Digitalization as means of efficiency? : A qualitative study about five civics teachers' perception of their profession in a neoliberal organization.

The aim of this study is to examine in what ways civics teachers perceive digitalization as a means of efficiency in perspectives mainly revolving the teachers’ organization. By conducting interviews with five teachers educating within civic studies, the aim is to collect data about a perceived reality, rather than a factual state. Hence the following essay focuses on a qualitative approach, rather than a quantitative. The interviews were conducted over the internet as a result of the raging pandemic, Covid-19. By including the neoliberal marketing model of New Public Management as the theoretical framework in the analysis, the purpose is to illuminate the difficulties of steering a dynamic organization with quantitative values. The result showed that teachers were generally pessimistic about the inclusion of digital tools within both the administration and the classroom. All of the interviewed teachers worked with digital tools, but in different extent and with varied competence. The work with digital tools was well established in both administration and classroom. Teachers believed the digital tools could be used as means of efficiency, but that would require a more pragmatic approach, from developing the tools, to implementing them. Teachers mainly believed digitalization to increase the workload. The conclusion is that the downside of including digital tools overweighed the upside. The main issues teachers mentioned included indirect threats to teacher autonomy and student equality. These threats sprung out of the economic efficiency teachers believed digitalization to muster. Digitalization could be used as means to create efficiency in teaching and administration, however, not when schools are steered by a neoliberal market fundamentalism. Questions rose on how the teachers’ education prepare its students for working within this reality, and how the style of teaching could adapt to the increased opportunities digital tools provide. Furthermore, considering the current state of the world with an on-going pandemic, how will the attitudes towards digital tools and digitalization be in a near future