Between Algorithms and Singularities: The Platformization of Teaching and the Simplification of Special Education Services on Instagram

Abstract

This article analyzes the performance of Specialized Educational Service (SES) teachers on the digital platform Instagram, in light of the contemporary phenomenon of the platformization of teaching labor. Within this context, the central problem of this study consists of understanding how the platformization of teaching labor, manifested in the actions of Specialized Educational Service teachers on Instagram, tensions pedagogical practices and training processes in the field of inclusive education. The objective of the article is to analyze the presence of these professionals on this digital platform, seeking to identify how the pedagogical discourses, practices, and products disseminated there dialogue — or conflict — with the complex nature of the work carried out in the SES. It is hypothesized that the growing presence of educators on social networks represents a discursive reorganization of educational practices under the logic of visibility, simplification, and the monetization of knowledge. Anchored in a post-critical approach and in the discursive analysis of Michel Foucault, the study mobilizes reflections on the digital economy, neoliberal rationality, and subjectivation. Methodologically, it utilizes netnography to observe discursive practices on Instagram in posts offering courses, mentoring, and pedagogical materials. The results indicate that platform dynamics tend to reorganize pedagogical knowledge according to a logic of simplification and accelerated circulation, offering quick solutions to complex challenges. It is concluded that the translation of pedagogical experience into marketable content can overshadow the power of inclusive work, which resides in the singularity of the subjects and the daily invention of practices.