Professional attitudes to the use of data in England

English schools arguably have more sophisticated datasets at their disposal than any other jurisdiction in the world. These datasets gather the academic outcomes and a range of demographic data for all young people in England from age 4 to 16. They are used to provide schools with a wide range of school- and student-level measures related to academic attainment and value-added progress to inform school self-evaluation. This chapter discusses some of the ways these data are utilised in English secondary schools in order to inform school improvement. It presents findings from a nationwide survey of teachers on their self-reported use of, and attitudes toward, student- and school-level attainment and progress data. The purpose of the survey was to investigate the extent to which teachers in schools use these data; whether they are satisfied with their level of understanding of data; and the frequency of training they feel they require to both interpret and utilise it. The survey found that levels of data use in English secondary schools are high and that satisfaction with data use is linked to teachers’ level of responsibility, with Deputy and Assistant School Principals reporting the most extensive data use and greatest satisfaction with their level of data use. The frequency of training in data use appears to be positively linked to teachers’ self-reported level of understanding of data. The results suggest that teachers with no formal leadership roles require training on at least annual basis to significantly improve their understanding of data. Teachers strongly feel that data analysis and interpretation should be delegated to a greater extent throughout the staff in the school. There is also a perception that Heads of Department should take the leading role in data analysis and interpretation, more so than is the case in many schools where analysis and interpretation of data is often the province of more senior members of the school leadership team.

978-94-007-4816-3

10.1007/978-94-007-4816-3_5

69-89

Springer

Downey, Christopher

bb95b259-2e31-401b-8edf-78e8d76bfb8c

Kelly, Anthony

1facbd39-0f75-49ee-9d58-d56b74c6debd

Schildkamp, Kim

Lai, Mei Kuin

Earl, Lorna

2013

Downey, Christopher

bb95b259-2e31-401b-8edf-78e8d76bfb8c

Kelly, Anthony

1facbd39-0f75-49ee-9d58-d56b74c6debd

Schildkamp, Kim

Lai, Mei Kuin

Earl, Lorna

Downey, Christopher and Kelly, Anthony (2013) Professional attitudes to the use of data in England. In, Schildkamp, Kim, Lai, Mei Kuin and Earl, Lorna (eds.) Data-based Decision Making in Education: Challenges and Opportunities. (Studies in Educational Leadership, 17) Dordrecht, NL. Springer, pp. 69-89. (doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4816-3_5).

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Published date: 2013

Additional Information: This chapter presents findings from a nationwide online survey of English secondary school teachers on their use of, and attitudes towards, pupil performance and progress data. Participants were drawn from the full range of teaching experience, level of responsibility and subject background, and from a range of schools. The project investigated, using a mixed methods approach, the extent to which staff in schools are satisfied with their level of understanding of data, whether they have sufficient time to engage with it, whether they require better training to interpret and utilise it, and the extent to which they think that the data tells them something ‘they don’t already know’. The research - a survey supplemented by a series of interviews - extends our current understanding both in terms of scale (by surveying teachers and not just heads) and in terms of focus (on the impact of school data-culture, and not just leadership, on data utilisation).