Technology Normalisation in Rural Education: Narratives of Public School Teachers from Colombia

The fallacy of a technified and globalised world conceals education inequality in peripheral contexts. Hence, this narrative inquiry article analyses technology normalisation, drawing on rural public-school teachers from Colombia. Teachers explored their technology-oriented beliefs, pedagogical practices, and factors that influence technology normalisation. The data collection process was conducted over three years through narrative frameworks and a focus group, which were analysed using a narrative inquiry approach. Initial findings showed that micro-teaching practices were distant from technology normalisation due to teachers’ lack of confidence. Ultimately, they overcame these issues and described technology-oriented pedagogical practices and ethical strategies to address potential technology risks. However, meso- and macro-level factors, such as a lack of technological devices and ungrounded national policies, make it unlikely that technology normalisation occurs in the teachers’ contexts. Therefore, rural stakeholders ought to problematise whether it is worth struggling to achieve technology normalisation or detach from such a narrative. This article may be of interest to those studying the intersections among technology, teachers’ beliefs, and pedagogical practices in the Global South.