Teacher-led issue networks in Swedish ed-tech policymaking – the case of generative AI

Policymaking around educational technology (ed-tech) is increasingly influenced by networks of public and private actors ranging from Big Tech corporations and international organisations through to ed-tech evidence brokers and consultants. This paper considers a relatively unexplored facet of contemporary ed-tech policy work – public-facing (ex)teachers advocating for technological change through various publicity, lobbying and market-building activities. In particular, the paper considers how such actors have recently been promoting the take-up of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies within Swedish schools as a policy issue. Drawing on interviews with 13 prominent ‘AI advocates’, we detail how these actors are centrally involved in an issue network looking to shape policy imperatives around school AI in the absence of clear leadership from national government, state agencies and local ed-tech industry. Despite being motivated by ideas of AI-driven pedagogicaland societal change, the paper examines how this issue networkis largely reproducing conservative forms of onto-epistemic governanceby replicating valuations of generative AI in familiar corporatisedterms of efficiency, utility and solutionism.