Research topic
In the last decade, the rise of digital technologies has made it virtually impossible for children to attend school without continual online surveillance and datafication. The everyday operation of schools increasingly relies on digital technologies, with the volume and scope of data gathered growing exponentially. This has led to what is known as the ‘datafication’ of education. All aspects of school life are ‘datafied’– that is turned into digital data that can be collected, aggregated and processed to track, profile and predict student behaviour and learning. School work is completed on commercial platforms owned by Google and Microsoft, student behaviours are monitored through apps such as Class Dojo, facial recognition technologies are used to record attendance, and cameras and sensors are used to secure classrooms and schoolgrounds.
This PhD project is part of a larger Australian Research Council (ARC) funded three-year Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) project investigating the datafication of education. The overarching goal of the DECRA project is to strive toward data justice in education through working with key stakeholders in Australian secondary schools. The findings of the DECRA project will provide much needed insights into how EdTech companies, in combination with a host of intermediaries, datafy Australian schools and students.
The PhD project associated with this DECRA will be focused on investigating how Australian universities prepare teachers to work in a datafied education system. This will involve investigating pre-service teacher courses across a selection of Australian universities and working with pre-service teachers and lecturers in schools and faculties of education to consider what is working well, as well as how things could be changed or improved. The exact nature of the PhD project will be developed in consultation with supervisors Dr Luci Pangrazio and Prof Julian Sefton-Green. The PhD will provide opportunities for the candidate to present and publish with the principal supervisor Dr Luci Pangrazio as part of the project outcomes.
Project aim
This overarching aim of this project is to investigate how Australian universities are preparing teachers to work in datafied education systems. This will involve several sub-aims, including:
- how teachers are prepared to navigate data related issues, including privacy, data breaches and security;
- the ontological and epistemological issues to do with using data to know, understand and evaluate student learning and;
- what preservice teachers believe is effective in preparing them to work critically and ethically with data in schools.
These aims are flexible and will be finalised in light of the candidates interests and background. Strategic partners on the project will be the Victorian Department of Education and Training as well as other relevant institutions and authorities, such as the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT).
Benefits
This scholarship is available over 3 years.
- Stipend of $30,000 per annum tax exempt (2023 rate)
- Relocation allowance of $500-1500 (for single to family) for students moving from interstate
- International students only: Tuition fees offset for the duration of 4 years. Single Overseas Student Health Cover policy for the duration of the student visa.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible you must:
- be either a domestic or international candidate. Domestic includes candidates with Australian Citizenship, Australian Permanent Residency or New Zealand Citizenship.
- meet Deakin's PhD entry requirements
- be enrolling full time and hold an honours degree (first class) or an equivalent standard master's degree with a substantial research component.
Please refer to the research degree entry pathways page for further information.
Contact us
For more information about this scholarship, please contact Dr Luci Pangrazio
Dr Luci Pangrazio
Email Dr Luci Pangrazio
+61 3 92468911
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