SchoolWise

SCHOOLWISE is a European Erasmus+ project focused on helping schools transform educational data into meaningful knowledge and responsible action.

Schools increasingly generate and use different forms of data, from assessment and learning information to administrative and digital-platform data. Yet practices across Europe remain fragmented, and educators need clearer guidance, stronger data literacy and appropriate governance structures to use this information responsibly.

SCHOOLWISE addresses this challenge by bringing together researchers, educational practitioners, privacy and governance experts, schools and school-leader networks to develop a comprehensive European approach to responsible educational data use.

About the project

SCHOOLWISE – Building Data Wisdom and Governance in Schools for Evidence-Informed Educational Improvement – develops a comprehensive framework for responsible data use in primary and secondary education.

The project follows the Data–Information–Knowledge–Wisdom (DIKW) approach. It supports schools in progressing from collecting and understanding data to interpreting it, using it to build knowledge, and ultimately making informed and responsible educational decisions.

SCHOOLWISE focuses on four main objectives:

1. Develop educational data literacy by creating an integrated framework describing the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed by educators and school leaders.
2. Support ethical data governance by developing governance models that align educational practice with requirements such as the GDPR and the EU AI Act.
3. Improve cross-border data governance by exploring policies, standards and approaches that can support responsible educational data practices across different European contexts.
4. Build sustainable capacity in schools so that educational institutions can collect, interpret and use data responsibly as part of their everyday decision-making.

The project combines research, stakeholder consultation, co-design, professional development and practical implementation in schools.

SCHOOLWISE will develop:

• the SCHOOLWISE Educational Data Literacy Framework (SEDaL-F);
• a Data Governance Model for schools;
• practical educational data tools and assessment resources;
• an implementation toolkit and training programme for educators and school leaders;
• guidance for responsible and ethical data use in schools;
• pilot implementations in different European educational contexts;
• the European SCHOOLWISE Network;
• and the European Observatory on Ethical Educational Data Use.

Through these activities, SCHOOLWISE aims to strengthen evidence-informed decision-making, improve teaching and learning, support educational equity and build confidence in the responsible use of data across European schools.

The Department of Education Studies “G.M Bertin”, University of Bologna, is leading Work Package 4: Implementation of Pilot Use Cases in Educational Context.

WP4 implements and tests the SCHOOLWISE approach in real educational settings across four European countries (Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain), translating the project’s theoretical frameworks and digital tools into practical applications. The pilot activities will assess its effectiveness, demonstrate its added value, and identify the adaptations required to address different national and school contexts. In particular, WP4 supports establishing and activating communities of practice in partner countries through field-based pilot activities. It also tests tools for the contextual interpretation of data through structured implementation in at least eight schools. The pilot schools will introduce participatory governance mechanisms involving key stakeholder groups, while ethical oversight systems will be tested across all four partner countries. WP4 also includes small-scale data exchanges among participating countries, focusing on specific information categories. At the same time, leadership training programs will be delivered in participating schools and supported by structured pre- and post-intervention assessments. Finally, the pilot schools will develop collaborative data-use processes and document how decision-making practices evolve.

Project PARTNERS:

• Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR) [IT] (Coordinator)
• Technische Universität Dresden [DE]
• Technische Universität Graz [AT]
• UC Limburg [BE]
• Alma Mater Studiorum – Universita Di Bologna [IT]
• Fundacio Per A La Universitat Oberta De Catalunya [ES]
• Privanova [FR]
• ESHA European School Heads Association [NL]  
• Projects For Europe [BE]  
• NGO NEST Berlin [DE]
• Istituto Comprensivo Fratelli Cervi [IT]  
• Escola Pia De Catalunya [ES]

Associated Partners:

• Athénée Royal du Sippelberg [BE]
• Liceo Scientifico N. Copernico [IT]
• C. Staglieno [IT]
• Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per l’Emilia-Romagna [IT]
• Departament d’Educació i Formació Professional. Generalitat de Catalunya [ES]
• Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Kultus [DE]

Follow SCHOOLWISE

www.schoolwise-project.eu

linkedin.com/company/schoolwise-project

Project information

Project acronym: SCHOOLWISE

Full title: Building Data Wisdom and Governance in Schools for Evidence-Informed Educational Improvement

Project number: 101259617

Programme: Erasmus+

Call: ERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARD

Project duration: 36 months

Coordinator: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – CNR, Italy

Granting authority: European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)