Conference Program

In recent years, data literacy has been conceptualised as a core professional competence for teachers and school leaders, situated at the intersection of educational governance, school improvement, and evidence-informed decision-making. Yet, despite this growing recognition, the concept remains theoretically fragmented and unevenly operationalised.

The EVIDALI project (Evidence-Informed Data Literacy for Policy & Practice) addresses this gap by providing a conceptual and empirical foundation for Data Literacy for Teaching, defined as teachers’ ability to transform information into actionable instructional knowledge and practices (Mandinach & Gummer, 2016). Through a PRISMA-guided review of 76 empirical studies published in 2011-2025, the project shows that only a minority of studies has a clear definition of “data”, while most privilege student performance indicators over qualitative, digital, demographic, and contextual sources (FBK-IRVAPP, 2025). This fragmentation is mirrored at the policy level, where national approaches to data literacy remain uneven and loosely institutionalised (European Schoolnet, 2025).

Integrating established frameworks on data use and instructional decision-making (Kippers et al., 2018; Schildkamp & Lai, 2013), the review identifies four core domains structuring teacher data literacy: 1) data use as a cyclical process (from problem identification to evaluation); 2) professional knowledge and skills; 3) internal factors such as beliefs and self-efficacy; 4) external conditions, including leadership and organizational structures.

Building on this analytical lens, the territorial experience of Città dell’Educazione translates these conceptual dimensions into an intervention and inquiry strategy. The initiative – a three-year programme implemented in four Italian cities (Turin, Genoa, Vercelli, Savona) across two regions and involving nearly 100 primary and secondary schools – initiated a structured listening phase based on document analysis and interviews with school leaders and staff. This exploratory phase revealed recurring challenges that closely mirror the gaps identified in the review: difficulties in identifying reliable data sources; limited competence in survey design and indicator definition; insufficient analytical skills; weak reporting practices; and limited integration between data use and strategic planning.

In response, Fondazione per la Scuola designed a modular, practice-oriented professional learning programme aimed at strengthening schools’ capacity to collect, analyse, interpret, and communicate data for educational planning. The programme combines theoretical inputs with applied work on real school datasets, including INVALSI data and internally generated data, and is organised through flexible modules covering survey design, data analysis, reporting and evaluation. A structured monitoring system accompanies the training, including participation tracking and a pre–post questionnaire assessing changes in data use, knowledge of data sources, interpretation skills, and attitudes towards data-driven practices. For school leaders, the instrument also measures perceived self-efficacy and aspects of educational leadership related to data use.

By connecting the EVIDALI conceptual synthesis with a territorially grounded experience, this paper argues that data literacy should be understood not merely as an individual technical competence, but as an organisational and cultural infrastructure that enables informed and accountable decision-making within school systems (Mobilio, 2025). The experience of Città dell’Educazione shows how data literacy can move from policy aspiration to embedded professional practice, contributing to a more reflexive and democratically oriented model of school governance.