DfE to roll out AI to track school attendance

The secretary of state for education, Bridget Phillipson, has revealed that the Open Innovation Team (OIT) will be providing support to the Department for Education in the form of AI tools for tracking school attendance. 

Schools and responsible bodies can now access the attendance reports tool via the View Your Education Data platform.

The news comes after the OIT was highlighted by Phillipson during her keynote address to the recent Education World Forum. 

In her speech, Phillipson emphasised the importance of evidence-based innovation in EdTech to improve educational outcomes globally. 

She also announced new investments to test educational technologies – including AI tools –  with support from the OIT.

This AI tool analyses the Department for Education’s datasets to find 20 schools with comparable features like student demographics and location. It then generates reports on their attendance rates, allowing users to compare their school’s performance against similar schools to identify areas of strength and potential improvement based on best practices.

Phillipson stated that this tool, believed to be one of the first of its kind globally, has been successfully piloted prior to its complete implementation.

Phillipson said: “Working with the Open Innovation Team, we’ll be engaging the sector to understand what works. We’ll look at how tools, including AI, can improve things like staff workload, pupil outcomes and inclusivity. Evidence must be at the heart of all we do, on EdTech and right across education.”

The Department for Education’s partnership with the OIT aims to create and assess cutting-edge solutions that improve teaching and learning in England and other regions.