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Overview: A final section identifying some of the opportunities of degrowth approaches in a primary context. The OER finishes off with a short knowledge check.
Section aims:
To be able to reflect on future opportunities of degrowth practices for primary schools
Time: 15 mins
Resource: Google form
On Technology, Education and The Future
In a contributing chapter in 'The Palgrave Handbook of Alternative Education', Keri Facer (2016) examined the pervasive yet often unexamined role of 'the future' in the educational discourse and identified three common tendencies: optimizing education for a presumed future, colonising the future with specific visions, and viewing education as protection against future threats. The fantasy of education as a powerful talisman can have negative consequences if its failings and silences are not recognised; detaching education from other essential elements for a good society, such as family, democracy, communities, economies, technological resources, and ecosystems. This brings to mind Gert Biesta's (2020) paper 'Risking ourselves in education: qualification, socialization, and subjectification revisited' where he advocates for an understanding of education that embraces the inherent risks involved in fostering students' freedom and their capacity to exist as subjects in the world, rather than solely focusing on measurable learning outcomes or the transmission of predetermined norms.
Both Biesta (2020) and Facer (2016) express concerns about educational models that aim for predictable outcomes or seek to tightly control the future of students. They emphasise the importance of student agency and freedom and the recognition of the inherent uncertainty and risk in education. Biesta's (2020) key argument revolves around the concept of 'subjectification'; defined as the existence of the child or student as the subject of their own life, having the freedom to act or refrain from action in a 'grown-up' way. Facer (2016) presents the 'pedagogy of the present' and emphasises the importance of opening up possibilities and fostering agency in the present moment, rather than solely directing students towards a pre-defined future. She argued for creating spaces where students can actively participate in the dynamic disclosure, imagination, and creation of new possibilities. Biesta (2020) explicitly discusses the "beautiful risks of education", where there is always a possibility that students will take their freedom and reject educators' intentions. He argues that trying to eliminate these risks would eradicate education itself.
According to Keri Facer (2016, p. 70) the task of education is to explore how to create the spaces and practices that will continually enable the dynamic disclosure, imagination and creation of radically new possibilities in the present.
‘The task is to imagine alternative ways of life that would be ecologically and socially sustainable and enable deeper and wider human happiness than is now possible’ (Levitas, 2013, p.198).
The concept of digital degrowth provokes a form of speculative futures thinking that challenges rethinking the use of technology rather than rejecting its use (Selwyn, 2024, pp. 11). Degrowth calls for a more responsible design and use of technology. With suggestions for a mindset change and possibilities in the present, this correlates with Facer’s suggestion that the task of futures thinking is ‘to explore how to create the spaces and practices that will continually enable the dynamic disclosure, imagination and creation of radically new possibilities in the present’ (Facer, 2016, pp. 70).
Today's present is dominated by technology, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) and promises of their benefits, and digital technologies have become the common currency when discussing the future of education or the provisions being made to enhance education practices. According to Facer and Selywn (2021, p. 10) a 'technology-first’ mindset is not a helpful way to address the question of how digital technologies might usefully play a part in establishing more equitable, responsive and sustainable forms of education. Socially, it is possible to imagine that primary schools can push back against Big Techs and their profit driven agendas, and they can focus on cutting down excess technology. This is not a claim to be anti-technology but instead, primary schools can focus on a move towards mindful, low-tech approaches with community involvement in the digital degrowth endeavour.
In a primary classroom, this would involve the whole school effort to rethink how technology is integrated by prioritising sustainability, equity and meaningful learning over tech-driven solutions; a scaling back of the digital overload currently being experience by the youngest learners while keeping tools that truly enhance learning.
Opportunities for Primary Schools
Primary school can work towards reducing the dependency on devices and encourage sharing of resources.
A move away from EdTech platforms towards simpler, open-source tools needed which are not loaded with advertisements or data tracking.
Environmental awareness is developed from a young age when pupils are taught about sustainability in primary schools.
A development of creativity, imagination, collaboration and critical thinking when pupils engage in hand-on activities like repairing an old computer or creating a school garden.
Less funded school will not have to compete to keep up with expensive digital trends. Resources they have can be applied more effectively in supporting teachers and pupils
For primary schools, cutting back on screen time could also encourage a refocus on play-based learning approaches, and the development of social skills through arts, music, languages and drama.
Final thoughts
Digital degrowth, as articulated by Neil Selwyn in his 2024 article 'Digital degrowth: toward radically sustainable education technology,' is a framework for reimagining the use of digital technologies in education to align with principles of sustainability, equity, and social justice, while minimizing environmental harm and resource consumption. Drawing from the broader degrowth movement, which rejects perpetual economic growth as the basis for societal progress, digital degrowth advocates for a deliberate, equitable downscaling of technology use in education. It emphasizes voluntary simplicity, slowing down, community based co-production and sharing, with a conscious focus on reducing ecological footprints and challenging the manipulative, growth-driven nature of the current EdTech systems.
This OER has used the lens of digital degrowth to critique the entrenched role of EdTech in England's primary school and to propose alternatives that reduce digital reliance while maintaining educational equity. Digital degrowth challenges the mainstream narrative that more technology equates to better education. By advocating for restrained, community-led technology use, digital degrowth aligns with calls for sustainable education that prioritizes ecological integrity and social justice, particularly in the Global North where excessive technology use is prevalent.
Now for some final thoughts from you. Take some time to reflect on the sections you have completed so far. When you are ready, proceed to the knowledge check below.
Section 5: Knowledge check
You have come to the end of this OER. I hope you have found the content useful in learning about digital degrowth in the context of primary schools in England and you will be able to apply some of these in your won practice.