Digitalisation for all of us?! - Uncovering the social imaginary of the Dutch government regarding adult digital literacy.

Abstract

This thesis is about the social imaginary regarding digital literacy for adults in the Netherlands, aimed to uncover the social imaginary of the Dutch government. This is done by focussing on literacy, as literacy is always embedded with ideology. Because of digitalisation many accounts of literacy emerged, including digital literacy, all valuing different skills and embedded with different ideologies. Secondly, by focusing on literacy, the social imaginary can be uncovered as they are a part of each other. The focus is on adult literacy as there is not much academic research aimed at adult digital literacy, whilst this is a group that can benefit the most. Last year (2019), the Dutch government published a new version of their digitalisation strategy. The update to the curriculum of primary and secondary schools with more attention to digital literacy is part of this strategy. Four texts part of the Dutch digitalisation strategy have been examined to see the views of the Dutch government on adult digital literacy. They have been analysed with a mixed-method approach, by doing a content analysis with the programme ‘R’ to look for frequent words and correlations, and by doing a discourse analysis to provide the necessary context, as well to uncover the narratives of literacy and digitalisation, as they are a vital part of the social imaginary. In this discourse analysis there is specific focus to the common purposes to increase literacy as well as the common discourses regarding adult literacy. Unfortunately, the Dutch government did not focus on adult digital literacy at all in their strategy, and barely on digital literacy. This shows the Dutch government needs to shift their focus, as research has shown that adults can benefit more from digital literacy initiatives. The Dutch government thus has a lot of work to do as they are not paying attention to an important group of society. Their view on digitalisation and literacy in general is congruent with the dominant discourses in other policies, being ‘the literacy myth’, linking literacy directly with economic development and individual prosperity.