SCHOOLWISE

SCHOOLWISE is a European project funded under the Erasmus+ Forward-Looking Projects programme — Topic 8 (ERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARD-DIGITAL-DM: Digital education: Innovative data collection and exchange approaches in primary, secondary education (including vocational education and training) for data-informed decision-making), coordinated by CNR-ITD.

The project addresses the urgent need to tackle the fragmentation of educational data practices across Europe, which represents a significant barrier to the development of evidence-informed school systems. Despite substantial investments in digital infrastructure, educational data practices remain deeply fragmented across European countries, with negative consequences across the technical, pedagogical, governance, and ethical dimensions of data use in schools.

Project objectives

SCHOOLWISE aims to develop an integrated, multidimensional approach to educational data literacy, working across three main dimensions: strengthening the professional competences of teachers and school leaders, co-creating ethical data practices, and enabling cross-border data exchange through shared standards and governance protocols.

The project pursues four specific objectives. The first concerns the development of the SCHOOLWISE Educational Data Literacy Framework (SEDaL-F), an integrated framework for educational data literacy, developed through collaborative research with key stakeholders, aimed at standardising data collection practices and supporting evidence-based decision-making. The second objective involves the definition of the SCHOOLWISE Educational Data Governance Model (SWDG), an ethical model for educational data governance ensuring effective, secure, and ethical use of data across school institutions, in full compliance with European regulations (GDPR and AI Act). The third objective targets the creation of evidence-based proposals for data governance policies promoting consistent collection, storage, sharing, and use of educational data across national boundaries. The fourth objective concerns the development of the SCHOOLWISE Capacity Development Model (SCDM), a model for building sustainable institutional capacities for accurate, consistent, and ethical data collection and analysis for educational improvement.

Methodology

SCHOOLWISE adopts the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) framework as its methodological cornerstone, structuring the development of data literacy across four progressive levels (technical, analytical, pedagogical, and strategic), differentiated according to the roles of teachers and school leaders. Pilot activities will be conducted in four European countries (Italy, Spain, Germany, and Belgium), involving primary and secondary schools in a co-design and validation process of the developed tools.

Expected project results

SCHOOLWISE will produce a set of concrete, transferable results at European level. On the research and conceptual development side, the project will deliver the SEDaL-F (SCHOOLWISE Educational Data Literacy Framework v1.0), a European reference framework for educational data literacy defining progressive competencies for teachers and school leaders, and the SCHOOLWISE Data Governance Model (SWDG), an integrated ethical data governance model for schools compliant with GDPR and the AI Act.

On the operational tools side, the project will develop a digital collaborative platform hosting resources, tools, and communities of practice, an implementation toolkit with at least five practical tools for contextual data interpretation, and a training programme structured across four levels (Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom) with differentiated pathways for teachers and school leaders, formally recognised through digital badges aligned with the DigCompEdu framework.

On the governance and interoperability side, the project will produce guidelines for the transnational exchange of educational data among partner countries, a pilot data exchange model between at least two countries, and the European SCHOOLWISE Network Charter, establishing a permanent European network of schools and institutions committed to responsible data literacy. A European Observatory on Ethical Educational Data Use will also be launched.

Role of CNR-ITD

CNR-ITD coordinates the project and contributes to research activities, development of the SEDaL-F framework, design of training tools, and implementation of the Italian pilots, in collaboration with partner schools and the regional school authority USR Emilia-Romagna.

External collaborations

• Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), Germany
• Technische Universität Graz (TU Graz), Austria
• UC Limburg (UCLL), Belgium
• Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (UNIBO), Italy
• Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Spain
• Privanova SAS, France
• European School Heads Association (ESHA), Netherlands
• Projects for Europe, Belgium
• NGO Nest Berlin e.V. (NEST), Germany
• Istituto Comprensivo Fratelli Cervi, Italy
• Escola Pia de Catalunya, SpainNGO Nest Berlin e.V. (NEST), Germany