Walking through a school in 2026, one thing is clear. Educators have never had more information at their fingertips. Attendance figures, wellbeing data, academic results and engagement metrics are all there for the taking. Yet for many teachers and leaders, making sense of it all remains a daily challenge.
Instead of helping to guide decisions, valuable information is often scattered across multiple systems, making it difficult to see the full picture. Some experts argue the key to school improvement isn't collecting more data – it's turning the information schools already have into meaningful action.
Why leaders still feel blind
As Managing Director of Tes Australia, Jonathan Joffe works closely with school leaders across the country to help them make better-informed decisions, reduce administrative burdens and keep their focus where it matters most: teaching and learning.
On 4 June at EduTECH, Joffe hosted a session called: 'From data to impact: Turning school information into AI-powered action'. In the session, Joffe pointed out that while schools have more data than ever, many leaders still feel like they're flying blind.
“Schools don’t have a data problem; they have an insight problem,” Joffe told The Educator. “Information sits across learning, wellbeing, enrolment, finance and engagement systems, often in separate silos.”
Joffe said this means leaders are having to spend too much time gathering reports and not enough time both understanding and interpreting them and then actioning the insights.
“As a result, decisions can be based on incomplete information or historical data rather than understanding and working with the current realities,” he said.
“The opportunity is to connect those data sources and provide leaders with a clearer picture of what’s happening across the school. When data becomes timely, contextual and actionable, it shifts from a reporting exercise to a strategic tool for improving outcomes.”
Where AI actually earns its keep
While the use of AI in schools has become widespread, many leaders remain unsure of where its true value lies. The Federal Government’s ‘Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools’ has sought to guide educators through the responsible and effective use of this technology, but even three years on from the launch of powerful AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft CoPilot, few educators would class themselves as experts in AI.
Joffe said AI delivers the greatest value when it is used to solve real problems and support better decision-making, rather than being adopted simply for its own sake.
“Instead of ‘we should do AI’, it’s about understanding what the technology can enable,” Joffe said. “The schools seeing the greatest impact are embedding AI into existing workflows to help leaders and staff make better decisions faster.”
Joffe said when applied in this way, AI can reduce administrative burden, or uncover patterns across multiple data sources that may otherwise be missed.
“Ultimately, this should give educators more time to focus on teaching, learning and student support.”
Turning insight into action
Joffe said traditionally, school leaders might spend hours reviewing reports from multiple systems to understand what requires attention, but with AI, that information can be brought together into a single summary highlighting key trends, risks and actions to take.
“This can show opportunities for intervention that current ways of looking at data and reports may not bring to the surface, or where datapoints aren’t connected,” he said. “AI may identify declining attendance in a year level, flag wellbeing concerns and suggest areas requiring intervention – all in one place.”
Joffe said that most importantly, it helps prioritise actions.
“Instead of spending time finding information, leaders can focus on responding to it. That’s where the real value lies: moving from insight to action quickly and effectively.”
For Joffe, the lesson for school leaders is not to chase the latest technology or invest in yet another platform. Instead, he believes schools can unlock significant gains by making better use of the information they already have and taking a more strategic approach to how that information is connected and used.
“Most schools already have valuable information available to them, but it isn’t always easy to access or interpret,” he said.
“Leaders don’t need more dashboards, they need greater clarity. So, I would say the one thing they do differently next week is to ask strategic questions of how they use existing information and underline where they can connect key data sources – that can have a significant impact.”
Joffe said the goal isn’t to collect more data, it is to make better decisions with the information already available.
“That’s how schools can improve outcomes while reducing complexity for staff and leaders alike.”