Abstract:
For decades, technologically-enabled practices that systematically monitor and manage behaviour through information technology in schools have expanded, highlighting the unique position of students who are “one of the most heavily surveilled populace in countries such as the United Kingdom and North America” (Taylor, 2012, p. 225). Since the exponential and intrusive expansion of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, privacy concerns about the exposure of children to corporate-controlled software and applications were foregrounded, notably by Human Rights Watch. In addition to learning surveillance, disciplinary surveillance has also expanded, particularly after the pandemic where an intensification of discourse about violence in schools (National Post, 2023) rationalizes EdTech solutions.
This presentation examines how Canadian news media, as a vital element of democracy and an integral site of policy discourse, represent education technology and surveillance in schools. Through content analysis of Canadian news media coverage of education technology in public schools since the onset of the pandemic, I highlight consistency and divergences in coverage throughout and after crisis. More recently, this reflects an expansion of surveillance technology in schools, both through provincial and district level investments in “security” that include cameras, vape detectors, and audio surveillance. Using a “what’s the problem represented to be” approach (Bacchi, 2012) I offer critical scrutiny of the policy problem EdTech surveillance offers to solve.
Grounded in policy sociology, findings describe how the context of influence, text production, and practice in policy making (Bowe, Ball, & Gold, 2017) encourage conditions that undermine the democratic promise of schooling. News media offers one context of policy production, which discursively represents the world and constructs social identities and relations. This presentation primarily draws on those with the greatest national circulation: the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and the National Post, alongside news media coverage from nationally funded broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcast Association (CBC). It expands to policy texts, referenced in respective articles, and highlights implications for practice.
References:
Bacchi, C. (2012). Introducing the ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’approach. Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic interventions and exchanges, 21-24. University of Adelaide Press
Bowe, R., Ball, S. J., & Gold, A. (2017). Reforming education and changing schools: Case studies in policy sociology. Routledge.
National Post. (2023, October 2). Teachers across Canada are reporting a rise in student violence. https://nationalpost.com/news/teachers-across-canada-are-reporting-a-rise-in-student-violence-and-harassment
Taylor, E. (2012). The rise of the surveillance school. In Routledge handbook of surveillance studies (pp. 225-231). Routledge.
This presentation examines how Canadian news media, as a vital element of democracy and an integral site of policy discourse, represent education technology and surveillance in schools. Through content analysis of Canadian news media coverage of education technology in public schools since the onset of the pandemic, I highlight consistency and divergences in coverage throughout and after crisis. More recently, this reflects an expansion of surveillance technology in schools, both through provincial and district level investments in “security” that include cameras, vape detectors, and audio surveillance. Using a “what’s the problem represented to be” approach (Bacchi, 2012) I offer critical scrutiny of the policy problem EdTech surveillance offers to solve.
Grounded in policy sociology, findings describe how the context of influence, text production, and practice in policy making (Bowe, Ball, & Gold, 2017) encourage conditions that undermine the democratic promise of schooling. News media offers one context of policy production, which discursively represents the world and constructs social identities and relations. This presentation primarily draws on those with the greatest national circulation: the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and the National Post, alongside news media coverage from nationally funded broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcast Association (CBC). It expands to policy texts, referenced in respective articles, and highlights implications for practice.
References:
Bacchi, C. (2012). Introducing the ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’approach. Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic interventions and exchanges, 21-24. University of Adelaide Press
Bowe, R., Ball, S. J., & Gold, A. (2017). Reforming education and changing schools: Case studies in policy sociology. Routledge.
National Post. (2023, October 2). Teachers across Canada are reporting a rise in student violence. https://nationalpost.com/news/teachers-across-canada-are-reporting-a-rise-in-student-violence-and-harassment
Taylor, E. (2012). The rise of the surveillance school. In Routledge handbook of surveillance studies (pp. 225-231). Routledge.