What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the deliberately speculative question of ‘What might the school of 2030 be like?’, with a specific focus on the influences of digital technologies. The article adopts the methodological approach of ‘social science fiction’ to explore the ways in which digital technologies might be used in one Australian high school in 2030 (Lakeside), and what this might mean for the people whose lives are enmeshed with these technologies. Through the co-construction of five social science fiction ‘vignettes’ about life within Lakeside, the article considers the increasing prevalence of dataveillance, digital deskilling and the de-territorialization of schooling. The article then goes on to consider changing relationships between time/place, material and coded structures, as well as the increasingly platformized and data-driven nature of schooling in the 2020s. The article ends by considering the ways in which critical scholars can continue to use the methodological approach of social science fiction writing with regard to unpacking the politics of digital education futures.

KEYWORDS:

• Social science fiction
• digital technology
• futures
• schools

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Neil Selwyn is a Distinguished Research Professor at the Faculty of Education, Monash University. His research and teaching focuses on the place of digital media in everyday life, and the sociology of technology (non)use in educational settings. Neil is the author of Distrusting Educational Technology, Is Technology Good For Education?, and What Is Digital Sociology?

Luci Pangrazio is a Research Fellow in digital literacies at REDI (Research for Educational Impact) in Deakin University. Her research focuses on critical digital literacies, the platformatization and datafication of education. Luci is the author of Young People’s Literacies in the Digital Age: Continuities, Conflicts and Contradictions in Practice.

Selena Nemorin is a lecturer in sociology of digital technology at the University College London, UCL Knowledge Lab. Selena’s research focuses on critical theories of technology, surveillance studies, data/IoT ethics, and youth and new media/technologies. Selena is the author of Biosurveillance in New Media Marketing.

Carlo Perrotta is a senior lecturer in digital literacies in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Carlo has published on a variety of topics related to digital technology in education, including the social and political accountability of algorithms in education, the ethical use of video games in schools and socio-material analyses of digital education.

ORCID

Neil Selwyn http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9489-2692

Selena Nemorin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8668-8859

Carlo Perrotta http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3572-0844