How school leaders justify digitalization in vocationally oriented Swiss upper-secondary schools: a qualitative content analysis through the lens of convention theory in education

School leaders play an important role, when it comes to digitalisation of teaching and learning. In this study, different arguments for school-specific digital strategies by school leaders were analysed from a convention theory perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 Swiss school-leaders of 2 secondary school types (7 vocational schools and 2 upper secondary specialised schools), regarded as digitally advanced schools. Content analysis revealed legitimation patterns including enhanced pedagogical added value, but also efficiency and networking. Moreover, most school leaders described the COVID-19 pandemic as a strong booster for digitalisation efforts at their schools. Schools with a bolder digital integration policy tend to adhere to a project-oriented legitimation. In this study we highlight the strong pedagogical focus for digital integration uttered by school leaders, which is – as our typology reveals – combined with industrial, market and project justifications.