Discourse on technologies in public policies on education

Abstract

In the so-called information age, the topic of digital technologies is an integral part of educational discourse and research, which have pointed to the need for teaching methods and programmes that deal with the technological innovations of our time. With this aim, numerous investments, both public and private, have been made in order to make it feasible to incorporate digital technologies into everyday school activities. However, we noticed a need to investigate what is meant by technology within the scope of education and how this understanding influences the subject. That said, this paper proposes identifying and analysing the perceptions of technology that run through the discussion of public policies on education in Brazil. For this, we used critical discourse analysis, applied to government policy documents on education determining the parameters and guidelines for incorporating digital technologies into schools. Specifically, we opted for the analysis of the 2014-2024 National Education Plan and the Connected Education Innovation Programme, the most recent policy on the topic. We propose two analytical categories on the perceptions of technology: technical artefact and socio-cultural artefact. Lastly, we consider that, although there are references to socio-cultural views on technology in the educational field, the predominant perception relates more strongly to the aspects of technology as a technical artefact.