The rapid changes towards a society characterised by a knowledge-oriented economy and increased intercultural communication is an internationally recognised phenomenon, which has led to a global focus on information and communication technology (ICT) (Anderson & Plomp, 2009). Like many other countries, Norway has invested heavily in ICT since the early 1980s. As a result, Norway is now considered to be one of the most digitally developed countries in Europe (OECD, 2017). A crucial part of this governmental focus on ICT in Norway has been, and still is, the education sector and the process of integrating ICT into classrooms (hereafter referred to as digitalised classrooms).

Studies suggest that digitalisation plays an increasing role in teachers’ practice (R. Abbott, 2016; Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010) and that teachers’ knowledge and sense of ownership of new digital tools play a major role in the digitalisation of teaching and learning environments (Kirk & Macdonald, 2001). Based on this, there are reasons to assume that digitalisation plays an active part in constructing teachers’ way of being professionals in digitalised classrooms. Thus, there are reasons to raise questions concerning how teachers’ professional knowledge is affected by continuous expectations regarding the use of digital possibilities in the classroom.

The research phenomenon of the study is the epistemic teacher-student relationship. This relationship is traditionally understood as an epistemic asymmetric relationship, where the teacher is knowledgeable and the student is the knowledge-subordinate (A. Abbott, 1988; Grimen, 2008). However, for several years, Norway has been part of an international tradition of prioritising inclusive and individually adapted education (UNESCO, 1994), which has led Norwegian educational policy intentions to emphasise the principle of using the students’ personal interests and skills as a starting point for individually adapted teaching (Mordal & Strømstad, 2005). This might indicate an ongoing change in the power constellations of the teacher-student relationship. Forsström (2019) supports this assumption by suggesting that the constant ongoing digitalisation of schools and classrooms alters teachers’ professional space. This challenges the traditional understanding of the asymmetric teacher-student relationship and potentially changes teachers’ ways of thinking, speaking and acting as professionals.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the epistemic relationship between the teacher and the student in light of the increased digitalisation of classrooms. The research question that forms the point of departure for this study is: What forms of knowledge are active in the teacher-student relationship in digitalised classrooms, and how do teachers experience their agency in this environment?

The empirical base for the study is 15 teachers from lower secondary schools located in the southern half of Norway. The study employs individual semi-structured qualitative interviews (Kvale, 2006). In addition, 5 teachers from the group of 15 were selected for classroom observation and individual semi-structured qualitative follow-up interviews. The interviewees were recruited according to the following criteria. The teachers must: (1) have approved teacher’s training; (2) have worked as a teacher in a lower secondary school for at least the past five years; and (3) have at least one of the following: (a) continued training on digitalisation; (b) a special work position concerning ICT; or (c) special interest in the pedagogical use of ICT. Interviews and observations will be carried out in February 2021. A thorough analysis and discussion of findings will be completed later this spring.

The aim of this study is to gain insight into how teachers experience being professionals in an increasingly digitalised classroom. The study is expected to provide an understanding of what forms of knowledge are active in teachers’ professionalism in digitalised classrooms and how the forms of knowledge are active in the teacher-student relationship in this environment. The study is also expected to contribute insight into what forms of knowledge teachers perceive as missing and how this lack of knowledge is compensated for in this context. The study will illuminate how digitalisation of school and society may influence teachers’ professionalism in terms of how it forms teachers’ experiences of themselves as agents in the teacher-student relationship in digitalised classrooms.

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