Democratic education online

Remote education as power relations, sabotage, and dystopia

Abstract

Education plays a key role in democracy. Nonetheless, while Finnish teachers are positive about educating for democracy, they feel that they lack the right resources to achieve this and tend to exhibit a passive approach to participation. The study contributes to the discussion on democratic education through teachers’ reflections on remote education. Through an analysis of teacher interviews conducted in Swedish-medium schools in Finland during 2021, we asked how teachers framed questions of democracy in the context of remote teaching. Our thematic analysis discusses teachers’ views of democracy in the remote classroom and presents three themes: changed roles and power relations, safety and digital sabotage, and digital dystopia. Teachers displayed varied understandings of democracy in education. We welcome further discussion within the field of democratic education on the meaning of developing democracy in a digital age and the role of schools and teachers in this development.