We are pleased to announce the publication of a new paper from our empirical work in the journal Oxford Review of Education, titled “The human labour of school data: exploring the production of digital data in schools“. The paper explores the work involved in the production of data across in our three case study schools, focusing on different phases of work by school leaders, teachers, students, parents, administrators and technical staff. As the abstract puts it:
“These findings highlight how the production of digital data within schools is associated with heightened levels of human labour – from formally recognised activities to less visible infrastructural maintenance and ‘repair’ work. The paper concludes by discussing how ‘school data’ corresponds with broader tensions relating to school working conditions, occupational cultures, employment relations and worker organisation. Rather than being a source of more efficient and machine-led work with data, the increased prevalence of digital data seems to perpetuate some of the less desirable features of schools as workplaces“.