DATA CLASSES: An investigation of the people that ‘do data’ in schools

Selwyn, N; Pangrazio, L; Cumbo, B

DATA CLASSES: An investigation of the people that ‘do data’ in schools

Selwyn, N Pangrazio, L Cumbo, B

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Publisher:: Routledge
Publication Type:: Chapter
Citation:: Learning to Live with Datafication: Educational Case Studies and Initiatives from Across the World, 2022, pp. 61-79
Issue Date:: 2022-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Selwyn, N
dc.contributor.author	Pangrazio, L
dc.contributor.author	Cumbo, B https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0914-5575
dc.date.accessioned	2025-01-30T23:21:39Z
dc.date.available	2025-01-30T23:21:39Z
dc.date.issued	2022-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Learning to Live with Datafication: Educational Case Studies and Initiatives from Across the World, 2022, pp. 61-79
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/184717
dc.description.abstract	Amidst ongoing enthusiasms for ‘data-driven’ schooling, concerns are being raised over likely shifts in power associated with the ways in which school staff are engaging with the production and analysis of data. Following the emerging tradition of ‘critical data studies’, this chapter addresses the important question of who gets to ‘do’ data within school contexts (and, conversely, who does not). In particular, the chapter draws on in-depth interview data generated from qualitative studies of digital data practices within three secondary schools in the Australian state of Victoria. Belying outward appearances of being successful ‘data schools’, five distinct ‘hierarchies’ of data-using staff are identified - each aligned with a number of notable reconfigurations of power and redistributions of agency. The chapter discusses the ways in which pressures to use data are entwined with wider reformations of teacher identity and teacher professionalism. In particular, the chapter considers how any conferred benefits of ‘doing data’ seem delineated by a range of significant factors - not least teachers’ gender, status, disciplinary background and career stage. In this sense, it is concluded that dominant discourses of the educational benefits of data-driven schooling need to be challenged - if not reconsidered altogether.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Routledge
dc.relation.ispartof	Learning to Live with Datafication: Educational Case Studies and Initiatives from Across the World
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.4324/9781003136842-4
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.title	DATA CLASSES: An investigation of the people that ‘do data’ in schools
dc.type	Chapter
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost/TD School
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2025-01-30T23:21:38Z
pubs.publication-status	Published

Abstract:

Amidst ongoing enthusiasms for ‘data-driven’ schooling, concerns are being raised over likely shifts in power associated with the ways in which school staff are engaging with the production and analysis of data. Following the emerging tradition of ‘critical data studies’, this chapter addresses the important question of who gets to ‘do’ data within school contexts (and, conversely, who does not). In particular, the chapter draws on in-depth interview data generated from qualitative studies of digital data practices within three secondary schools in the Australian state of Victoria. Belying outward appearances of being successful ‘data schools’, five distinct ‘hierarchies’ of data-using staff are identified - each aligned with a number of notable reconfigurations of power and redistributions of agency. The chapter discusses the ways in which pressures to use data are entwined with wider reformations of teacher identity and teacher professionalism. In particular, the chapter considers how any conferred benefits of ‘doing data’ seem delineated by a range of significant factors - not least teachers’ gender, status, disciplinary background and career stage. In this sense, it is concluded that dominant discourses of the educational benefits of data-driven schooling need to be challenged - if not reconsidered altogether.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/184717