Teacher data literacy: a scoping review (2020–2024)

Recent trends in school improvement and teacher education have emphasised the crucial role of data and the importance of preparing teachers to read, interpret and use it to inform their practice. It has been demonstrated that the effective use of data by teachers can result in school improvement and increased student achievement. However, attempts to reach a consensus on the definition of teacher data literacy and to understand how teachers use data require further research. In light of this, the present paper uses a scoping review to analyse how the concept of teacher data literacy has been defined in the last five years (2020–2024). More specifically, Following the protocol outlined by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), the present reviewstudy compares teacher data literacy definitions produced over the last five years (2020–2024) and examines the types of data currently employed by teachers. A substantial alignment with the definition of Mandinach and Gummer (2016) emerged across the 276 selected articles. The term data literacy is closely linked to data-driven decision-making. Notwithstanding this, there remains an emphasis on the utilisation of student achievement data, and a latent confusion between assessment literacy and data literacy persists. The conclusions offer critical reflections on the potential implications for educational research and practice.