Problematisation as possibility
Using Foucauldian discourse analysis to study digital educational technologies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21725737 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matilda Wiklund (0000-0003-1066-396X, Stockholm University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 598-614 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Educational Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1474-9041 • E-ISSN: 2165-8714 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14749041261426028 |
| OpenAlex | W7135051084 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 30 |
This paper proposes Foucauldian discourse analysis as a critical methodology for examining the digitalisation of education, drawing on empirical material from a Swedish educational context. Using Foucault’s concept of problematisation, the study examines how digital technologies are constructed discursively across educational policy documents, media texts and empirical data from interviews, surveys and classroom observations. The analysis identifies various discursive formations, such as professionalisation, individualisation, technological determinism, efficiency, modernity and democratisation, which shape the conditions for education in different ways. Key findings reveal that digital resources are often constructed as the individual responsibility of teachers; as tools for individualised learning; as market products that enhance efficiency; and as both modernising and potentially harmful forces. These constructions risk fostering isolation among teachers and students, instrumentalising educational processes and reinforcing commercial and technological imperatives at the expense of pedagogical and democratic values. The study demonstrates that Foucauldian discourse analysis can identify discourses in different practices, thereby highlighting the contingent and political nature of digitalisation in education. By problematising assumptions that are generally accepted as truth, this approach opens up possibilities for alternative ways of thinking and acting within educational practices, moving beyond dichotomised debates
Critical discourse analysis · Democracy · Discourse analysis · Educational research · Empirical research · Governmentality · Late modernity · Modernity · Politics · Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Literacy, Media, and Education
Networks, new governance and education
Understanding Policy Borrowing and Lending
Digital education utopia
Michel Foucault
Foucault and Technology
A tale of the digital future
A horizon of freedom
Foucault across the disciplines
The blended learner
Digital education governance
Postdigital We-Learn
Interrogating discourse
Surveillance Capitalism and the Challenge of Collective Action
Using Foucault's Methods
Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
Poststructural Analysis
Putting Foucault to Work
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |