Digital technologies in schools: tensions between teaching performance, commercial interests and public policies

Abstract

This article starts from data produced in the context of a PhD thesis presented in 2022, it aims investigating the emerged tensions from teaching practices committed to students' educational demands versus the commercial interests of Big Tech. This asymmetrical relationship, reflected in the development of a real related public policies, is watched here from the perspective of high school teachers working in the autonomous region of Catalonia (Spain) and the state of Bahia (Brazil). The interviews conducted with these professionals were structured around a theoretical framework that understands education as a right and that the active and civic mobilization of school communities is fundamental for the development of public policies less susceptible to lobbying by transnational technology companies. Among the results obtained, we observe the implications of the current context of platformization of education on the work of teachers, with limitations on their autonomy and that of the school units, as well as problematic repercussions of public policies that disregard or downplay the fundamental role of education professionals in decision-making processes.