Making their own sense of students’ digital competence; Teacher negotiation and its implications for democracy and (in)equality

Abstract

This paper seeks to better understand how teachers make sense of and cater for students’ digital competence, since little is known about how the concept of digital competence is negotiated by teachers, and how the work is developed in schools. By interviewing Swedish teachers, and using the perspective of sensemaking, analytical frameworks of digital citizenship, and teachers’ professional digital competence, the study shows that teachers mainly consider the concept of digital competence in terms of technical knowledge and usage, and responsible and critical awareness. Interpretations in alignment with democratic values, such as digital rights, participation, engagement, and critical resistance, are not as common. Having regulations to consider, and a lack of support for making sense of policies, are found to constrain teachers’ capacity to provide students with a wide range of learning opportunities that target digital competence. Based on the results, it is argued that a narrow perspective on student digital competence can restrain democratic values and increase digital inequality. Teachers’ collegial sensemaking concerning students’ digital competence in a digitalized society is of particular interest for further research, since competence is not only subject-specific but also generic, and needs to be continually reinterpreted.