From Exclusion to Collaboration: Reimagining Stakeholder Participation in Digital Infrastructure Planning for Schools

Digital learning is increasingly seen as a key driver of educational improvement; however, its effectiveness depends largely on how schools plan and implement their digital infrastructure. This study examines instructional leaders' perceptions of stakeholder participation in the planning of digital infrastructure for schools. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, the study adopted a qualitative research approach within an interpretive paradigm. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with purposively selected instructional leaders and were analysed thematically. The findings reveal that instructional leaders perceived meaningful stakeholder participation as fostering ownership, inclusivity, and contextual sustainability of digital learning environments, while exclusion was associated with misaligned resources, resistance, and widened inequities. Instructional leaders emphasised the importance of continuous engagement, capacity building, and flexible communication strategies to support effective collaboration. The study contributes to existing scholarship by foregrounding stakeholder participation as an ecological process that spans multiple system levels. It recommends institutionalising participatory planning practices to ensure that digital infrastructure initiatives are contextually responsive, equitable, and sustainable.