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Teacher data use and student learning: Insights from a NSW Catholic School system
Rosemary Vellar, Boris Handal, Sean Kearney and Chris Forlin
The University of Notre Dame Australia, Australia
Evidence based decision making is essential for enabling improved student learning. Teacher motivations and beliefs about the types and use of data are critical determinants of decision making. Our research explored the types of data teachers use and consider valuable when measuring improvement in student learning. Findings from 294 teachers from 44 schools in the Catholic (non-government) sector in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, found that data are used to inform the sequence of learning and to identify and address student needs. Both quantitative and qualitative data sources are applied to make claims of improvement. Factors such as ability, gender, school role, and school sector (primary or secondary) impact the selection and use of data. Our recommendations include the need to focus on professional learning to develop practising and preservice teachers' data literacy skills, ranging from statistical literacy to the identification and selection of appropriate data to substantiate claims of improvement.
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Authors: Dr Rosemary Vellar from Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese has an extensive background in school and system improvement. Her work focuses on building the capability of leaders to think evaluatively about the processes and practices they put in place to substantiate their claims of improvement. Email: rvellar@parra.catholic.edu.au Dr Boris Handal is a Professor of Digital Learning Technologies at the School of Education of The University of Notre Dame Australia. His publication record comprises over 100 conference and journal papers, books and book chapters published in Australia, the United States of America, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4745-6390 Email: boris.handal@nd.edu.au Dr Sean Kearney is a Professor in the School of Education, Sydney, at The University of Notre Dame Australia. Sean is also the founding and international director of the Dayamani Foundation [http://www.dayamanifoundation.org/], a not-for-profit charity that has built a residential school for underprivileged children in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh, India. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6910-3372 Email: sean.kearney@nd.edu.au Dr Chris Forlin is an adjunct Professorial Research Fellow at The University of Notre Dame Australia. She has extensive consultancy, research, and publications with a strong focus on equity and diversity; inclusive education; change paradigms in education; education policy and practice, to establish sustainable inclusive education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6438-9591 Email: christine.forlin@nd.edu.au Please cite as: Vellar, R., Handal, B., Kearney, S. & Forlin, C. (2024). Teacher data use and student learning: Insights from a NSW Catholic School system. Issues in Educational Research, 34(4), 1596-1617. http://www.iier.org.au/iier34/vellar.pdf |