Digitalization in Moroccan educational policy: The gap between official discourse and classroom practice in primary education

This study investigated the gap between official policy discourse on educational digitalization and classroom practice in Moroccan primary education. Despite substantial government investment in digitalization initiatives over two decades, international assessments reveal persistent challenges in learning outcomes. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, this study combined content analysis of five key policy documents with a cross-sectional survey of 385 primary school teachers in the Fez-Meknes region. The theoretical framework integrated TPACK and SAMR models to analyze policy emphases and classroom practices. Content analysis revealed that technical dimensions dominated policy discourse, with pedagogical, training, and managerial dimensions substantially underrepresented. Survey findings indicated that two-thirds of teachers perceived a significant policy-practice gap. Teachers rated infrastructure and training significantly lower than perceived barriers to integration. Statistically significant urban-rural disparities emerged across all domains, with large effect sizes indicating that rural teachers face systematically more challenging conditions. Teachers with ICT training demonstrated substantially higher integration practices than untrained peers. These findings provide context for understanding Morocco’s performance in recent international assessments (TIMSS 2023, PIRLS 2021). The study concludes that successful digitalization requires rebalancing policy focus from equipment provision toward integrated approaches encompassing teacher preparation, pedagogical transformation, and equity considerations.