Abstract:

During the past two decades, Norwegian schools have undergone extensive digitalization. Digital competence was introduced as a basic skill in the 2006 National Curriculum, and the Directorate for Education and Training later published a Framework for Basic Skills, defining these as essential for learning and development across all subjects.

This paper presents findings from the research project Leadership and Learning for Development of Teachers’ Professional Digital Competence (LeadDig), conducted in four schools between 2023 and 2026. The aim of the project is to develop knowledge about how teachers can strengthen their professional digital competence (PDC). In this study, we investigate if, and if so how, teaching practices and teachers’ beliefs about the use of digital tools have changed over time in one of the participating schools.

Our research question is:
Can we identify changes in teaching practices and in teachers’ reflections on the use of digital tools—and what factors may explain these developments (or lack thereof)?

At the selected school, we conducted the following activities:
- classroom observations across subjects (August 2023)
- support in developing a shared focus area for the project (Autumn 2023)
- interviews with all mathematics teachers about their use of digital tools (January 2024)
- three teacher interventions on effective use of digital tools in mathematics (Spring 2024)
- four collaborative meeting points where teachers and researchers analyzed the use of digital tools in teaching (Spring 2024)

Initial observations in 2023 showed that teachers used a wide range of digital tools in mathematics teaching—such as digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and educational games. In interviews, teachers reported that digital tools were mainly used for drill exercises, to increase pupils’ motivation, and to add variation to teaching.
Our collaboration with the teachers concluded in June 2024. According to the project plan, the school was expected to continue development work independently under the leadership of the principal, who participated in a professional learning community (PLC) with other principals. A new principal took over in August 2025 and was initially unfamiliar with the project but later joined the PLC. Additionally, the school’s ICT responsible teacher left in August 2024. Have these two changes in personnel, influenced the school’s capacity for follow up?

In spring 2026, we will conduct new classroom observations and repeat interviews with the mathematics teachers. These data will be used to examine our research question: Can we identify changes in teaching practices and in teachers’ reflections on the use of digital tools—and what factors may explain these developments (or lack thereof)?

Keywords:

Digital tools, professional developments, mathematics.