The
Ministry of Children and Education’s trial of mandatory subject 'technology comprehension' (Da:
teknologiforståelse) in the Danish public schools came to an end last fall. The final evaluation report was released 4 October 2021 and marked the end of the 3-year experiment in how to establish and practice the new school subject. However, six months later, the fate of technology comprehension remains uncertain. It appears, the Ministry has no plans to continue on with the subject - at least not in the shape we have come to know it over the past few years.
PhD Fellow Simy Kaur Gahoonia, whose research revolves around the trial of technology comprehension, has taken note of how actors have been expressing growing concern for the lack of political vision for the school subject.
The original idea behind technology comprehension was to put together a creative-constructive, analytical, and critical subject matter, where students would reflect on digital technology’s impact on society vice-versa, but also work ‘hands-on’ with ‘the digital material’ e.g., coding, prototyping and 3D printing. Implemented in 2019-2021, 46 schools and their teaching staff tested the subject, teaching and adapting technology comprehension to the reality of their respective schools, classrooms, and everyday teaching practice. Accordingly, teachers and students alike gained experience with the new workflows and learning processes that teaching about digital technologies demand—e.g., experimentation, failure, iteration, problem-solving and new roles for teachers and students. The trial generated a ton of practical and theoretical knowledge, but after the end of the trial the question remains how it will be put to use in the future.
Today, several stakeholders worry that the trial results will be lost entirely, as has previously been the case with trials and experiments in the Danish public schools. For instance, the industry stakeholder
IT-Branchen stresses that the Ministry should spearhead further development of an IT subject for public schools, and
University College Copenhagen (a consortium partner in the trial) remarks that it is not just the business sector that will suffer due to a lack of political vision for technology comprehension on the school agenda: At large, Danes and Danish society will be at a disadvantage. As it is now, invaluable knowledge and experience from the trial are at risk either of remaining tacit only to the people who have been involved with the trial, or of being lost entirely.
Most recently, the Danish government released their new digitalization strategy in which it mobilizes the Danish public schools for their strategic efforts of earning Danes digital competences: In fact, DKK 220 mill. have been earmarked for technology in public school teaching and teaching practices. This renewed political focus is likely to launch new initiatives in the school sector, where, hopefully, ‘old’ knowledge generated in the technology comprehension trial is appreciated. Perhaps, technology comprehension will set new standards for how politicians might take experiences from public schools subject trials into consideration.
To learn more about Simy's work, feel free to contact her at
sgah@itu.dk 
