Pedagogy first: what I learned researching school digitalisation

It feels like a teacher opening their laptop, checking whether today's lesson will actually work and hoping the tools do what they're supposed to. It feels like a school leader balancing long-term ambitions with the reality of full timetables, limited training time and constant change.

This everyday reality was the starting point for my master's thesis on how digitalisation policies travel through the education system. I spent several months interviewing school owners and principals in Norway about what actually happens when national strategies meet classroom practice.

Although the research is Norwegian, the patterns are recognisable across Europe. Different systems, different languages, similar challenges.

Strategies that are hard to use

One of the clearest findings was that national digitalisation strategies are often experienced as too abstract to guide daily work. Schools and local authorities are left to figure out what the strategy actually means for teaching, planning and collaboration.

One district administrator put it like this:

"It has been very vague. Very little concrete. A lot of opinions in the media. It's confusing for school owners."

This creates flexibility, which can be valuable. But it also means that what happens in one school can look very different from what happens in the next. A lot depends on whether the school leader has time, interest and the support to make sense of it all.

The training question

In most schools today, devices and platforms are no longer the main issue. The technology is there. The harder question is pedagogical: how do these tools actually support lesson planning, feedback and student progression?

One school owner described a pattern I heard several times:

"One third of the cost is buying the system. One third is running it. One third is training. But it's that training and good use that's always been ignored."

Teachers are often expected to rethink their practice without enough time to experiment, reflect and learn from colleagues. That's asking a lot.

Leading without a map

Many school leaders find themselves responsible for digital transformation without feeling equipped for it. Most trained as teachers, not technologists. They understand pedagogy. Procurement, system integration and change management are different skills.

One principal was refreshingly honest about this:

"I can be fooled completely on this, because I don't know enough. A school leader with a pedagogical education, unless you have a very special interest, you don't have a chance in hell of knowing what you're doing."

This isn't a criticism. It's recognition that the system often pushes responsibility to school level without building capacity first.

What seems to help

The schools that manage digitalisation well tend to share some approaches. None of them are revolutionary, but they make a difference. They start with something small and specific.

Rather than transforming everything at once, they focus on getting one thing right. Often it's simple: everyone uses the lesson planner the same way. Plans, resources and deadlines become visible and predictable. That consistency helps students, teachers and parents. They create time for sharing.

When teachers get a low-stakes format for sharing what they've tried, something shifts. One school described how initial skepticism turned to enthusiasm once teachers saw they could learn from each other without pressure. The next session had a waiting list. They distinguish structure from method.

A consistent planning format or telling someone what platform they must work in isn't about controlling how teachers teach. It's about reducing cognitive load for students who navigate multiple subjects and teachers every day.

AI brings familiar questions

With artificial intelligence now entering classrooms, schools face a situation that feels familiar. New technology arrives quickly. Experimentation happens everywhere. Shared guidance takes time to develop.

The research suggests that clear frameworks help, particularly around ethics, privacy and appropriate use. But within those frameworks, teachers need freedom to make pedagogical choices that fit their students. Getting this balance right matters. Without it, AI risks widening the gaps that already exist between schools.

What I took away

Digitalisation works when people have clear expectations, time to build confidence and opportunities to learn from each other. It struggles when we focus on tools and hope the rest will follow. The schools I studied weren't waiting for perfect conditions. They were finding ways to make progress with what they had, step by step, together. That's probably the most useful lesson of all.