Governing teachers’ work and learning through data: Australian insights

ABSTRACT

This article reveals the multiple ways in which data are constituted as a vehicle for governing teachers’ work and learning.  Drawing on the concept of governance, including in relation to the sociology of numbers, and data from one school in Queensland, Australia, the research reveals how teachers’ work and learning were constituted through practices of: establishing specific ‘targets’, including various ‘audacious goals’ for school and national testing; focusing upon ‘aligning’ all forms of school, regional and national data collected within the school; and participating in various ‘data conversations’ about specific students with senior members of staff. While the research reveals how teachers found such practices beneficial for improving their practice with students, it also shows how this learning was always and everywhere framed within a broader discourse of data, and how this data-centric focus came to constitute what was valued about their work and learning, and that of their students.

KEYWORDS:

• Data
• governance
• sociology of numbers
• teachers’ work
• teacher professional learning
• teacher learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. On the PM Benchmark series, students were generally expected to attain Level 8 by the end of Prep, Level 16 by the end of Year 1, Level 22 by the end of Year 2, and Level 30 by the end of primary schooling.

2. This is a reference to this student aiming to be reading at a much higher level for her age than indicated against the standardised PM Benchmark reading series (Level 1 (preparatory) to Level 30 (Year 6)).

3. In 2013, Year 7 was the final year of primary schooling in Queensland; in 2015, as part of a major restructuring of schooling in the state, Year 7 was transferred to secondary schools.

4. A spelling test originally designed in South Australia.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, Grant no. FT140100018.