schools were becoming more aggressive at a younger age.

Just under 61% said they thought behaviour in the classroom had got worse in the past 10 years.