Headteachers, which of your many hats did you wear today? Carer, mediator, janitor… what about data scientist?
From attainment tracking to attendance, school leaders spend a lot of their time with their data scientist hat on.
How confident do you feel when you have your “data scientist” hat on? Even the most confident data analysts can feel overwhelmed by a screen of numbers when all you really want is an answer.
There are a few hints to help you.
The first one is to think what do you expect the answer to be and why? If it is higher/lower than expected it to be then why could it like this. Then, most importantly, what action do you need to take?
The second is “so what?”. It might sound odd for a data scientist to say this, but do you really need to spend time on the number you are trying to calculate. If the number is up or down, will you take any different action based on it? If the answer is no, is there some other task you could be spending your time on. (My guess is there is always something!)
For me, data analysis should make your life easier and save you time. If its not doing that, I can help you. This could be through bespoke or existing Excel tools or 1:1 training to improve your confidence.
If you have any questions around improving your data confidence, please get in touch.
East Neuk Analytics 