📖 ABSTRACT/OVERVIEW
This study critically examines the ontological assumptions embedded in educational technology policy documents in Nigeria, employing critical discourse analysis as both methodology and theoretical lens. Policy documents carry implicit assumptions about the nature of knowledge, learners, and technology's role in education that profoundly shape implementation realities. These assumptions, when derived from externally imposed development frameworks, may misalign with Nigerian educational realities. A purposive sample of 12 national and state-level educational technology policy documents published between 2018 and 2024, including the National Policy on Education revisions, the National Digital Economy Policy, and selected state ICT in Education frameworks, was assembled for analysis. Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional framework guided analysis of text, discursive practice, and social practice. Findings reveal dominant techno-determinist and human capital ontological orientations within Nigerian educational technology policy, framing technology as an autonomous driver of educational improvement and learners primarily as future economic units. Tensions between these assumptions and communitarian, ubuntu-aligned, and culturally grounded educational values are identified. The study makes an original contribution by introducing a Critical Ontological Policy Audit framework for educational technology policy analysis in African contexts. Recommendations include participatory policy revision processes that surface and interrogate foundational assumptions. Keywords: educational technology policy, critical discourse analysis, ontology, Nigeria, techno-determinism
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