Globalisation and social justice: the exploitation of the digital native

In this paper we describe the state of play concerning the use of ICT in education in the Australian context. We examine the role of globalisation in the Australian context. We examine the role of globalisation in the push to make computer technology ubiquitous in classrooms, and the influence of the digital native description. Although the deployment of the myth of the digital native suggests cohesion within education regarding the use or adoption of technology and its provision through the Rudd government’s ‘Digital Education Revolution’, an examination of the field reveals issues of inequality, culminating with the exploitation of the digital native by the digital colonialist. We contend that although computers are being put into classrooms for laudable reasons, the overuse of the digital native trope obscures social justice concerns around the use of technology. We assert that the use of digital native motif is not only imposing a racialised identity upon the current generation of learners but also erasing the differences between young people – such as differences in access to technology, gender, race, ethnicity, geographic location, and socio-economic status.