Abstract
Teacher education (TE) is not only about skills and knowledge but also about citizenship formation as student teachers are prepared for the democratic assignment of school. In a postdigital era, blurred boundaries between digital technologies and physical reality place new demands on citizenship, teacher education institutions (TEIs), and teacher educators (TEDs). This paper explores Swedish TEDs’ views of digital citizenship and the professional digital competence (PDC) required for teaching subject student teachers to teach for digital citizenship. Seven TEIs participated and 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with TEDs teaching a Core Education Subjects module on education and democracy mandatory for all student teachers. TEDs generally believe that the digitalization of society impacts the democratic assignment and addressing this requires specific PDC. Conceptualizations of digital citizenship tend to foreground source criticism as well as ethical, safe, and sound use of digital technologies, and to some degree also (im-)material means of democratic participation. While generally believing that TE should address questions relating to digital citizenship and that TEDs have an important role in this regard, digital technologies are discussed in the module coincidentally and TEDs are unsure to what degree student teachers receive such training. Challenges include lack of time and unclear Degree Objectives. To develop TEDs’ PDC to include questions relating to digital citizenship in their teaching, support is needed through policy and continuous professional development for TEDs, including reviews of course content and program structure. Future TE research needs to explore digital citizenship in the school subject social studies.
Highlights
Following the horrors of totalitarianism of World War II, the fostering of democratic citizens was made a key pillar of education in Sweden (Ekman 2007) and many other countries (United Nations 1945)
– How do teacher educators (TEDs) view digital citizenship and the professional digital competence (PDC) required to teach for digital citizenship?
To develop a thorough understanding of how TEDs view digital citizenship, the PDC required to teach for digital citizenship, and their role in teaching for digital citizenship, semi-structured interviews
Summary
Following the horrors of totalitarianism of World War II, the fostering of democratic citizens was made a key pillar of education in Sweden (Ekman 2007) and many other countries (United Nations 1945). Going beyond Marshall’s (1950) description of the relation between the citizen and the nation state, which was influential in the twentieth century, this impact can be understood in the context of a broadened understanding of citizenship (Yuval-Davis 1997). From such a perspective, citizenship is viewed as something individuals do rather than merely have (van Gunsteren 1998/2018) where the digital is an important dimension (Choi 2016; Jørring et al 2019; cf Carretero et al 2017). Salient examples include increasingly digital civic engagement (Lindgren 2017), post-truth politics and disinformation (Frau-Meigs et al 2017), and digital surveillance (Colaresi 2020) in conjunction with artificial intelligence (Burbidge et al 2020)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
