This paper engages, Sara Ahmed's theorising on 'the uses of use' to frame an analysis of the hidden, embedded effects of standardised testing policy that have become normative practice/s in Queensland, Australia. It (re)examines data from an ethno-case study into the datafication of assessment and learning over one school year, in primary and…

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) conducted an online survey and a series of interviews as part of a project commissioned by the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). The survey and interviews were focused on students in Years 7 to 9 who lack the foundational literacy and numeracy skills that are required to…

This article reveals the multiple ways in which data are constituted as a vehicle for governing teachers' work and learning. Drawing on the concept of governance, including in relation to the sociology of numbers, and data from one school in Queensland, Australia, the research reveals how teachers' work and learning were constituted through…

In Australia, school leadership is influenced by neoliberal discourses of accountability and performativity. Many schools seek to balance systemic pressures that narrow outcome expectations with a desire to deliver schooling in the broad interests of the students and communities that they serve. In this case, the principal was appointed to a…

The technological capacity that now exists to gather and store large amounts of data has improved access to information regarding young people in schools. Improvements in data management techniques and statistical data software packages have made retrieving and analysing systems data a more accessible and manageable process. On a smaller scale,…