Europe’s education systems are rich in data but poor in insight. Schools, vocational providers and national authorities collect vast amounts of information, yet the systems that hold it are fragmented, inconsistent and rarely able to talk to one another across borders. Where data is compared, it too often reduces educational success to test scores alone, overlooking the factors that shape whether learners genuinely thrive: well-being, inclusion, equity of access and the quality of the learning environment. At the same time, growing and legitimate concerns about privacy, consent and the ethical use of pupil data mean that many schools lack the tools, standards and confidence to use their data well. The result is a persistent gap between the information education systems hold and the fair, evidence-based decisions they could be making.

EDU-WELL responds to this challenge by building an ethical, interoperable infrastructure for collecting and exchanging educational data across Europe’s primary, secondary and vocational systems. Coordinated by KMOP Policy Center and delivered by a consortium of research centres, universities, technology providers, education authorities and training organisations from Belgium, Greece, Austria, Ireland, Türkiye and Cyprus, the project sets out to redefine what educational success means and how it is measured. Its work is grounded in a privacy-by-design, ethics-first approach and is fully aligned with the GDPR and the EU’s guidelines on the ethical use of data and AI.

At the heart of the project is the EDU-WELL Index, a multidimensional model that integrates learning outcomes with indicators of well-being, inclusion, equity, digital access and infrastructure quality, complemented by the EDU-VALUE subindex, which links educational investment to real outcomes. To make the Index work in practice, EDU-WELL develops standardised data models, APIs and consent protocols, and prototypes a data-exchange layer that any school information system can connect to. The approach is deliberately participatory: the project begins by mapping existing data ecosystems and identifying gaps across partner countries, then co-designs its tools and governance framework with school leaders, teachers, data experts and policymakers before piloting them in real educational settings.

Core outcomes and impact

The project delivers:

• ecosystem mapping and gap-analysis reports on educational data practices across the partner countries
• the EDU-WELL Index, a multidimensional model of educational success, together with the investment-linked EDU-VALUE subindex
• an interoperable data-exchange layer with open APIs and standardised data models, enabling secure, GDPR-compliant cross-border data flows
• the EDU-WELL Dashboard, offering harmonised visual analytics and benchmarking for schools, authorities and the wider public
• an ethics-by-design data governance framework, consent protocols and a Governance and Implementation Playbook
• pilot implementations across schools and vocational institutions in several EU contexts, with baseline diagnostics and learning analytics
• an EU Policy Roadmap, evidence-based policy briefs and an advocacy and communications toolkit
• stakeholder engagement resources and multilingual onboarding and consent materials to support wide, inclusive adoption

Together, these outputs translate into tangible change across education systems. School leaders gain real-time dashboards to support data-informed decisions; teachers build their data literacy through practical tools and training in ethical data use; policymakers receive harmonised, policy-relevant evidence aligned with EU equity goals; and data authorities acquire ready-to-use, GDPR-compliant governance frameworks. Ultimately, students and vocational trainees benefit from safer, more inclusive learning environments in which they can flourish both academically and emotionally, while the project’s open standards give EdTech developers a foundation to build interoperable, privacy-respecting tools.

Who benefits

The primary beneficiaries are school leaders, teachers, education authorities and policymakers, who gain the tools and evidence to make fairer, better-informed decisions, alongside the data authorities responsible for ethical, compliant data governance. At institutional level, participating schools and vocational education providers pilot the infrastructure and embed it in their day-to-day practice. Learners benefit indirectly through more inclusive, well-being-focused learning environments. Beyond the consortium, EdTech developers, civil society and advocacy groups, and EU-level data and education initiatives can draw on EDU-WELL’s open APIs, standards and equity data to extend its impact across Europe.