Making education manageable
School management systems and the discursive construction of data-driven classrooms
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21785646 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lulu P Shi (0000-0001-8468-5526, University of Oxford, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-14 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Learning Media and Technology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1743-9884 • E-ISSN: 1743-9892 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17439884.2025.2565244 |
| OpenAlex | W4415381872 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 38 |
This study investigates the growing influence of school management systems in U.K. schools, focusing on how these tools discursively conceptualise core aspects of classroom education. Through a discourse analysis of school management product descriptions, this study provides insights into how management tool providers configure roles and practices in the classroom, knowledge, and social relationships. The analysis shows that, through datafication, school management systems reinforce a management-centric perspective on all aspects of education, going beyond purely administrative work. While tool providers often use language familiar to schools such as ‘community’, these terms reflect marketing strategies more than genuine efforts to foster social relations. This study provides a critical perspective on the role of school management systems in reconfiguring the classroom as a site of management
Discourse analysis · Electronic learning · Higher education · Management system · Qualitative research · Semi-structured interview · Teaching method · Technology integration · Educational Assessment and Improvement · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
High Stakes Education
The Platform Society
Datafying the teaching ‘profession’
The datafication of discipline
Datafied at four
Algorithmic injustice
High-tech, hard work
Analysing Documents
A patchwork of platforms
Smart teachers in smart schools in a smart city
‘Someone else in the universe is trying to teach you’
The politics and reciprocal (re)configuration of accountability and fairness in data-driven education
Everyday approaches to platform-mediated personalized learning in secondary schools
The datafication of teaching in Higher Education
The devalued, demoralized and disappearing teacher
Trust in Numbers
The governance of teachers’ time allocation and data usage through a learning management system
Digital platform work reinforcing performativity
Automation, APIs and the distributed labour of platform pedagogies in Google Classroom
Evaluating datafied time
Critical Discourse Analysis
Gettin’ a little crafty
The ClassDojo app
Governing by numbers
The ‘datafication’ of early years pedagogy
Reshaping school discipline with metrics
Dashboard stories
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |