Generation Alpha and the education

Abstract

The children of the new age went to school. These are the children of the generation Alpha who do not receive information through traditional channels. These are the children who play, learn and interact through technology. They do not want to and do not read in the traditional way. From a very young age, they have been in contact with information technology, successfully working on it, even before they have spoken. Alpha children are independent and curious, they have their own view of the world, which is different from that of their parents and teachers. Communicating with them requires an approach that is based on negotiation and compromise on the part of adults. Parents and teachers should understand, accept and support them more and criticize and educate them less violently. All this raises the question of whether teachers are prepared to teach and take into account these new features of the alpha generation, which has already started school and interacts with the education system. Conflict situations often arise between teachers and children, in which educators fail to respond adequately and professionally to parents

Full text

Generation Alpha and the education
Dima Spasova
University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev”, Bulgaria
dspasova@uni-ruse.bg
Abstract: The children of the new age went to school. These are the children of the generation Alpha who do not receive information through
traditional channels. These are the children who play, learn and interact through technology. They do not want to and do not read in the
traditional way. From a very young age, they have been in contact with information technology, successfully working on it, even before they
have spoken. Alpha children are independent and curious, they have their own view of the world, which is different from that of their parents
and teachers. Communicating with them requires an approach that is based on negotiation and compromise on the part of adults. Parents
and teachers should understand, accept and support them more and criticize and educate them less violently. All this raises the question of
whether teachers are prepared to teach and take into account these new features of the alpha generation, which has already started school
and interacts with the education system. Conflict situations often arise between teachers and children, in which educators fail to respond
adequately and professionally to parents
Keywords: GENERATION ALPHA, EDUCATION, PARENTS, TEACHERS
1. Introduction
The role of the school in the education and upbringing of
children is a key point in the field of pedagogy. This issue has come
more and more to the fore in recent years as technology has
developed rapidly. They have become accessible to a larger
proportion of the population and have entered people's lives from a
very early age. Already, children from a very young age are being
introduced to and beginning to spend part of their daily lives with
digital devices. They play games, watch videos and movies,
communicate with their friends through their tablets and phones. It
is this development of technology on the one hand, and the mass
use of it by people on the other, that is leading to the emergence of
Generation Alpha children.
This is the generation born between 2010 and 2024, the
generation that handles technology much better than most adults.
Communicating with them requires an approach based on
negotiation and compromise on the part of adults. Parents and
teachers need to be more understanding, accepting and supportive.
All of this raises the question of whether teachers are prepared to
teach and take into account these new characteristics of the Alpha
generation who have already started school and are interacting with
the education system. Conflict situations often arise between
teachers and children in which educators fail to respond
appropriately and professionally, according to parents.
The purpose of this report is to explore the attitudes of children
of the Alpha Generation towards school and education and to
consider the issue of whether schools can meet the development and
interests of children of this generation. There is not yet enough
research on this topic and, due to the age of the generation, we
cannot say with certainty how it will develop and what its strengths
and successes will be.
2. Problem discussion
A few decades ago, generations changed over an interval of
about twenty years. Modernity is shrinking our generational frame
to a dozen years. From there, the behavioral patterns and beliefs that
characterize generations change rapidly, and differences (especially
with a non-neighboring generation) become drastically disparate. At
the same time, these differences inevitably come together "under
one roof" in the home, education, work, and should be recognized
and accounted for. [3] In the 1990s, William Strauss and Neil
Howey concluded that being born in a particular period
predetermines people's skills, thinking, values and behaviour.
Scientists have been able to identify periods of time during which
most people hold similar values. They are formed in children under
12-14 years under the influence of social events, technical
opportunities, family upbringing. The child simply lives in certain
conditions and absorbs everything that happens. This is imprinted
on a subconscious level. As a result, each generation acts in a
certain way.
From 1963 to 1984, members of Generation X were born. 1984-
2000 was the time of Generation Y. After 2000, children of
generation Z began to be born. And now there is talk of the special
Alpha generation. About children caught in the whirlwind of rapid
technological development and social change. They were raised by
Generation X and Y parents.
The Alpha generation are the children of the Millennials, and
are often the younger siblings of the Zeta generation. The
generation's name was proposed back in 2005 by Australian social
researcher Mark McCrindle. While writing his book, "ABCs of
XYZ: Understanding Global Generations," it became clear to him
that a new generation would soon emerge, and there is as yet no
official name for it. McCrindle decides to conduct a poll to find out
what people think it should be named. In Understanding
Generational Alpha, McCrindle points out that "as a research
agency with a keen interest in generational analysis, we decided to
test a few names with a survey of Australians. When we asked what
they thought the next generation should be called, many people
suggested 'Generation A', as we had already reached the end of the
alphabet with Generation Z." But Generation Alpha represents a
whole new generation, born entirely in a new century. Going back
to the beginning of the Latin alphabet, this name did not feel
appropriate for this next generation. Furthermore, it all happened
right after the Atlantic hurricane season in 2005, when there were so
many storms that the normal alphabetic names were exhausted, and
so the Greek alphabet was used for the first time, starting with
hurricane alpha an, hurricane beta, etc." McCrindle goes on to say
in his work that he used the Greek alphabet instead of the Latin one
so that there would be no return of the old, but the beginning of
something new. The author attempts to predict future characteristics
by analyzing demographics - age of parents (older), cultural mix
(more diverse), socioeconomic (slightly wealthier), family size
(smaller), life expectancy (longer). In addition, there is research on
their parents - the millennials (or Generation Y), which gives us an
idea of what they will look like - more likely to move and change
jobs, be materially secure, technologically equipped and supported
in many aspects of their lives, such as childcare. Generation Alpha
will be the largest generation as we have a larger population than
ever before. They will live longer and be more culturally diverse
than previous generations. Technology is making them the most
globally connected generation. Generation Alpha is the first
generation to form in the age of portable digital devices, and for
many of them, their pacifiers are not a rattle or a set of keys, but a
smartphone or tablet. This is a generation born into the world of
iPhones, YouTube and Instagram. They consider themselves social,
global and mobile as they will work, study and travel between
different countries and pursue many professions. The Alpha
generation will develop much earlier in many ways: physical
maturity comes earlier, so adolescence for them will start earlier.
While adolescence begins earlier, it will continue later. Adult life
that was once measured in marriage, children, mortgages and
careers will now shift into later years. This generation will stay
longer in the education system and at home with parents.
Generation Alpha is defined by technology devices like
smartphones and tablets, video games, driverless trains, autonomous
cars and smart speakers that talk to you. These technologies have
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been developed within their generation and it's all they know.
Technology is also being adopted faster than ever. While it took
radio 38 years to reach 50 million users, television 13, the iPod only
four, the internet three, Facebook only one, Pokémon Go took only
19 days to reach those users! Generation Alpha has been bred as
"screen users" to a greater extent than the fixed screens of the past
could facilitate. It's nearly impossible to tear Generation Alpha
away from their devices, which have been in their lives since the
day they were born. They have been using these devices since
before they could speak, so we have yet to see what the impact of
their interaction with the screens will be. Going forward, it is very
likely that the Alpha generation will never use a wallet, disposable
plastics, listen to a radio, participate in written exams, or set an
analog alarm clock. Parents are increasingly aware of the negative
consequences of too much time spent with technology - the
isolation and anti-social impact. However, there is also a view that
is positive about the use of technology toys - they increase
connectivity, facilitate communication and develop social and
global skills.
The Alpha generation may never see a camera that requires film
and they will never have to wait for it to be developed. The only
phones they've ever seen also take pictures, record videos, have
internet access, and capabilities to play games that are quite
different from landlines. Presumably their parents will steer them
towards a more formal education. In this way, from an earlier age,
the Alpha generation will have access to more information than any
generation before. It is also predicted that every second child of the
Alpha generation will receive a university degree. Generation Alpha
will outperform even the vaunted and sophisticated Generation Z in
terms of education, with 90% completing secondary education,
compared to 80% today, and the majority of them continuing to
study in some form. Many future occupations do not yet figure as of
yet, with 65% of those entering primary school today expected to
enter completely new occupations that do not yet exist. While
technology is replacing jobs, it is also creating many new ones.
Many of these students are now learning skills in robotics, coding,
social media marketing, app development, and big data analytics.
[4]
There are still too many unknowns in predicting the possible
development of the children of this generation. The difficulties are
compounded by the strong impact of the Kovid pandemic, which
has gripped the world for two years, and the volatile political
situation in Europe.
Parents, teachers and researchers are asking too many questions
that have yet to be answered.
3. Objective and research methodologies
As youth issues researcher Simon Schnetzer points out, as
quoted by Die Welt, an affinity for digital technology will be the
biggest challenge in dealing with the children of the Alphabet
generation. They are hyperflexible and find it difficult to conform to
temporal and spatial relationships, such as in special spaces like
kindergartens or schools. [9]
Parents of children of this generation express concerns that their
children spend extremely long periods of time on mobile devices.
This process has also increased as a result of the pandemic that has
swept the world and forced schools to switch to distance learning.
In Bulgaria, primary school students were less in a distance learning
environment and more in class.
In order to track parents' and children's attitudes toward
education, school, and teachers' authority, we conducted a survey
involving parents, grandparents, and other relatives associated with
raising and educating Generation Alpha children. The idea for this
research came about as a response to many parents sharing that their
children aged 3 - 11 are different, they can't tear them away from
their digital devices and they feel that learning at school is not
tailored to the characteristics of the new generation. Parents believe
that somewhere there is a disconnect in their communication with
teachers. Is this really the case or does it come from the specifics of
Generation Y parents. Flexibility and creativity are important in the
work and education of Generation Y members. They do not
recognize seniority, experience, qualifications. They believe that
they are entitled to a job with high status and a lot of free time
without putting in much effort. They work to have fun. Generation
Y support a return to family-oriented living. They are generally
very social, socially responsible, value relationships, seek work-life
balance, loyal and sensible, on the 't- with new technology. [7]
Education in moral and family values, better education based on the
modernization of the education system are at the core of the
understanding of the people of this generation. All these
characteristics of the parents of the Alpha Generation also explain
their demands on the education system, the dilemmas about
educational approaches they face when confronted with the children
of the next generation.
In this regard, we prepared the survey to find out whether
education is still a value for the children of the Alpha generation
and whether they continue to attend school willingly, and whether
teachers are still an authority among them.
When asked, "Do you think children of the Alpha generation are
different from other generations?" 62 percent of respondents
thought children of the Alpha generation were different from other
generations, 38 percent said no, just very over-satisfied.
Fig. 1 Diagram of for the percentage distribution of responses
to the question
To the question "Is he willingly attending nursery, kindergarten,
school?", 64 percent answered positively, 6 percent negatively, 28
percent - differently and 2 percent that he is bored there.
Fig. 2 Diagram of for the percentage distribution of responses
to the question
When asked, "Do you think teachers and educators are an
authority figure for your child?", 74 percent responded positively, 6
percent negatively, and 20 percent could not decide.
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Fig. 3 Diagram of for the percentage distribution of responses
to the question
When asked, "Do you think the topics in the curriculum meet
the interests and developmental level of Generation Alpha
children?", 54 percent responded negatively, 24 percent responded
positively, and 22 percent could not decide.
Fig. 4 Diagram of for the percentage distribution of responses
to the question
The following main conclusions can be drawn from the study,
and the report does not claim to be exhaustive on the subject:
1. Generation Alpha children are eager to go to school, which
shows that this primal value - the desire for better
education of young people - has not changed despite the
development of technology and distance learning
opportunities..
2. Children have established friendly relationships with their
classmates. Building and maintaining friendships is
extremely important for a child's growth. As Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Bagriana Ilieva points out - school is an institution in
the school education system where children are educated to
acquire a degree, but also where they are educated and
socialized. In addition to these functions of the educational
institution can be superimposed the social one, since in the
period of primary education social groups and relationships
are formed. In groups, observance of rules is required,
which students learn under the guidance and responsibility
of the teacher. The social function thus learned can be
considered crucial and used in the later life of the now
adults. Pre-school and school education provides children
with knowledge, values and social skills that enable them
to integrate into society and behave adaptively there, and
not be part of interpersonal problems. In order to integrate
into the present complex society, each person also needs a
certain set of social skills to effectively control emotions,
to build normal human relationships, to communicate and
cooperate with others, and other structural components that
are part of the content of emotional intelligence. [1]
3. eachers remain an authority for children and their parents,
which should be fully utilized by both parties. Parents and
teachers should work closely together and organise or be
involved in the preparation of various joint initiatives in
order to foster in children a desire to participate actively in
the learning process, to inculcate common human values..
4. Adapting student teachers' curricula to the use of different
e-platforms, such as eTwinning, in conjunction with the
study of traditional subjects. The inclusion of these
platforms will emphasize the possibilities of integrating the
project method into the educational process in preschool
and primary school age through the use of digital
educational resources. Students will be able to become
familiar with a technological model for planning and
implementing project work, as well as the criteria for
evaluating the project presentation and project product. In
this way it is expected to make learning more attractive for
this digital generation. [2]
5. Students are motivated to attend classes, and this
motivation should be increased and sustained because it
depends on the interest in the information that is conveyed
and that underlies the cognitive activity. [8]
6. There is a need to bring about a change in education for the
Alphabet Generation, teachers should use modern methods
which, thanks to current advances in high technology,
provide a wide choice of technical products that can
support education at different levels. [6] Visual tutorials
could be created because more and more reliance has to be
placed on visual suggestion, to which the text has a
commentary and complementary function. This is a long
process, in which advertising clips, trailers, and other
forms that have been nurturing for decades a new visual
culture and a new attitude to the perception of the content
of the teaching material will take their place. [5]
7. In the curricula it is good to include, along with traditional
subjects, new subjects that, on the one hand, meet the
requirements of this digital generation, but on the other
hand, help them to form as individuals..
4. Conclusion
The topic of educating the children of the Alpha Generation will
continue to excite their parents, teachers and of course their future
employers. But the results of the survey, as well as a study of
materials about the children of this generation, give reason to argue
that however different these children may be, education in
traditional human values and ancestral traditions, communication
and time spent together should continue to be the basis of
interaction with them. Encouraging interaction with grandparents
will preserve the moral values that parents seek to educate children
to. Teachers and educators continue to have a meaningful and
formative role in the lives of young children, and so they must
continue to help the Alpha Generation establish itself in this new
world while maintaining its humanity. Their educators and teachers
must therefore help them to establish themselves in this new reality.
5. References
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development of emotional intelligence, Science Conference of NMU
„V. Levski”, 360-370, (2021)
G. Georgieva, Project based learning in an intercultural
environment through etwinning, Proceeding 59th Science
Conference of Ruse University - SSS, 59, 116-119, (2020)
M. Pencheva, Generation differences and their implication on
learning process, Proceeding 59th Science Conference of Ruse
University, 55, 93-97, (2016)
M. McCrindle, A. Fell, Understanding generation Alpha, (2020)
R. Spasov, Bulgarian historical and cultural space (visualization
of learning Bulgarian as a foreign language), https://www.uni-
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