Part 1 - Understanding Your Organisation
What Does Digitalisation Mean?
Before exploring how digital transformation affects your school, it is worth pausing to clarify what you actually mean by the term. Definitions vary widely — and how you define digitalisation shapes what you notice, and what actions you consider possible.
Exercise: Write a short definition in your own words. What does digitalisation mean in the context of your school? What does it include — and what does it leave out?
📖Reading tip
Siljebo, J. (2020). Digitalization and digital transformation in schools: a challenge to educational theory? Education in the North, 27(2), 24–37. doi: 10.26203/b0m3-dk35
🎙️Podcast: What is Digitalisation?
An audio companion to this exercise, created with NotebookLM— exploring how researchers and practitioners define digitalisation and digital transformation in education, and why the distinction matters for school leaders.
A Metaphor for Your School
Metaphors are powerful tools for making the familiar strange again — they help us see aspects of our organisations that we have stopped noticing. This activity can be done alone or together with colleagues, and typically takes 20–30 minutes.
- Take 5–10 minutes on your own. Describe your school as an organisation by choosing a metaphor or image that feels true to you. Sketch it, write it down, or simply sit with it quietly.
- Reflect on the questions below. Write your responses in your journal or notebook.
- Consider what happens to your metaphor in the light of digitalisation. Does a new or adapted metaphor emerge?
Reflection questions
- What characterises your school as an organisation?
- Why did you choose this particular metaphor?
- What does the metaphor reveal about relationships and communication between school leaders, teachers, and students?
- What strengths and challenges does it highlight in terms of communication, leadership, and development?
- What happens to your metaphor when digitalisation comes into play? What becomes possible — and what becomes strained?
💡Examples from other school leaders include: a train station at rush hour, a beehive, a lighthouse in a storm, an orchestra, a greenhouse, a group of islands, a ski slope, a magnet, a football team. Let these inspire you — but trust your own instinct.
Part 2 - SELFIE Mapping & Gap Analysis
Mapping Your School's Digital Maturity with SELFIE
SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering Innovation through Educational Technology) is a free tool developed by the European Commission. It helps school communities reflect on how technology is used for learning and teaching, and identify areas for development.
- Conduct a mapping of your school using SELFIE for Schools. The school coordinator guide walks through every step with screenshots — read it carefully first.
- Read through all questions before launching the survey with your staff. Some questions may need clarification or shared context before your teachers can answer meaningfully.
- Not in the EU? Creating an account is possible but takes patience. Stay calm and try again — it works. The process is a bit cumbersome but manageable.
- SELFIE does not currently include questions on artificial intelligence. Consider supplementing with your own AI-related questions to get a fuller picture.
Current State Analysis & Desired State
Once you have your SELFIE results, the next step is to make sense of them — and to start thinking about where you want to go. Use the gap analysis framework below to structure your thinking.
Analysing your SELFIE results
- Where do you see the clearest need for improvement?
- How do you interpret the results — what do you see?
- Which results were expected, and which surprised you?
- To what degree do the results reflect what you recognise from daily practice?
- Was SELFIE a useful mapping tool for your school? Were there important areas it did not cover?
- Where did your answers as school leader differ from your teachers' answers — and why might that be?
Moving towards a desired state
- What goal formulations or development directions emerge from the analysis?
- Which areas would have the greatest impact if improved?
- What additional information would give you a clearer picture of the current situation?
- How could you gather that information — through teacher interviews, document review, or other sources?
🤝Discuss with a colleague: If possible, compare findings with a colleague from another school. What are the similarities and differences? Shared analysis often surfaces patterns that are invisible when working alone.
Part 3 - Future Scenarios
Digital transformation is not only about responding to change — it is about anticipating it. Future scenario thinking invites school leaders to move beyond today's immediate pressures and imagine what education could look like in the years ahead. The goal is to shift the question from "how do we keep up?" to "what kind of school do we want to create?"
Future Scenario Workshop
Working in groups — ideally with colleagues from different schools or contexts — develop one or more future scenarios related to digital transformation. Each scenario should explore a plausible (but maybe undesired) future, not a prediction: the aim is to think carefully about what could happen, and what that would mean for schools, leaders, and learners.
🎙️Podcast: Future Scenarios in Schools
This podcast explores a range of future scenarios related to digital transformation in schools. It was created using NotebookLM, drawing on the readings and frameworks in this resource collection — an accessible and thought-provoking companion to your own scenario work.
📖Reading materials and information on Future Scenario
- FUTRE – Facilitator’s Handbook
- Theoretical foundations of the FUTRE method: An ecological approach to education foresight (Tryggvi Thayer, V.4.2 Feb. 2026)
- FUTRE - Miro (to facilitate the workshop)