Under what conditions can schools contribute to digital equality and the construction of active citizenship? - Action research results from a Spanish school

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

Various studies show that digital schooling can reproduce offline inequalities. Against this backdrop, the article reports findings from an action research project aimed at building active digital citizenship through a democratic digital perspective. Fieldwork took place in a Spanish school in a disadvantaged area near Barcelona, gathering data via questionnaires, interviews, and discussion groups with 236 families, 30 teachers, and 97 pupils. Results stress recognizing diverse needs, creating participatory spaces, and enabling all actors to gain skills and digital access within an inclusive framework.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Theoretical Work

Democratic education perspective applied to the digital sphere

Under what conditions can schools contribute to digital equality and the construction of active citizenship? Results from an action research project in a Spanish school Mar Beneyto-Seoane1,* , Jordi Collet-Sabé2 1 University of Vic-University Central of Catalonia, Spain, [mar.beneyto@uvic.cat](mar.beneyto@uvic.cat) , [https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5946-2670](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5946-2670) 2 University of Vic-University Central of Catalonia, [jordi.collet@uvic.cat](jordi.collet@uvic.cat), [https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8526-9997](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8526-9997) ABSTRACT Various studies point out that, in the school digital sphere, the same inequalities are (re)produced as in offline spaces. Given this reality, the article explains the results of an action research project for the building of active digital citizenship, which seeks to overcome these gaps through a democratic digital perspective. The field work was carried out in a school situated in a disadvantaged area of a large town (50,000 inhabitants), near Barcelona (Spain) . The results were obtained through questionnaires, interviews and discussion groups with 236 families, 30 teachers and 97 pupils. These results indicate that, in order to reduce inequalities, it is important to: a) recognise the diversity of needs, skills and digital access of the teachers, families and pupils in the decision-making process; b) design and articulate different participatory school spaces: formal and informal, physical and virtual; c) promote the participation of all school agents in the digital spheres and guarantee the acquisition of skills and digital access to the whole school community. The article concludes that in order to build an active digital citizenship, processes and actions that are explicitly designed towards this end and that are methodologically consistent with a democratic and inclusive perspective are required. KEYWORDS: Digital inequalities ; digital participation; school; digital citizenship; educational technology 1 I. INTRODUCTION Social exclusions and inequalities shapes participation in the digital sphere. Proof of this are the various studies that correlates access, degree and type of participation of the population in the digital sphere to the socioeconomic characteristics and cultural capital of citizens (Bonal & González, 2021; Cabrera, Pérez, & Santana, 2020; Choudhary & Bansal, 2022; Van Dijk, 2012) . Such inequalities have, according to Van Dijk (2005), at least four dimensions: a) inequality in the opportunities to acquire, learn and use digital technologies - motivational access; b) inequality in relation to digital devices and places/spaces of use - material access; c) inequality in training to use devices, programmes and applications-competence access; and d) inequality in how and for what digital technology is used – use access. Facing these digital inequalities, for years, schools have been presented as one of the possible places where the most disadvantaged groups could have access to digital technology, acquire digital skills and become online active citizens (Head, 2011) . But both previous research and that conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic tell us that, despite their equitable potential, digital gaps and inequalities are also reproduced in schools, especially of the most vulnerable population (Bonal & González, 2021) . The research presented in this article seeks to identify those conditions that enable schools to be places that fight effectively against digital inequalities and build active digital citizens. Until now, much of the research on the digital sphere in education generally has focused on the relationship between school and learning (Area & Adell, 2021; Area, Santana, & Sanabria, 2020), but there is little that focuses specifically on equity and active digital citizenship (Castro Rodríguez, Suelves, & Fernández , 2019; Sanabria Mesa & Cepeda Romero, 2016) . That is why our research seeks to examine

FAQs

What inequalities does the article address in the digital school context?

It addresses how inequalities in digital access, skills, and participation persist in schools, mirroring offline socioeconomic and cultural gaps.

How was the action research carried out in the Spanish school?

Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and discussion groups involving 236 families, 30 teachers, and 97 pupils.

What conditions are proposed to reduce digital inequalities and build active digital citizenship?

The article highlights recognizing differing needs and access among all agents, designing participatory school spaces (formal/informal, physical/virtual), and promoting participation while guaranteeing skills and access for the whole community.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk