Data Governance in Practice
As part of the EEA Data Privacy and Protection Working Group, we launched a new webinar series exploring global initiatives that are reshaping how data governance is practised — not only by regulators, but by the EdTech industry itself. This month, we were joined by Mariana Rozo-Paz from Datasphere Initiative and Ayça Atabey from University of Edinburgh (RAD Lab / Digital Futures for Children). Together, they offered practical insights highly relevant for EdTech providers navigating an increasingly demanding regulatory landscape.
Ayça Atabey presented findings from a child-rights audit of generative AI EdTech tools, examining the gap between company claims and operational realities when tools are assessed against children’s rights standards. For industry representatives, the key takeaway was clear: transparency, explainability and child safeguards must be demonstrable in practice — not only stated in policy documents. Independent audit methodologies are emerging as an important mechanism for building credibility, particularly as scrutiny around AI-enabled tools intensifies across Europe.
Mariana Rozo-Paz shared lessons from the Youth4Data Lab toolkit, demonstrating how structured youth participation can inform stronger, more legitimate data practices. She also highlighted the growing importance of regulatory and innovation sandboxes — structured environments where companies, regulators and other stakeholders can test AI systems and governance approaches collaboratively. With the EU AI Act requiring Member States to establish AI regulatory sandboxes, these mechanisms will become a central feature of the European compliance ecosystem. For EdTech companies, this signals both an obligation and an opportunity: sandboxes can serve not only as compliance pathways, but as strategic spaces to refine products, strengthen safeguards, and build trust before scaling.
Overall, the session underscored that the future of data governance in EdTech will be shaped not only by regulation, but by how proactively the sector engages with participatory tools, audit mechanisms, and sandbox environments to demonstrate responsible innovation.
