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This edited collection presents a Nordic perspective on intensified discussions concerning digitalization and digital competence in the current trends of educational work. Using a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, the book compares Nordic countries' attitudes towards the digitalization of education and demonstrates the Nordic region's position as digital front-runners in a European and global context. The book provides up-to-date cases and future-oriented perspectives on digitalization and digital competence in educational work. Chapters use empirical data gained from policy documents, interviews, and questionnaires to present nuanced discussions, theoretical perspectives, and implications for the future of digitalization in education. Ultimately, this book's reach far exceeds that of its Nordic contexts and will be of use to postgraduate students, researchers, and scholars across the globe involved with digital education, teacher education, and educational policy and politics more broadly . . .

There are many situations where digital technology has served as the lifeline or salvation for society. Unexpected and unpredictable situations like catastrophic floods, blizzards, earthquakes, and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic have forced families to stay home, meaning that digital technologies have become important tools for people to work and learn. Other examples are societal and regional challenges such as lack of qualified teachers, diminishing birth rates, and difficulties in filling classrooms that force digital and educational development. The symposium held in May 2021, which resulted in this special issue, was intended to explore possibilities for ensuring equal access to education in rural schools using remote teaching. At the symposium, different strategies to increase access to education in the context of K-12 using digital technologies was presented and discussed. It brought together researchers from Europe and North America, all represented in this issue.

This presentation will report from a pilot study using a novel quantitative instrument as a mean for findings of scientific relevance as well as of relevance for school development. The aim of the pilot study was to better understand school leadership in the midst of digitalization in school. The project was based on two theoretical positions for understanding leadership in the context of digitalization: Leadership behaviours according to Yukl (2013) and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) according to Engeström, (2015). The essence of leadership in organizations is, according to Yukl (2013),“influencing and facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives”. Leaders can improve the performance of a team or organization by influencing the processes that determine performance. Background: The Swedish government has commissioned a national pilot project to test sustainable collaboration models between academia and the school or school system regarding research, school activities and teacher education for the period 2017 to 2021 (ulfavtal.se). Expectations are to contribute to the research base of the school system, and to conduct research build on equal terms between researchers and schools. In Sweden there is an explicit expectation in the Education Act, that education is to “rest on a scientific grounds and proven experience” (Section 5). This means that teachers and school leaders are to base the exercise of their profession on research and that school development is to be permeated by a scientific approach. Along this argument, a need to develop sustainable collaboration models between the school system and academia resting on common grounds is formulated as a goal of the pilot project. Similar collaborative approaches between practice and academa are adopted in many European countreis. This means embracing a dimension of development work into the approach to research. The idea of forming collaborations between schools and acade

An impending challenge in today’s school is to ensure that all students have access to an equal education, which should in turn improve social and economic conditions for both individual and society (Lundahl, 2016). The equality aspect is especially accentuated in rural areas which, unlike metropolitan regions, often have significant difficulties related to long distances between schools, lack of qualified teachers and problems filling the classroom due to diminishing birthrates. This in turn restricts students' right to an equal education in rural areas (cf. Pettersson, 2017). At the same time, digitalization of society is one of the fundamental challenges for the future. The development and broad availability of digital technologies has created new unique opportunities, and pitfalls, for rethinking and reinventing students’ equal access to learning, education and collaboration in the digital age (Collins and Halverson, 2009). Distance and remote teaching are such examples used to ensure equal access to education, not least in rural areas (cf. Hilli, 2020; Pettersson and Olofsson, 2019). Using digital technologies for remote teaching have thereby also, to some extent, changed the way that schools operate and the ways that teaching is being conducted (cf. From, Pettersson and Pettersson, 2020). However, research, networks and collaborations within this area can be said to be scarce not only at a Nordic, but also at an international level (Barbour, 2013; Toppin and Toppin, 2016). Based on the lack of research, networks and collaboration for developing remote teaching as a practice, the significance of a symposium was identified. In May 2020, the international research symposium Remote teaching to ensure equal access to education in rural schools was held at Umeå University in Sweden. At the symposium different strategies to systematically and proactively increase access to education at upper secondary school level using digital technologies were discussed. One basic, lict

In Sweden, adequate digital competence has been put in the spotlight due to the Swedish 2017 national strategy for the digitalisation of the K-12 school system. Based on both policy and practice, the aim is to explore teachers' enacted digital competence in three upper secondary schools in Sweden and thereby provide an empirical account of what the notion 'adequate' means in practice. The data consists of interviews with teachers and classroom observations. At an aggregated analytical level, the results are presented as four narrative sub-case descriptions. It is concluded that teachers' adequate digital competence is flexible in meaning, determined by local contextual conditions and enacted in activities and decisions that are based on the teachers' own value frameworks. The understanding of 'adequate' in this study does not appear to be clarified in the formulations used in the national strategy., lict

The digitalisation of educational contexts has changed the prac- tice of teaching and learning. In this, teachers have a key role in enacting digital technologies for this purpose and have different opportunities to do so. This article explores how digitalisation can affect teachers by focusing on: (a) how teachers manage to capi- talise on digitalisation; and (b) how digitalisation can affect and reconstruct their self-understanding. Two teacher colleagues of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the same teaching team are interviewed and observed. Drawing on the interplay between self-image, self-esteem, job motivation, and task perception, it is shown how the teachers’ self-understanding is played out and changes due to the call for digitalisation. Whereas one of the teachers has been able to capitalise on digitalisation in a way that has been beneficial both professionally and personally, the other has felt pressurised by it. A conclusion is that a limited or extended use of digital technologies should not be taken as an indicator of teaching quality.

The Swedish National Graduate School for Digital Technologies in Education (GRADE) is a cooperative venture between six Swedish universities established during 2018. Within the field of educational sciences and in the area of digital technologies in education, GRADE aims to strengthen the expertise in the area and to increase national and international cooperation in research training activities. Over a number of years, and from multitude of sources (cf. Brown & Davis, 2004; Fisher, Higgins & Loveless, 2006; Kafai & Resnick 1996), research has stressed that increased digitalization in schools leads to a complexity that needs to be taken into account on different levels, from different perspectives and with different designs, methodologies and theoretical perspectives (cf. Olofsson, Lindberg, Fransson & Hauge, 2015; Price, Jewitt & Brown, 2013; Tondeur, Valcke & van Braak, 2008). At a micro-level, the learning situation of students, teachers and school-leaders changes and it becomes important to deepen the knowledge about the impact digital technologies has on the fundamental conditions for teaching and learning of different school subjects (cf. Chun, Kern & Smith 2016; Leung & Baccaglini-Frank, 2017). On a macro-level, conditions for education as such changes and digital technologies becomes an important object of study as agents of change (Wong & Li, 2008). The digitalization of K-12 schools has long been highlighted in policy as a necessity (cf. Kirkman et al, 2002; OECD, 2010). However, research and evaluations (cf. Fransson et al, 2012; OECD, 2015; Wastiau et al, 2013) show that many substantial challenges remain. One of the fundamental pillars of GRADE is the interdisciplinary approach. Several disciplines are present (Applied IT, Curriculum studies, Education, Informatics, Technology and Learning, Educational work, Work-interated Learning) in researching digital technologies in K-12 schools with the ambition to contribute to, QC 20191021

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In this paper, the notion of ‘adequate digital competence’, as it is used in the 2017 Swedish strategy for digitalization of the school system, is in focus. Based on a close reading of the strategy, three dimensions are formulated for discussion: time, context, and interpretation. These dimensions open a more general discussion about the content of policies regarding digital competence. The notion of striving for an ‘adequate digital competence’ for children, students, teachers, school leaders, and other school staff is loaded with a variety of possible meanings. The strategy provides guidance in some aspects, but leaves a lot to local enactment of the strategy., lict

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine Swedish upper secondary school teachers’ and students’views and use of ICT in education.Design/methodology/approach – In total, 25 individual teachers and 39 students in small focus groupswere interviewed. A qualitative content analysis was performed using NVivo11. The analysis was conductedin three steps: with each individual teacher, the student groups and the cohort of teachers and students.A comparative analysis was also conducted.Findings – The teachers’ views and use of ICT are diverse. Teachers and students identify similar challengeswhen using ICT in education, e.g. time and subject, the shortcomings of a school’s learning managementsystem (LMS) and teachers’ digital competence. Students report an extensive out-of-school use ofsmartphones and an extensive in-school use of laptops and LMS.Research limitations/implications – The relatively small number of teachers and students in threeschools make generalisations difficult. The examination of teachers’ and students’ views and use in the samecontext reveals new knowledge.Practical implications – The study may influence teachers’ use of ICT in education, based on a betterunderstanding of students’ use.Social implications – The study may lead to a better understanding of teachers’ and students’ differentperspectives and a more enhanced and sustainable in-school use of ICT.Originality/value – The originality is that teachers’ and students’ views and use of ICT in education areexamined at the same time. The paper contributes new knowledge about how teachers and studentsconceptualise and use ICT in upper secondary school practices., Special Issue, lict

Introduction: In the last ten years higher education in Sweden has undergone major changes related to two specific parallel processes. First a process of digitalization, secondly an academisation process of what has previously been regarded as mainly vocational programmes for professions being delivered by other institutions than the universities. Examples of these are police education (Sjöberg, 2016) and fire-fighter training (Holmgren, 2015). The competence of the educators responsible for such programmes as well as the particular educational context for providing the courses are being re-defined. Central in this paper is the concept of Pedagogical Digital Competence (PDC) (Hall & From, 2013). PDC relates to the ability of teachers to plan and conduct, and continuously evaluate and revise, Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-supported training, based on theory, current research and proven experience in practice. PDC includes both practical (know-how) and conceptual (know-why) knowledge. During fall 2016, intensive organizational preparations as well as training of police teachers took place at the university in question with the purpose of being able to teach police students at a distance in spring of 2017. Important here was a course intended to develop the police educators´ PDC in order to make the move to a distance context and the ability to design distance courses. The course included learning theories and digital tools as well as in-practice training to increase the police teachers’ knowledge and skills in the tools and implement them in their teaching in practice. The attention in this paper is directed towards the PDC needed to be developed by police teachers in the context of the newly re-designed distance-based Swedish police education. Aim: The aim of this paper is to present a study of the police teachers self-rated abilities according to the model of PDC before and after a professional development course in ICT in education. Data and re, lict

This paper explores upper secondary school students’ talk about how information and communication technology (ICT) can structure and support their everyday activities and time in school. The data consists of 11 group interviews with a total of 46 students. The results show that ICT plays a central role in the students’ schooling, not in terms of “state-of-the-art” but rather as “state-of-the-actual,” for instance in supporting the writing process and for peer-support, digital documentation and storage., lict

The implementation and use of information- and communication technology (ICT) in education are high on the educational agendas of most countries. In principle, all western countries now have a policy or strategy for ICT in K-12 schools. Although countries may have similar economic preconditions, they often implement different ICT policies in school (Austin & Hunter, 2013; Ottestad, 2010). ICT policies may also have different rationales and are often over-optimistic about ICT options (Convery, 2009; Egea, 2014; Jordan, 2011) and the use of ICT as a tool for teaching and learning in education (Hammond, 2014). Most research on ICT policies seems to focus on issues such as policy rationale or how policy is implemented in schools. However, few studies focus on the existing educational practices in schools as preconditions for ICT implementation. In this paper, the focus is on how policy implementation strategies, as they are understood in the recently proposed Swedish ICT policy, relate to already established educational practices in upper secondary school settings. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to discuss how policy implementation strategies relate to the existing local practices in three upper secondary contexts as preconditions for integration of ICT. We discuss whether the proposed strategies can be understood as supported or not by existing contextual factors as conditions for the policy implementation. Traditionally, policy has often been viewed as a top-down process, where policy is formulated in one arena and then realized in another (Lindensjö & Lundgren, 2000). However, policy formation processes are rather more complicated than that and can be understood as processes of interpretation and enactment (Ball, Maguire & Braun, 2012). Acknowledging these processes of policy formation (Edwards, 2012) is to acknowledge processes of micro-political manoeuvring, power and negotiation in practice, and to relate the policy enactment processes to the, lict

Introduction: Great expectations have been placed on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to change and improve education (OECD, 2010). In research (Olofsson et al, 2015) as well as in evaluations (Wastiau et al, 2013; OECD, 2015) the pictures seem to be of expectations not yet realised. To be able to change practice one key issue is teachers’ professional development (TPD) (Vrasidas, 2015). TPD has often been conducted as courses or programs (Helleve, 2010). In several cases there has been emphases made on teachers´ collegial learning, for instance in learning communities of different kinds (Lindberg & Olofsson, 2010). This paper investigates another way of stimulating TPD in the area of ICT in education by drawing on the works of Sannino (2011) and Engeström et al, (1996) among others. Aim: The aim of this paper is to present the interview model used for interviewing teachers concerning ICT in education as model also for teachers´ professional development in the area of ICT. Further to present some early results and discuss the limit and possible strengths of this model. Method: Based on Sannino (2016) this paper establish a space for development within the frames of group-wise interview sessions and double stimulation. In the sessions the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) model (Mishra & Koehler, 2009) was introduced as a specific tool for discussion. The model combines knowledge in three different domains, establishing seven different kinds of knowledge understood as crucial in understanding the role and possibilities of ICT in education. Departing from the model in the interviews the teachers developed ideas of how ICT can be seen as a possible tool within their subject area. By interviewing teachers in groups where the common denominator is the school subject they teach, the interviews took the form of a collegial conversation with the subject, pedagogy, technology and its interrelated parts as the core. Participants: Partic

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to (a) present and discuss a multi-dimensional context sensitive design in an educational research project focusing on IT in teaching and learning in upper secondary schools, and (b) report what participating teachers want the resource to focus on. The project in focus in this paper is financed by the Swedish Research Council and will run between 2015-2018. The project embraces three levels of stakeholders – students, teachers and school leaders. This paper concerns the teachers and the importance of research projects being firmly based in the teachers' own previous experiences, their questions and expectations on the project. The question posted is how the design of the project potentially can contribute with a long-term effect by providing knowledge and insights of importance when establishing sustainable ecologies of teaching and learning with IT in the schools? Over the last 15 years there has been a continuing discussion about ICT in schools (Olofsson, Lindberg, Fransson & Hauge, 2015). This both on a policy level (cf. the European Commission, 2008: OECD, 2010) and within the research community (cf. Cox, 2012; Beckman, Bennett and Lockyer, 2014). Promising words on a policy level seem that stand in somewhat contrast to what a rather large body of research in this field reports. For example McGarr (2009) claims a lack of evidence that ICT in school in fact change neither the practice nor the pedagogy. Voogt et al. (2011), claim the necessity of a substantial body of research studies showing that the IT in schools change educational practices and have a positive effect on students' learning experiences. Säljö (2010) that the results of the use of ICT in schools are seldom obvious or successful at a general or a subject-specific level. In Sweden, Håkansson Lindqvist (2015) concludes, the absence of up-to date and research-based strategies for the use of IT in upper secondary schools is noteworthy. Even though signific, lict

Often great faith is given to the use of digital technologies to facilitate and transform teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools. Especially prominent are such a belief in various policy papers on a wide international level of supranational organizations such as the United Nations, OECD, or the European Union (Egea, 2014; Scheurmann & Pedro, 2009, Bassi, 201; cf. OECD 2015;) as well as at national levels (eg. Akcaoglu, 2015). Policy documents often mention digital technologies in terms of their ability and potential to improve and transform educational activities. Such statements can both be seen as part of a political rhetoric in order to push for change, as well as a belief that such claims are reasonable. Expressions of the reasonable to include digital technology and the use of IT in schools' activities appear in the various trans-national studies that aim to create a picture of the use of digital technologies in various European countries. Several such studies have been conducted in recent years (cf. OECD, 2015; Fredriksson, Gajek & Jedeskog, 2009; Blamire, 2009). Many of these studies have the aim to create a form of benchmarking process on the use of digital technologies in schools. The rhetoric of how digital technology can transform teaching and learning is also stressed by private operators offering services that in a simple way seems to be able to solve schools' problems with the use of digital technology and related applications (see eg. Grimaldi, 2013). However, educational contexts are complex and multidimensional. With scarce financial and human resources, teachers and other school staff is to deal with a variety of requirements, goals and expectations that are not always compatible with each other. In addition, a variety of complex relationships and positions as well as norms, traditions and values ​​of what teaching and learning is and should be, and how it ought to take shape. According to Säljö (2010) research focusing the, lict

This paper reports on a study of upper secondary school teachers’ and students’ perceptions of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. Data for the study are interviews with teachers and students that are part of a Swedish fouryear project concerned with the advanced use of ICT in education. The results show that teachers use ICT for several different purposes, and that students expressed an extensive use of ICT. Data reveals a difference between students’ in- and out-of-school use ofICT, out of school they rely more on their smartphones than they do in school.

This article is a review of international research on the uptake and use of digital technologies in primary and secondary schools. The aim was to provide a credible and clear picture of current research, together with some wellinformed suggestions as to how future research could develop. Two strategies were used: (1) identify themes within current research that indicate important lessons to be learned in relation to the uptake and use of digital technologies in primary and secondary schools, and (2) based on these lessons, identify which knowledge-gaps need to be closed and in the light of this suggest directions for further research. It is concluded that a rather complex and fragmented picture of the uptake and use of digital technologies emerges from the literature review. Three specific suggestions for research on the uptake and use of digital technologies in primary and secondary school are provided: (1) the outcomes of technology use in relation to different levels in the educational system, e.g. arenas of implementation and realization, (2) digital practices that are longitudinal and information-rich and that go beyond existing knowledge, and (3) initiatives for a renewal of theoretical and mmethodological approaches when designing and analyzing studies within the field., Special Issue 2006–2016, lict

Today, an increased impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the society at large has lead teachers to engage in professional development activities related to the use of ICT. Even though this development has been prominent for more than two decades, its long term effects seem complex to determine. This paper is based on interviews with twelve Swedish teachers who participated in a national program for promoting school development and use of ICT in 2000-2001. The program was aligned with the pedagogical approaches set out in the national Swedish curriculum, such as a shift from teaching to learning and giving pupils more responsibility, introducing interdisciplinary approaches to teaching in teams, and a problem based pupils-oriented pedagogy. The analysis of the interviews show that teachers still feel a high degree of appreciation for the program, and that they share a relative agreement of the importance of the program for their teaching with ICT in the last decade. The general intentions of the program to be more concerned with school development and pedagogy rather than technology and ICT seem also to be present today as a long term effect.