Russian High School Teachers in the Face of Ongoing Technological Change: Heading Towards a new Luddism?

Abstract

In many countries, including Russia, the COVID-19 epidemic became a catalyst for the technological, “digital” renewal of the school educational process. This renewal occurred rapidly and, in some respects, chaotically, therefore it was described in literature using a special term — “emergency teaching”. Teachers resisting change is sometimes seen as the main reason for the stability and conservatism of schools, as well as for the failed attempts to introduce innovations. Drawing a parallel between modern teachers and Luddites, it is important to assess not only resistance to technological change, but also the social consequences of these changes for the school and for teachers. This article is based on the materials of a long-term observation of Russian school teachers, implemented using qualitative research logic during the time of the most active spread of COVID in 2020–2022. The study revealed the difficulties that teachers face in integrating digital practices into the emergency educational process, as well as their fears related to prospects of a crisis in the profession of teaching. One component of this looming crisis is the expansion of external formal control, as well as the teachers themselves losing control, with the prospect (and fear) of losing autonomy and the teaching profession losing its creative element.