SCHOOLWISE

SCHOOLWISE combines data literacy, ethical data governance and human-centred learning analytics so that decisions in schools can build on data without being surrendered to it.

Schools produce data continuously — through learning platforms, administrative systems and digital tools. Whether that turns into better decisions depends less on the technology than on whether teachers and school leaders can read, contextualise and limit the data. That is exactly where the project starts: with competence, with rules, and with the question of which analysis makes pedagogical sense in the first place.

The project describes the path from a figure to a decision as a sequence of stages: Data – Information – Knowledge – Wisdom (DIKW). Collecting and understanding data, interpreting it, turning the interpretation into knowledge — and only then deciding pedagogically. The full project title names precisely that aim: Building Data Wisdom and Governance in Schools for Evidence-Informed Educational Improvement.

The legal framework is not an add-on here. The General Data Protection Regulation and the AI Act define what is permissible; the project translates those requirements into procedures a school can apply without a legal department of its own.

Objectives

• Describe data literacy: an integrated framework naming the knowledge, skills and attitudes teachers and school leaders need in order to work with educational data
• Enable ethical data governance: models that align school practice with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and the AI Act
• Governance across borders: policies, standards and approaches that hold up between Europe’s differently grown education systems as well
• Sustainable capacity in schools: collecting, interpreting and using data should become part of everyday decision-making rather than remaining a project

What the project produces

• SEDaL-F — a framework for educational data literacy in schools
• a data governance model for schools, with protocols for a legally and ethically sound handling of data
• tools for working with educational data and instruments for self-assessment
• an implementation toolkit for everyday school practice and a training programme for teachers and school leaders
• guidance for responsible and ethical data use in schools
• pilot implementations in different European school contexts
• the European SCHOOLWISE Network for continued exchange

Consortium and trials

The 36-month project is coordinated by the Italian national research council CNR; the consortium comprises twelve institutions — universities, schools, an association of school leaders, a data protection consultancy and two civil society organisations. Framework and tools are trialled at schools in Italy, Germany, Spain and Belgium.

In addition there are associated partners which are not part of the consortium but carry the results into their own systems: among them the Saxon State Office for Schools and Education, the Ufficio Scolastico Regionale for Emilia-Romagna and the education department of the Generalitat de Catalunya, as well as individual schools in Belgium and Italy.

SCHOOLWISE is funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ call ERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARD, grant number 101259617; the granting authority is the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).

TU Graz contributes on learning analytics and on the question of how analyses can be designed to support teachers rather than to assess them. Further results and publications will follow during the project period.

Follow the project

• SCHOOLWISE on LinkedIn· linkedin.com/company/schoolwise-project (external site) ↗

Participating partners

Publications

• 2026

  Digital Equipment Evolution and IT Activity of TU Graz study beginners (2011-2025): Challenges of Tablet and AI Dominance for University Digital-Sovereignty Initiatives

  Nagler, W., Mayr, B., Ebner, M., Schön, S., & Bruenner, B.

  Conference paper · Proceedings of EdMedia 2026 Edinburgh

  Full text: learntechlib.org(external site)

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