Digitaliseringens möjligheter och hinder – diskurser hos lärare och företag

In this degree project, a critical discourse analysis was conducted regarding the coming changes in the Swedish curriculum concerning educational technology. The empiric data was transcripts from qualitative interviews with four teachers, teaching mathematics at upper secondary school in Sweden, and three representatives from educational technology companies, developing software and/or hardware for use in school environments. The aim of the study was to describe the discourses of these two social practices and to point out differences and similarities. The degree project also includes an evaluation of theoretical perspectives within discourse analysis. From the analysis, two discursive practices emerged. Each discursive practice was defined by a number of separate discursive strategies. The biggest difference was, in our opinion, the degree to which the interviewees expressed confidence in their work when talking about the coming changes of digitalization. The teachers showed low levels of professional confidence regarding their resourcefulness while the company representatives showed strong belief in their ability and conviction. The two discursive practices also showed interdiscursive strategies, e.g. descriptions of school praxis, economics and technology optimism. The results indicate a one-sided interdiscursivity for the descriptions of school praxis. Sociocultural change in the field of educational technology is discussed as a possible cause of the discursive differences