Research topic

In 2024, the Swedish Ministry of Education has introduced a course on AI in upper secondary and adult education (Komvux). In response, several universities across the country have organized professional development courses aimed at improving teachers’ competence in the field of AI. This study aims to explore the hopes and fears attached to AI in political and academic discourses on the teaching profession in Sweden.

Theoretical framework  

We draw on the notion of policy assemblage (Savage, 2019) to examine how different political imaginaries, rationalities, technologies, infrastructures, and actors collectively shape certain perspectives on AI and its role in education. By focusing on 1) policy rationalities and 2) academic discourses as expressed in the literature of newly established AI courses for teachers, as parts of the policy assemblage, we explore how they construct the kinds of teachers (cf. Hacking, 2006) in response to different problematizations (Foucault, 1994) of AI and education.

Methodology 

Two sets of data were collected to examine and contrast two parts of the policy assemblage described above. These are (1) Swedish and international policy documents on AI in education in general and in relation to the teaching profession in particular, (2) syllabi and reading lists for courses on AI for teachers.  

In analyzing the empirical sources, we focused on (a) whether AI is presented as a threat or a blessing for teachers, (b) what visions of desirable futures are embedded in different discourses on AI and the teaching profession, (c) what kinds of teachers are envisioned by different discourses. Special attention was paid to the visuals accompanying some of the selected texts, as they often carry important messages that may not be explicit in the text itself.  

Findings 

Preliminary findings suggest that discourses about AI produce specific kinds of teachers-those who are adaptable, digitally literate, and data-oriented. We also find that discourses about AI in education are shifting from framing it as a salvation for educational problems to framing it as a potential threat to the teaching profession. The polarized visions of AI as either a silicon savior or an iron-fisted digital dictator are also reflected in the accompanying imagery, which depicts a world in which AI is seamlessly integrated into classrooms, symbolizing hopes for efficiency, as well as fears of overly mechanistic teaching and learning and reduced human connections.

Relevance to Nordic educational research  

In the Nordic countries, education has historically been rooted in values such as equity, inclusivity, and democracy - principles that prioritize humanistic, student-centered teaching. By exploring different discourses on AI and the teaching profession in Sweden, the study contributes to an understanding of how AI might affect or even challenge these values in the Nordic context.