Exploring how evidence can support school improvement
Over three days, the delegation met with INDIRE researchers, school leaders and teachers to better understand how evidence can support school improvement and policymaking. Rather than focusing solely on the technologies used in schools, discussions explored how monitoring can help schools reflect on their own practices, identify priorities for development and make more informed decisions over time.
REFLEX: turning monitoring into reflection and dialogue
A central focus of the visit was REFLEX, INDIRE's self-reflection and monitoring tool. Unlike evaluation systems designed to compare or rank schools, REFLEX offers school communities a simple and timely way to receive meaningful feedback on different aspects of innovation, from leadership and teaching practices to professional development, collaboration and well-being.
By combining data with collective reflection, the tool helps schools identify strengths, open dialogue around different perspectives and use this feedback as a practical basis for improvement. Aggregated results can also help researchers and policymakers better understand how innovation is developing across schools. An important feature of the approach is that differences between the perspectives of school leadership and teachers are not treated as problems, but as useful evidence for discussion about how deeply innovation has become embedded in everyday school practice.
Learning directly from schools
The programme also provided the opportunity to hear directly from schools involved in the REFLEX pilot. Through presentations and discussions, participants explored how monitoring is embedded in everyday school life and how it supports strategic planning, collaboration and continuous improvement.
Several schools emphasised that the greatest value of REFLEX lies not in the data alone, but in the conversations it creates among school leaders and teachers, turning feedback into an opportunity for reflection, dialogue and improvement.
Connecting the Italian experience to the Greek context
Beyond presenting the Italian approach, the study visit encouraged participants to reflect on what could be adapted to the Greek context. Discussions covered topics such as school leadership, teacher professional development, innovation ecosystems and the use of evidence to guide decision-making.
A recurring message throughout the visit was that digital transformation cannot be measured through infrastructure or technology alone. Understanding how schools adopt new practices, collaborate and use evidence is equally important when assessing the long-term impact of digital education investments.
Next steps for SMART SCHOOLS Greece
The visit marks an important step in the SMART SCHOOLS Greece project as work continues on the development of the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and its accompanying implementation guidelines. The lessons shared in Florence will help ensure that the framework reflects both international experience and the specific needs of the Greek education system, supporting an approach that is useful, trusted and closely connected to schools’ everyday realities.
Learn more
Want to learn more about the SMART SCHOOLS Greece project? Visit the project's About page to discover its objectives, expected outcomes and how it is supporting more evidence-informed digital education investments in Greece. You can also explore the Scoping Report and Inception Report for a deeper understanding of the project's approach and the work carried out so far.
