Eye-tracking software to test children’s reading ability has been trialled in schools to identify pupils needing extra support – and even eye tests.
Two academy trusts have piloted the software, developed by Swedish company Tobii. It uses sensors to measure eye movement using cameras mounted on laptop screens.
But privacy campaigners have raised concerns about how children’s data may be used if passed on to third-party companies.
Schools taking part in the trials were able to track pupils’ reading ability, including attention deficits, whether they were skipping lines, “fluency blocks” and whether they had differences in silent and aloud reading speeds.
They used the software alongside Lexplore, a Swedish reading development service.
The data captured was inputted into AI software askKira. Its website states that it “identifies student learning challenges and delivers real-time, personalised interventions”.
‘Properly amazed’ by results
Create Partnership Trust, which has four primary schools in the West Midlands, ran the exercise with 265 pupils. All parents were made aware of the study and consented, the trust said.
The trial identified 81 children with fluency block issues – where a child can decode words but has difficulty reading fluently – and 66 with differences in silent-verses-aloud reading speeds. It also helped identify 19 children who needed eye tests.
Mark Unwin, the trust’s CEO, said he was “properly amazed” by the results, and added: “I have been impressed by how we can help our children improve their reading ability and score.”
St Bart’s Multi Academy Trust tested the reading ability of children in 20 of its schools.
It found that of 876 pupils who participated in Lexplore baseline testing, 226 had below-average or worse reading ability.
Eva Cerioni, the trust’s school improvement officer, said the software and its use in the classroom “is beneficial for teachers as it further enhances their ability to identify specific areas for development to improve pupils’ reading skills.
“It’s a great technology that can help our children develop confidence and ability in their reading.”
Data privacy concerns
However, Jen Persson, director at privacy pressure group Defend Digital Me, raised concerns about askKira’s data policy.
It states that “aggregated and anonymised data may be shared with industry leaders, policymakers and educational institutions to drive informed decision-making within the education sector”.
The privacy policy previously stated that data “may be sold to” industry leaders, but was changed when Schools Week approached the organisation for comment.
It also has an opt-in which “allows us to process anonymised usage and behavioural analytics data for the purpose of generating insight and intelligence reports”.
Persson said behavioural analytics “likely goes beyond what parents believe they are ‘consenting’ to”.
“How can any company know if it is [GDPR] compliant or not?” she added. “Such policies can use lots of words around compliance but in essence we are looking for data processing beyond what parents and children have been told, or would reasonably expect.”
Persson also questioned how the software dealt with neurodivergent children “whose eyes or attention span are perfectly healthy but statistically outside the ‘norm’?”
Privacy of pupil data ‘our highest concern’
An askKira spokesperson confirmed aggregated and anonymised data may be shared “solely to support informed decision-making within the education sector, but that is it.”
Unwin, who was one of the leaders who developed askKira, said: “The privacy of our pupils’ data and their safety are our highest concerns. Our AI policy as a trust, which we are happy to share with other trusts and schools, is underpinned by a set of guiding principles.”
The policy states that “no student within the trust will interact directly with AI assistants or chatbots”.
And he added that “the fact that askKira was developed by individuals, schools and trusts currently working in the profession, along with the controls and transparency around data usage, gives us the confidence to innovate within the guiding principles of the policy.”
A spokesperson for Lexplore said: “Based on the GDPR legislation Lexplore has been assessed and approved by many schools and municipalities over the years.
“We had the opportunity to design Lexplore with this regulation in mind from the start and we perform continuous risk assessments, and we assist schools to do the same when needed.
“By adhering to GDPR and now the new [EU] AI Act we feel confident that we live up to the expectations in how to protect the privacy of our pupils.”
A spokesperson for Tobii said: “We are proud that our eye tracking technology can play a part in helping children with their reading development.
“We are very excited to see more and more companies bring these learnings into products that can really make a difference in the world.”
