Governance, accountability and the datafication of early years education in England

Abstract

In this paper we attempt to make visible the flow and circulation of data through analysing the datafication of the early years education sector in England (children aged 2-5). The concept of datafication is used to understand the processes and impacts of burgeoning data-based governance and accountability regimes. This analysis builds upon early childhood researchers who were influenced by Foucault and others, who have noted the ways in which the surveillance and performative culture of accountability both affirms, legitimates and seduces the early years through discourses of 'quality' whilst increasingly regulating and governing the early years. Using data from three research sites (a Children's Centre, a Primary school and a combined Nursery School and Children's Centre) as well as an interview with a Local Authority Early Years Advisor, we examine how comparative data-based accountability increasingly governed early years teachers' professionalism and pedagogies. We argue that the planned tracking of children's performance from Baseline testing (DfE, 2014) at four years old to eleven years old may further govern and constrain early years professionalism as young children are reconfigured as 'miniature centres of calculation'

The datafication of early years education and its impact upon pedagogy

“…These processes of governance through data increasingly apply to the early years sector (Roberts-Holmes and Bradbury, 2016).…”

“…This composite article, based upon the previously published work of Roberts-Holmes (2015) and Roberts-Holmes and Bradbury (2016), examines the pervasiveness of attainment data in early years education professional activity, its impact on early years teachers' consciousness and identity, and the narrowing and instrumentalisation of early years pedagogy. The authors argue that, rather than improving quality, the current obsession with performance data and its stretch down the age range has the potential to undermine the foundations for children's personal development and learning.…”

Parent-practitioner partnerships in early childhood provision in England, Hungary and Kazakhstan: similarities and differences in discourses

“…They also suggested that starting English primary school at 4-5 years old causes some children exhaustion and 'emotional distress' (Christensen, James, & Jenks, 2000). Since the English government's performativity agenda (Ashworth, Hill, Karmiloff-Smith, & Dimitriou, 2014;Roberts-Holmes & Bradbury, 2016).…”

“…Change was an underlying link within this theme. English academics advocated that ECEC in England should become a 'universal service', since the current model is fragmented, expensive and often inaccessible (Hillman & Williams, 2015); equally, they were concerned that 'accountability' should not continue to dominate education in England (Roberts-Holmes & Bradbury, 2016). Hungarian academics suggested 'changes in ECEC' in Hungary resulted from the introduction of a market economy, leading to increased maternal employment and more fathers and grandparents becoming involved (Korintus et al, 2004).…”

Teacher data agency and the mediation of new ways of knowing in schools: A socio-cultural perspective of professional learning, relationships and educational change

“…The concentration on school improvement raised concerns of government appropriating education research to validate new data policies. The rise of data use in education was reconceptualised through the lens of datafication which identifies new ways of understanding the world through data (Lawn, 2013a;Lycett, 2013;Roberts-Holmes & Bradbury, 2016;Thompson, 2016;Williamson, 2018), a macro-and micro-relational understanding of data use (Selwyn, 2015;Selwyn, 2016), and how data makes things knowable, and therefore, actionable (Milan & Van der Velden, 2016;Sellar, 2014Sellar, , 2015Williamson, 2016). A scan of data use in education indicated how the new ways of knowing schools through data is changing; for example, school management processes (Coburn & Turner, 2011a;Coburn & Turner, 2011bSelwyn, 2016;, leadership approaches (Earl, 2008;Earl & Katz, 2006), and professional learning and relationships around data use (Farrell & Marsh, 2016;Marsh, Bertrand, & Huguet, 2015).…”