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Embedded in society, digital infrastructure has changed citizens’ lives. Young people therefore need to develop digital competence and digital citizenship, and schools have an important role in this regard. To prepare new schoolteachers for this role, teacher educators (TEDs) need professional digital competence (PDC) that includes knowledge, competences, and a conceptual understanding to teach teaching for digital citizenship. In light of the limited body of research on theorizing digital citizenship in relation to TEDs’ PDC, this paper critically analyzes three conceptualizations of digital citizenship. Being potentially normative and part of the latest phase of development in the field, these conceptualizations could shape TEDs’ PDC and practice. In a qualitative content analysis of the selected conceptualizations, this paper uses a postdigital lens to bring into focus and critically analyze aspects of philosophical underpinnings related to socio-technical relations. The results show that conceptualizations of digital citizenship convey different understandings of human–technology relations and the knowledge and competences necessary to exercise digital citizenship. These differences have far-reaching implications for TEDs’ PDC in ways that could impact students’ opportunities to develop digital competence and digital citizenship. Therefore, TEDs’ PDC needs to include a critical understanding of digital citizenship, and the post-pandemic juncture of “new normal” provides opportunities to rethink and reframe PDC. To this end, a postdigital lens can shift the focus to how PDC is contingent on the shifting entanglements in which pedagogical activities are situated and orchestrated, and how these relate to broader issues of injustice in society.

Teacher education (TE) is not only about skills and knowledge but also about citizenship formation as student teachers are prepared for the democratic assignment of school. In a postdigital era, blurred boundaries between digital technologies and physical reality place new demands on citizenship, teacher education institutions (TEIs), and teacher educators (TEDs). This paper explores Swedish TEDs’ views of digital citizenship and the professional digital competence (PDC) required for teaching subject student teachers to teach for digital citizenship. Seven TEIs participated and 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with TEDs teaching a Core Education Subjects module on education and democracy mandatory for all student teachers. TEDs generally believe that the digitalization of society impacts the democratic assignment and addressing this requires specific PDC. Conceptualizations of digital citizenship tend to foreground source criticism as well as ethical, safe, and sound use of digital technologies, and to some degree also (im-)material means of democratic participation. While generally believing that TE should address questions relating to digital citizenship and that TEDs have an important role in this regard, digital technologies are discussed in the module coincidentally and TEDs are unsure to what degree student teachers receive such training. Challenges include lack of time and unclear Degree Objectives. To develop TEDs’ PDC to include questions relating to digital citizenship in their teaching, support is needed through policy and continuous professional development for TEDs, including reviews of course content and program structure. Future TE research needs to explore digital citizenship in the school subject social studies.

Increasingly pervasive digital technologies in societies are placing complex demands on the development of young people’s digital citizenship and digital competence. Social science education and teacher education (TE) play important, but poorly understood, roles in this development. Through reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, this paper explores 15 Swedish teacher educators’ (TEDs) views of teaching for digital citizenship, particularly social science TE’s role. We also consider organisational and personal conditions that may influence TEDs’ views of professional digital competence (PDC) for such teaching. Their views are examined through a postdigital lens, with a focus on democratic implications in evolving socio-technical environments. The results indicate that TEDs acknowledge the importance of social science TE in teaching for digital citizenship, but find maintaining responsiveness to societal changes challenging. Challenges are also posed by the multidisciplinary character of social science education, including how personal trajectories shape TEDs’ views of their dual-didactic task of teaching to teach for digital citizenship. This paper contributes knowledge of how TEDs, as ‘street-level bureaucrats’ in social science TE, navigate between written and performed education policy in teaching for digital citizenship, with specific attention to the dynamic character of PDC in social science education.