SCHOOL INCLUSION IN DIGITAL CULTURE: MEANINGS OF INCLUSION IN TIMES OF CONNECTIVITY

Abstract

Digital culture has profoundly reshaped social interactions, knowledge production, and the organization of educational practices, directly impacting how school inclusion is understood and enacted. In a context marked by the expansion of digital technologies, educational platforms, and connected environments, inclusion is increasingly framed by promises of access, participation, and personalization, while simultaneously facing risks of standardization, control, and the deepening of inequalities. This chapter aims to analyze the meanings of school inclusion within digital culture, understanding technology not as an automatic solution but as a sociopedagogical mediation embedded in ethical, political, and formative disputes. Grounded in critical pedagogy, sociology of education, and critical studies on technology, the chapter problematizes instrumental conceptions of digital inclusion and argues for school inclusion as an ethical-political project oriented toward belonging, participation, and human formation. Drawing on authors such as Paulo Freire, Gert Biesta, Neil Selwyn, Carlos Skliar, and Manuel Castells, it is argued that inclusion in digital culture requires teacher mediation, pedagogical intentionality, and commitment to educational justice. The chapter concludes that the meanings of inclusion in times of connectivity go beyond access to technologies and are constructed through pedagogical relationships, school practices, and ethical choices guiding the use of technologies in educational contexts.