High hopes are held for the advances of big data, learning analytics and AI to benefit children’s education. To ensure these serve children’s interests, our review of policy and practice in combination with new school-centred user research will generate recommendations for child-rights-respecting data governance mechanisms that can unlock the potential of education data.
Publications
The Digital Futures Commission (DFC) held an expert roundtable discussion to discuss current governance and practice in processing children’s education data. It offers an insight into our unfolding work on beneficial uses of children’s education data and reflects work in progress. The discussion will shape the DFC’s ongoing research on governance gaps and stakeholder responsibilities and contribute to a blueprint for education data governance in 2022.
Governance of data for children’s learning in the UK state schools reports on significant regulatory and implementation gaps in data processing in education contexts. To bridge these gaps, the report identifies potential governance and oversight options for discussion. These options range from EdTech procurement rules for schools, legally binding (EdTech) sector-specific guidance, and codes of practice and standards.
Blogs
The promise and perils of education data
Education budgets are tied to how well a school performs, as demonstrated by data. Education data interoperability is called for to maintain institutional legitimacy and »
Reality check on technology uses in UK state schools
By Sarah Turner Over the last few years, almost every person with caring responsibilities for children has been aware of the significant role digital technologies »
How cybersecure are EdTech products in the classroom?
By Velislava Hillman As part of an international working group that aims to develop cybersecurity standards for the EdTech sector, Dr Velislava Hillman, visiting fellow »
Data protection and the best interests of the children
By Sonia Livingstone The “best interests” principle is one of the four general (cross-cutting) principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child »
Can data-driven education be responsible, lawful and rights-respecting?
By Kruakae Pothong, Ayça Atabey and Sonia Livingstone The volume and types of data, as well as the purposes of data processing in educational contexts, have expanded well beyond the initial purposes of evaluating schools’ performance, »
Balancing interests in EdTech: When is the lawful basis of “legitimate interests” justified?
By Ayca Atabey As of September 2, 2021, all organisations that provide online services that are likely to be accessed by children must comply with »