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
Managing EdTech and education data constitutes a significant and increasing pressure that individual schools must bear, resulting in uncertainties over – or more likely, failings in – the protection of children’s personal data and its uses for their benefit. This report reveals the problems concerning risks-benefits calculation in choosing EdTech, schools’ limited control over data and limited guidance and resources. The report voices schools’ calls for change in response to these problems.
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 state of biometrics 2022: A review of policy in the UK education
Children’s biometric data and AI-driven technologies are increasingly used for purposes such as making meal payments and measuring attention, engagement, and emotion in schools. These »
Education data reality: A continued conversation
By Sarah Turner The Digital Futures Commission launched its report entitled Education Data Reality in its breakfast briefing on the 29th June 2022. The launch »
The DFC to launch Education Data Reality
By Kruakae Pothong, Ayça Atabey, Sarah Turner and Sonia Livingstone The Digital Futures Commission (DFC) is launching its ‘Education data reality: The challenges for schools »
EdTech compliance is not enough: children deserve ethical EdTech business cultures
By Ioanna Noula “By 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet.“ A »
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 »