Education Open Data

A presentation to West Midlands Open Data Forum

By Simon Whitehouse of Data Unlocked

Scene setting - Mostly about education up to the age of 18 – schools and careers

Talk about open data available Open data not available Recent Open Data Challenge Series on Education Opportunities and challenges

Open Data available

Not a new field. A lot of schools' data has been open for a while.

Typically these relate to school characteristics and performance.

Edubase - the up to date database of educational establishments across England and Wales

Free extracts and downloads are available – behind a login

HP Labs created a Linked Data version but that hasn't been updated since 2009

Open Data available

Hacks and Hackers Birmingham mapped open data sources 2 years ago:

Ofsted inspection reports are still available – including historic

Research and Statistics Gateway now a part of the gov.uk site

- School performance- Pupil breakdowns – gender, ethnicity, religious inclination- Presented on page – available for download – PLASC- Pupil premium

Open Data available

Pupil Premium example

Ark Rose Academy – Kings Norton

117 kids are eligible

83% of the school – making it one of the “Top 10” in the country

Receive £111,500 per annum

Aside: majority of highest perecentage is in Primary Schools – smaller, more geographically centred

Open Data Available

Other Financial data

Schools budget share

Free School Meals claimed

Average teacher salary (of little use)

Open Data available

Data.gov.uk

Hacks and Hackers post – somewhat outdated

ODI/Nesta Open Data Challenge also collated some data sources

Sheffield Hack The City recently created a Google doc

Open Data not available

School admissions

Typically available in pdfNot consistently presented

Miles/kmOpenAppeals infoNumber of applicants

Education Open Data Challenge

ODI/Nesta

“a series of seven challenge prizes designed to generate innovative and sustainable solutions to social challenges using open data.”

Education the second challenge after Crime and Justice

Intention is to start or assist new projects/products using open data

“This is not a hack”

Education: Open Data Challenges

Expressing a preference for a school

Choosing a subject or other learning priorities

Engaging with their children’s learning.

Education Open Data Challenge

15 teams2 days over the weekendSupported by Harringey council

- data, including anonymised pupil level – postcode sector only personal item- parents came in on Saturday to discuss ideas

Workshop sessions- user centred design- social impact

Education Open Data Challenge

Winners

Brenda

A tool for helping recruiters and university recruiters contextualise using students' backgrounds/economic indicators

eg.

"Applicant 'A' went to a below average state non-selective school and was in the top 9% of their peers at GCSE and A-Level. On average their school year got BCC at A-Level so they significantly over-performed getting AAB. In addition, their household income is below £25,000 and the area they grew up is one of the 10 most deprived in the country."

Compare 'A' to 'B' who came from a highly selective independent school and was in the bottom 10% of their year (yet got the same academics).

Education Open Data Challenge

Winners

Skills Route

Helps parents and young people understand:

where they can do the combination of Post-16 qualifications that interest them the impact GCSE performance has on potential Post-16 outcomes differing likely outcomes in different subjects due to how challenging they can be the huge variation in subject level quality of teaching between institutions

Education Open Data Challenge

Winners

Illustreets

illustreets.co.uk is a location research tool for England, based exclusively on open data.

The objective of our project is to help the parents in choosing schools that are the best fit for their children, not necessarily what is generally regarded as “best schools”.

It will make school recommendations based on criteria including but not limited to: the child’s characteristics and past performance, special education needs, the parent’s / child’s preferences, subject areas, and, if moving to a new area, available budget and characteristics of the neighbourhood.

Education: Open Data Challenge

The three finalists will receive £5,000 each and incubation support over the coming 2 months to further develop their product. We will then select one overall winner to receive the £50,000 prize

Four more Open Data Challenges to come

Data Unlocked: what have we done?

Schools Finder

Birmingham centredSuccessful open data release by BCC following FOIMaps cut off distances – 5 yearsShows some key data – links to Ofsted, ethnicity breakdown, FSM etc 5 A-CsMapping also shows inequality of provision

People not making successful applications – LA concern is mainly on people getting their first choice, which is dubious target/metric

In Harringey >38% of applications were made offline

Data Unlocked Schools Finder

Takes data from different domains – can include public transport and

walking routes/times Has a relevance outside of just Admissions and Appeals, eg school

planning, transport Is of interest to individual schools – Washwood example Has started to document the rather distinctive entry requirements of

some academies

Opportunities and Challenges

Opportunities of open data:

Create new, useful datasets – eg admissions Create new applications that aren't just focused on the needs of a single

department, or indeed, the department In particular, how does this fit in with Fairer Brum

Opportunities and Challenges

Challenges:

Academies and Free Schools Associated reduction in the role for the LA Concern that data may be discontinued or left unmaintained in the future –

Edubase updates now a school not LA responsibility

Thanks

I've been collating the links that I've used in my presentation on my Pinboard account.

Email the group