Care and Bildung in Education – A Conceptual Reflection on Theoretical Frameworks for Exploring Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Education

Sociotechnical imaginaries are embodied, inscribed, and enacted in educational technologies and practices. The emergence of data-driven practices and the increasing datafication of the education sector contribute to transform educational imaginaries of modernity and the power of digitalization and automation in education. New digital technologies and their constituent practices thus institute normative orders of what matters, what counts, and what should be cared about.

This paper set out to conceptually explore theoretical vocabularies and frameworks that are potentially suited to investigate and discuss the ethical dimensions of sociotechnical imaginaries in education. We do this by asking the questions:

Sociotechnical imaginaries point out how epistemic orders and moral orders intersect normatively. The paper discusses a number of theoretical frameworks that seeks to connect the epistemic dimension of coming to know and learning with the ethical dimension of care and mattering, including contemporary practice theoretical approaches, post-ANT, feminist care ethics, social learning theory, and classical American pragmatism. Through our reading of these very diverse strands of theorizing, we explore if these resources are able to fathom and potentially critique sociotechnical imaginaries in education. Furthermore, we discuss whether these theoretical resources lend credibility to critique hegemonic sociotechnical imaginaries, and if they have potential to enable re-imagining education and the use of digital technologies along lines that might institute progressive ideals about Bildung in education.

The conceptual exploration enables us to address the following questions:

• Where is the frontline of sociotechnical imaginaries in educational research, and where is it situated in educational practice?
• How can we address Bildung today in relation to the fact that technology changes/configurates culture, and that Bildung in education is differently conceptualized and situated in educational systems, such as in the Nordics, German tradition, and in France?