Schools as enablers and constrainers: teachers’ perceptions and practices of digital citizenship education in New Zealand

This paper explores teachers’ perceptions of digital citizenship education and the causal mechanisms that influence their perceptions. While digital citizenship education is promoted across the curriculum in New Zealand, school cultures, leadership priorities, and systemic pressures influence how digital citizenship education is interpreted and enacted. Drawing on data from 11 semi-structured interviews with secondary school teachers from across the eight learning areas in New Zealand, this study presents a visual representation of teachers’ perceptions across four domains – safeguarding, equipping, empowering, and resistance – followed by an examination of the realities of digital citizenship education in practice. Analysis suggests some consistency in teachers’ perceptions, particularly techno-optimistic narratives, but indicates that school culture, leadership, and curriculum demands are key factors shaping digital citizenship education. The findings indicate the paradoxical role of schools as both enablers and constrainers of digital citizenship education. Despite teachers’ appreciation for the importance of ‘thick’ understandings of digital citizenship education that equip and empower students as digital citizens, the realities of schooling constrain digital citizenship education to ‘thin’ approaches focused on skill development and risk management. The research addresses a critical gap in understanding how systemic and organisational-level factors mediate digital citizenship education policy intentions and classroom realities.