Education in a Datafied World: Balancing Children’s Rights and School’s Responsibilities in the age of Covid 19

The Covid-19 pandemic created a situation where online learning extended at speed. During the national lockdowns, when it was not possible for most children to physically attend school, the efficacy and efficiency of digital platforms made it possible for schools to fulfil their duties to provide an education. However, the urgency of the situation carried the risk that this was put in place without adequate consideration of the data protection risks from various online learning tools. Although the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a framework of regulations and rights to protect users, the legal process is unwieldy to apply due to tensions in balancing the rights of the child learner with the public need to ensure that all children are provided with an education. This paper recommends that changes in digital schooling practices are needed so that children have realistically possible ways of enforcing their data protection rights as well as a clarified and uniformed approach to support schools.