Whose Interests and Knowledge are Recognized? An Empirical Study of Teachers’ Reflections on Integrating Digital Technologies in Teaching Activities

The integration of digital technology in teaching activities has shown to be challenging for teachers. To approach this, the article investigated the foundation of teachers’ stance about developing their use of digital technology in teaching. The study draws on an action research approach, involving 35 teachers (K-2) in workshops and interaction-based facilitation. Based on content analysis, we identified how the teachers reasoned about their agency or lack of it, and children’s knowledge and experiences, as well as guardians’ viewpoints. The result is presented in four themes: Exchanging experiences across different school settings, Acknowledging accessibility to digital tools, Teachers’ considerations about children’s influence, and Teachers’ considerations about guardians’ influence. The study supports the theoretical framework of funds of knowledge; however, the teachers need to move from ‘talking the talk’ to ‘walking the walk’. They wish to give space for children’s experiences, but do not reveal any tools to do so. Hence, the children’s home domain is lacking in teachers’ discussions and their stance in including children’s interests is shadowed by their own needs. The analysis shows that the local context is a foundational support and constitutes a framework for the teachers to step by step becoming digitally competent and, hence, being able to a greater extent give space for children’s funds of knowledge – i.e. moving from talk to implementation. The study contributes to a local perspective to the debate on how to integrate digital technology in classrooms and how teachers can be empowered to gradually build digital agency.