Balancing Children's Rights and Educational Objectives in K-12 Classroom Technology

The datafication of education has enabled new means of supporting students, new topics to learn, new approaches for enhancing pedagogy, and new administrative tools. But it also risks student privacy and their data being used for purposes other than learning. Recently European legislators and data protection authorities have taken a strong stand towards K12 classroom technology in order to protect children's privacy. This article presents the tension between the right to education and the right to participate in digitalized society on the one hand-and the right to privacy on the other hand-and how to navigate a way between them. The article suggests that in a world of tightening regulation, educational technology providers need to understand that the purpose of data collection must arise from educational needs, not “nice to have” needs, and must be limited to what is necessary for education.