Data use in Education: new trends and emerging issues. A mapping review.

• In Event: Experiences, contexts and data use: Revisiting the study of education policy implementation in comparative and international education

Proposal

Schools worldwide have been increasingly asked to use a variety of data sources to change and improve education over the last two decades. Student performance data are at the core of school autonomy with accountability regimes that have developed to steer growingly fragmented, complex and multi-layered education systems (Verger & Skedsmo, 2021). With more countries adopting policies of data use and with digital technology increasing access and ability to combine data on different aspects of education, the understanding of what data and data use in education is has developed and today needs refining. Two overarching questions emerge: what characterizes research on data use in education? What are the main developments in this research field over time? In this paper, we present the results of a mapping review (cf. Grant & Booth, 2009) of international research on data use published until 2023. We concentrate on tracing development trends with respect to data sources and purposes of data use across country contexts.
Our theoretical perspective is informed by an understanding of policy instruments as not neutral (Lascoumes & Le Galès, 2007) and generating constituencies expanding instruments’ realm of application (Simons & Voß, 2018). Data use is understood as practices (Coburn and Turner, 2011) and data as not objectively guiding decisions, but being selected and interpreted by people negotiating problems and solutions (Spillane, 2012).
Methodologically, systematic literature searches for peer-reviewed publications were conducted in the Scopus database. After initial searches, a search string was developed and criteria for inclusion/exclusion were formulated. These include: data use being a core or secondary topic of the research; the research being empirical or conceptual; data use being studied in early-childhood, primary, or secondary school level in general education. The identified publications were first screened based on the focus of the journals, then on title and abstract, and finally on full-text versions. In cases of disagreement, the publications were critically examined to reach a joint decision, leading to a refined attunement and higher agreement rate.
Preliminary results indicate a geographical spread of research in this area moving from Anglo-Saxon countries, to include continental, Nordic, and Mediterranean European countries, and other parts of the world. Moreover, the analysis shows an expanded understanding of what data is, who can produce it and how it should be viewed by school actors, a more holistic approach to quality indicators, and increased awareness of ethical issues. New developments include the emergence of data use for the promotion of equality and social justice, a focus on ethical use of information and privacy, and an expansion of the disciplines producing research on data use in education dealing both with the technical aspect of new available technology, and with the prescription of what data to produce and how to use it. Finally, new types of data seem to emerge for use in education: both as new kinds of data arising from new technology, such as learning analytics, and as traditional pieces of information now being used in a more systematic way, like attendance or detention data.

Authors

• Giulia Montefiore, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

• Guri Skedsmo, Schwyz University of Teacher Education