Conference Agenda

Integrating educational technologies and digital literacy into the classroom has become imperative to enhance teaching and learning experiences (Garza-Montemayor et al., 2019). When exploring the relationship between teachers and technology, Prestridge (2017) found that teachers beliefs, lack of confidence, lack of pedagogical and technological competence are key aspects for the use of technologies in the classroom. Further examination of the problem suggests that teacher education programmes provide growing, but limited preparation (Starkey, 2020) and, in cases, inadequate focus on pedagogical applications of digital technology in schools (Heitink et al., 2016).

This research proposal explores the intended pedagogical use of technologies by pre-service teachers enrolled in the ITE programmes of University of Glasgow and current use by in-service primary school teachers within Glasgow Local Authority. This study follows a mixed method, concurrent-parallel design where quantitative and qualitative data will be collected simultaneously and merged to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2017). The quantitative study will follow a descriptive-exploratory design based on the application of an online adapted version of the teachers’ digital competence (DigCompEdu) instrument. The qualitative data will be collected in the same instrument via five open-ended questions that aims to collect pre-service and in-service teachers’ perceptions on the pedagogical use of digital technologies in classrooms.

The findings will provide insights and greater understanding of diigtal teaching practices, and aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse around teacher education for a digital world, as well as gaining insight into the current state-of-the-question in Scotland and establish a baseline for further improvements to digital literacy in teacher education and career-long professional development.

This essay debates the changes produced by neoliberalism in education, with the use of technologies, such as Big Techs (Giants in Technology) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the ways in which such innovations resize education, work and subjectivity teacher. The main aim is to carry out a theoretical critique of these issues in order to identify strategies and procedures adopted in the production of this new rationality to be incorporated by the subjects, so that such identification is capable of pointing out possibilities for reaction. From a bibliographic review, an articulation was developed between classic and contemporary authors of neoliberalism, such as Karl Marx and Theodor Adorno, with those who address the technological invasion in the educational field, such as Safatle, Silva Junior and Neves, and those who analyze the impacts observed on the subject, such as Sagrado, Matta and Gill. The relevance of the discussion on neoliberalism, as a rationality that subjects the State and imposes its ways of being and acting on the individual, lies in the intention of rescuing the subject's autonomy, self-determination and non-acceptance. Since technological mechanisms applied to the educational field, via EDTECHs and AI, have transformed people into human capital through the use of technology and innovative approaches, it must be the subject of reflection with the aim of providing social justice in a world still marked by inequalities. This challenge affects teachers, as they have a central role to play and can be considered essential to achieving this promotion. To conclude, knowledge of the students’reality and the contexts in which they find themselves allows teachers to adopt measures capable of better promoting social justice and sustainable development in the multiple and diverse scenarios they find themselves in.