LEARNING WITH SCREENS? TEACHERs’ VOICES ON THE EFFECTS OF DIGITAL PLATFORMIZATION IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

Abstract

This article explores the effects of digitalization and platformisation on the learning processes of secondary education students, drawing an interpretative qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews conducted with secondary education teachers in Catalonia (n = 30). By adopting a critical sociotechnical perspective, this study delves into how educational digitalization, spurred by institutional policies and pressures from the tech sector, is transforming pedagogical practices and the ways students learn. Through a thematic analysis with iterative coding, the results revealed a predominantly critical perception among teachers regarding the intensive use of digital platforms, pointing to issues such as knowledge fragmentation, disruptions in dynamic school times, and a shift in cognitive effort towards external technologies such as generative artificial intelligence. Teachers do not perceive technology as a neutral tool but as a catalyst for profound changes in attention, reading, writing, and symbolic construction. This article underscores the epistemological value of teachers’ experiences in understanding the effects of digitalization in schools and advocates for imagining pedagogical alternatives that resist the algorithmic and instrumental logics of platforms. It concludes by stressing the urgency of rethinking the meaning of learning in contexts shaped by automation and the attention economy, while placing student subjectivity and the pedagogical relationship at the forefront of the discussion.