An Investigation into the Levels of Digital Parenting, Digital Literacy, and Digital Data Security Awareness among Parents and Teachers in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

It is of great importance for teachers, students, and parents, who are among the main stakeholders in education, to understand concepts such as digital parenting, digital literacy, and digital information security awareness in that we live in a digital age, and it seems that we will never go back. The purpose of this research is to examine the levels of digital parenting attitudes of preschool parents, and the levels of digital literacy and digital data security awareness of preschool teachers and parents, and then to investigate whether these variables show general relationships with change. Designed as quantitative research, this is a correlational study. We recruited a total of 410 participants from preschool teachers and preschool parents. We used a personal information form, Digital Parenting Attitude Scale, Digital Literacy Scale, and Digital Data Security Awareness Scale as data collection instruments. Our results show that preschool teachers' digital literacy and digital data security awareness levels are higher than those of preschool parents. There is evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between digital literacy and digital data security awareness. Accordingly, we recommend that teachers should cooperate with parents on digital literacy and digital data security awareness. Further, school principals should make their greatest efforts to make this cooperation sustainable. Several activities should be conducted to boost digital literacy levels of both parents and students, and thereby increasing their digital data security awareness. © 2023, Ozgen Korkmaz. All rights reserved.