The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research’s action plan for digitalization in primary and secondary education and training: appraisal and critique

This paper reviews and analyzes the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research’s Action Plan for Digitalization in Primary and Secondary Education and Training (AP20). Policy papers are often intended for administrative levels, but will also be perceived as guidance and recommendations for educators. The purpose of this paper is to examine the kind of support and guidelines AP20 gives to educators. This is done by partly investigating the plan’s action steps and priorities. However, AP20 will also be compared with other Ministry documents, in order to look for inner con-sistencyacrossdocuments. Finally,AP20’ssuggestions,action steps,andviewof digitalization,willbebrieflyevaluated in respect to how digitalization naturally occurs and materializes in current and future-oriented educational practices, to determine its ecological validity. The analysis revealed that AP21 is somewhat ambiguous as to its purpose and intended audience. It comes across as rather instrumental: addressing infrastructure, resources, and skills. While this can be explained as being due to its primary aims, scope and audience, it cannot escape the larger educational and pedagogical perspectives, including epistemologies, to be relevant for policies and practices, administration and epistemic work. Thus, there is a need for clarification in future versions.