Power and Control as Means to Explore Teachers’ Practice in the One-to-One Computing Classroom: Is There a Shift From Teacher-Centered Practice to Student-Centered Practice?

Abstract

This paper reports on a study about teachers' practice in one-to-one computing classrooms in Social Studies in upper secondary school. In the study, two teachers were followed in their daily practice with students where the observer collected empirical material through classroom observations, informal discussions and interviews. The teachers taught both academic and vocational programs in Social Studies and all students were equipped with a personal laptop. The aim and research questions demonstrate an attempt to both explore and explain how different power and control relations contribute to describe these teachers' practice as either teacher-centered or student-centered. The theoretical framework was based on Bernsteins' theory regarding symbolic power and control. Both teachers used one-to-one computing to extend the students learning outside the school building but they demonstrated two different theoretically informed practices. These teachers' practice involved the students to different extent in the decisions about, for example, content, sequence and how the classes should be organized individually or in groups. The different teaching approaches reflects how the teachers either kept or distributed power and control to the students. The findings contribute to understand the differences between teacher-centered and student-centered practice.