Access to digital skills is a matter of democracy. Children's schooling and future job prospects are affected by how well they understand the digital world around them. It is therefore important that schools have the best possible conditions to equip children with the knowledge and skills they need to live and work in a connected society.
This year, the government will decide on a new strategy for the digitalization of schools for the years 2023-2027. The strategy will identify common goals for the digitalization of schools. The new strategy will also build on the work done so far with the existing strategy, which expires at the end of the year.
TechSverige IT Competence Council believes that the government must raise the level of ambition with digitalization in schools in the new strategy. Together, we have agreed on six common positions that we believe are of particular importance to support both schools and students' digital development. Take a look at these positions here.
Integrating digitalization into all teaching
One of the goals of the current school digitalization strategy 2017-2023 is equal access to digital tools. The Swedish National Agency for Education's follow-up of the goal (2022:4) shows that access to digital tools is good but that there are large variations in how digital tools are used. Teaching in schools has largely involved learning about computers and their technical structure, rather than using computers as educational tools. Digital tools should not be an end in themselves. They should be used as a means to increase student achievement.
Skills boost for digitalization
Teachers are key to students' learning development. If teachers are to be able to design learning environments that help raise children's digital skills, it is essential that they have the right skills. However, the Swedish National Agency for Education's latest follow-up (2022:4) shows that there is a great need for support and skills development for teachers and preschool staff when it comes to using digital opportunities in teaching. We believe that within the framework of the next digitalization strategy, a national skills boost among teachers and preschool staff needs to be implemented. The competence boost should ensure a minimum level of teachers at different levels in schools. Teachers should also be offered continuous professional development to build on their basic skills. We also believe that digital literacy must be introduced as a core knowledge area in teacher training.
Strengthen digital leadership
School leaders have a central role in the implementation of the national digitalization strategy. School leaders and principals must have good skills and confidence to lead digital development in schools. At the same time, principals in all forms of education report that they lack sufficient competence (Skolverket 2022:4). We believe that the new digitalization strategy should aim to strengthen the digital leadership of principals. Digital leadership must be included as a central part of headteacher training. Principals also need to receive additional training and support throughout their professional careers.
Improve skills to procure technology for educational activities
The pandemic had the effect that the school began to make greater use of existing technical solutions in the form of hardware and services for collaboration and information sharing. This highlighted the strengths and shortcomings of the solutions procured and has resulted in the school changing systems to a greater extent than before. The risk, however, is that procurement is based on the function that the systems should have instead of the effects that the systems should deliver. The technology should support the systematic quality work and support the processes the school is to deliver. We believe that the headteacher's ability to describe both the processes that the technology is to support and the quality variables to be achieved must be strengthened. The headteacher's ability to specify the technical solutions that the school needs must also be strengthened in relation to the principal and the IT department.
Collaboration between schools and the tech industry
Collaboration between schools and the tech industry is crucial to ensure effective digital development in schools. Cooperation should be based on the local needs of schools. This can include collaboration on the use of existing or new technologies. It can also involve collaboration in the design of professional development activities. It is also important that the future of technology in education is a collaborative effort between teachers, principals and the tech industry. This requires better and closer collaboration. Therefore, we believe that collaboration between schools and the tech industry should be one of the government's priorities in the new digitalization strategy.
Increasing interest in tech and promoting digital inclusion
Digital exclusion still exists among people who, for various reasons, participate little or not at all in the digital society. It is important that all actors in society take greater responsibility for increasing participation and understanding of digitalization and tech. The lack of women in the tech sector can be traced back to gendered study choices made at an early stage of children's schooling. These choices affect not only the tech industry but society as a whole. The solutions developed by the industry need to be for both women and men. We believe that study counsellors should be given an increased role in breaking the gendered study choices in the new digitalization strategy. Collaboration between schools and the industry also ensures that schools have better knowledge of tech jobs and industry role models.
