Over the past years, there has been a rising popularity of ‘design-based approaches’ (e.g., Jesson et al., 2015) in the field of digital education research, that is, approaches which seek to develop knowledge together with (rather than for) education practitioners in dealing with data-based technologies. However, not seldomly, such research has been criticized for following a rather instrumentalist understanding in seeking to make learning more efficient through technology usage, resulting in a growing call for ‘more critical, participatory, pedagogically- and long-term-focused approaches in the design and research of educational technology’ (Brandau & Alirezabeigi, 2022, p.1). Such approaches have increasingly moved from digitization towards digitality, that is, a perspective beyond technical instrumentalism that acknowledges the complex and broader conditions of education affected by the far-reaching developments of digital technologies (Negroponte, 1995; see also Stalder, 2016). While (critical) co-design approaches are undoubtedly highly important in order to empower educational institutions in gaining knowledge, attitudes, values, as well as concrete ideas to engage in digitality, the theoretical assumptions and also inscribed normativities of such co-design processes need to be carefully discussed (Brandau & Alirezabeigi, 2022). Additionally, even though educational institutions might be eager to engage in participatory work and in ideas of digitality, they frequently face barriers resulting from institutional regulations and formalities (e.g., technology-focused funding schemes, assessment-orientation, temporal restrictions for teacher training, etc.) as well as highly limited resources, the latter being especially true for low SES (socio-economic status) schools (see also Kutscher et al., 2022). Against this background, this paper provides insights into a cross-national research project that seeks to foster digitality among schools (www.smasch.eu) through co-design oriented, participatory approaches. More specifically, we present our work with two low SES elementary schools between 2021 and 2023, which aimed at the careful development of migration- and barrier-sensitive (postdigital) environments. Hereby, the focus of the paper is less on outcomes of this participatory work, and more on the project evolvement itself, that is, how notions of participation, barriers and inclusion (both within the school and between the schools and the project team) have been emerging and transforming during the different stages of the project. Based on our findings, we argue that participatory, (critical) co-design approaches in education – that is, with strong pedagogical intentions – require a high level of both normative self-reflexivity and pragmatism, in order to avoid the risk of actually reproducing educational inequality.

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