Introduction: Digitalisation of education in the era of algorithms, automation and artificial intelligence

The World Yearbook of Education 2024 contends with the digitalisation and datafication of education associated with the arrival of big data, algorithms, AI and automated digital technologies. Contemporary digitalisation and datafication in education have emerged from five intertwined trends: the production of shared imaginaries of a digital future, the emergence of educational data science as a model of knowledge production, a political turn to data-driven policy and governance, transformations in the digital data economy, and the rapid growth of the edtech industry. The chapters foreground four analytical approaches as an agenda for research on digitalisation and datafication in education. Focusing on sociotechnical foundations, research interrogates the social, scientific and historical factors involved in the development and deployment of new technologies and practices. Research on the political economy of digitalisation foregrounds the complex relations between locally enacted forms of digitalisation and global economic trends in the technology industry. The dynamics of digitalisation and datafication underpin the ways contemporary education systems can be monitored, controlled and governed, such as through digital surveillance techniques and automated data-driven decision-making. In turn, research investigates consequences like bias and discrimination, inequality and environmental impact, and explores alternative models like technical democracy and design justice approaches.