Teachers and Computers: In Control or Being Controlled?

HOW teachers understand their relationship with computer technology is an important element in how they exercise control over their work and hence for their professionalism. Current restructurings in education are reliant upon redefining the work of teachers and ensuring particular roles for the new information and communication technologies. Actor-network theory offers an alternative to the social or technological deterministic understandings to be found in many schools. It emphasises the shaping roles played by both humans and non-humans in the implementation of a technology. This radical approach offers important opportunities for teachers to renegotiate the work they do and the work they delegate to machines.