Education in online schools in assessments of the older family generation

This article's topic is the analysis of the family influence on the choice of such an educational route for children as studying at an online school. The relevance of the research is connected with the development of online education in Russia and around the world, the digitalization of the educational sphere. The main attention is paid to the position of the older generation of the family — the grandparents of students — to the admission of grandchildren to online schools. Other research goals are the advantages and disadvantages of online education, the participation of the older generation in the implementation of the educational route for children in online schools, the Internet forum as a method of digital empirical sociology.
There was an examination of statements of the participants of the Internet forum, where representatives of the older generation of the family, who chose online education for children, discussed a new educational format. The authors have developed a classification of thematic leitmotives of that conversation. Structuring of texts was carried out with the help of Russian specialized computer programs.
It was found out that grandparents of online school students evaluate their grandchildren's education in two ways: a mixed position prevails, in which informants look for the pros and cons of education. It was discovered that the older generation is actively involved in the implementation of the educational route of grandchildren studying in online schools. The most popular leitmotives on the Internet forum were the comfort of learning, free time, improved health of children and an opportunity to prepare qualitatively for final exams. The least significant topics are replenishment of cultural capital and communication.
The methodological analysis of the Internet forum as a method of collecting and analyzing sociological information is conducted. The empirical approach simplifies access to informants and the field stage of the study. The main problem was the complexity and ambiguity of the classification of the content of unstructured texts received on the Internet forum.
The results of the project can be applied in different areas of social policy. Recommendations have been prepared for the federal program "Digital Economy in the Russian Federation" (2019–2024). In addition, it is important to provide families who have chosen online education for their children (through NGOs, mass media, publications in scientific publications) with up-to-date information. Practical effect for the sociology of culture, sociology of education, sociology of the family is the methodological justification and approbation of digital empirical methods. An additional scope of application of the results is training courses for students of sociological specialties.