Learning Materials between Didactic Potential and Control: The Danish Teacher as Inscribed in and Mediator of the Learning Material

In this article, we wish to explore how the mechanisms of the market for learning materials in Denmark and political decisions at different levels interact and more or less intentionally influence the learning materials available to teachers. The Danish market for learning materials has undergone significant changes over the last few years. New forms of regulation and deregulation have pervaded the official documents controlling curriculum. Especially, a new form of classroom management based on learning objectives and performance indicators though learning objectives has been subject of debate. However, digitalization, public funding to stimulate both production and teacher use of new digital learning materials, municipal supply contracts with publishers, and the advent of mandatory digital learning management systems have had an impact on both teacher use of and the market for learning materials. Using official documents and selected research studies as a base, we describe the current status on the political and socioeconomic level to contextualize our analysis of Danish learning materials in L1. In our analysis of learning materials, we wish to focus on how the teacher’s role is inscribed in the materials. We suggest that the patterns we find in the inscribed teacher role reflects that the dominant agenda has been efficiency improvement and cost reduction in the educational system.