Against the background of a "culture of digitality" (Stalder, 2016) and the increasing generation, use, and storage of data in schools (especially due to evidence based policy), the need to deal with digital data in this context becomes clear. Thus, datafication as a condensed, highly complex process of communication and interdependence management between actors and their contexts of action gains importance (Breiter & Jarke, 2019). However, data not only describe social reality, but also create or change it, which has multiple implications for data practices in schools. Software or data infrastructures, in particular linked with the buzzword ‘learning analytics’, also affirm this, as they are not neutral and social relations and inequalities are technically inscribed (Fuller 2008; Kitchin & Lauriault 2014; Lachney, Babbitt & Eglash 2016). From a pedagogical point of view, this addresses issues such as the digital divide at different levels. Hence, it is not surprising that algorithms, datafication, and data-based or even data-driven (Houben & Prietl, 2018) (surveying) practices of pedagogical actors in schools receive increasing (inter)national attention (Mau 2017, Espeland & Stevens 2008, Kitchin 2016). However, the special role of digital data for schools and the (pedagogical) actors working in them has not yet been sufficiently explored theoretically and empirically. In particular, the emergence or transformation of school practices through data are blind spots here, although these are evident at different levels - for example, at the level of organizational leadership and development as well as in individual teaching-learning processes - and raise general questions about datafication in schools.

This symposium aims to expand the understanding about the process of datafication and related practices in the school context. For this purpose, the international state of research on this topic will be reviewed at the levels of organization and the actions of individual pedagogues in schools (teachers and social workers), concluding with a discussion of possible research approaches to data practices in schools to overcome the research gaps outlined above.

The first presentation highlights the role of data management systems in schools and their use in school development and practice. In this context, a systematic review is used to present the international discourse on the topic. Furthermore, results of an artifact analysis of school documents from secondary schools in Germany are triangulated. The aim of the empirical study is to expose constructions of meaning and data practices at the organizational level.

At the micro level, the second presentation focuses on data practices of teachers and social workers in schools. Here, connections between pedagogues' practices and data resp. algorithms in schools will be examined. The aim of the study is to show connections and dependencies of (data) practices, to address ambivalences, and to discuss and further develop current research questions.

After examining data practices at the organizational level and in the actions of individual pedagogues, the third article explores from a research perspective how such data practices can be studied in schools. Hence, the current state of research is reviewed with regard to method(olog)ic approaches and research approaches are mapped, presented and critically discussed. The presentation shows advantages but also limitations of individual research methods and discusses implications for future research.

The questions pursued are closely related to the BMBF-funded German research project "All is data" (funding code: 01JD1903B).

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