Datafication in schools: enactments of quality assurance and evaluation policies in Brazil

This paper investigates datafication in schools through an analysis of the enactments of quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) policies in Brazil. In doing so, I question how data permeates and changes school environments, school actors’ conduct and their imaginaries. QAE policies encompass large-scale assessments, indicators, rankings and other steering mechanisms, but importantly connect data to quality in education. Here, I analyse the discourses of school actors (principals, coordinators, supervisors, teachers, students and parents) from three Brazilian public schools collected through semi-structured interviews (n = 28). Data manifests in those schools as a technology of government. Schools enact QAE policies in distinct ways, incorporating the idea of governmentality, but also proposing alternative patterns of action.