Why the DfE’s MIS Reform Matters for Schools and Trusts

MIS Reform from the Department for Education

The Department for Education’s recent announcement of a new national framework for Management Information Systems (MIS) feels like a significant moment for school technology.

On the surface, it may look like a simple change to how schools and trusts procure their MIS, but I think the implications go much further. With greater emphasis on interoperability, data portability and more connected systems, it raises important questions about how schools access information, use it and turn it into meaningful action for pupils. These changes may also be signalling a broader shift in how school technology will evolve in the coming years. 

A Significant Moment for Education Technology

Over the last decade or so, schools have invested in an increasing number of digital systems to support attendance, assessment, safeguarding, behaviour, parental engagement and wider school improvement. Many of those systems do provide real value in their own right... but what we sometimes overlook is that the Management Information System sits at the centre of almost all of this. 

It’s the operational heart of the school, with attendance, safeguarding, SEND provision, assessment, parental communication and statutory reporting all relying on information flowing into, out of, or alongside the MIS.

The challenge though is that these systems don’t always connect as effectively as schools need them to.

What stood out to me in the DfE’s announcement, which sounds technical but  in practice for schools is very real, was the emphasis on interoperability, open standards and data portability.  

Now, taken together, this points towards a future where schools are going to have greater control over their information, and can move more easily between suppliers, becoming less dependent on individual systems holding data in proprietary formats.

Schools should be able to access their information more easily, move data between systems without unnecessary barriers and build a fuller understanding of pupils’ experiences without relying on time-consuming manual processes.  

When school leaders are making decisions, they rarely need information from a single source. Understanding attendance may require safeguarding context. Understanding attainment may mean looking at SEND information, behaviour patterns or pastoral insight. Understanding wellbeing often depends on information gathered across different systems, teams and conversations.

The more easily those strands of information can be brought together, the more confidently leaders can act. Having spent years leading schools myself, I very much welcome it because I know from experience that the most effective technology helps schools use information much more intelligently: helping schools spend less time gathering information and more time acting on it.

Interoperability probably isn’t a word that appears very often in school improvement plans, but it’s about to.

For schools, can their different systems exchange information effectively and work together more seamlessly?  

This is going to matter because the DfE seem to be recognising that no single system contains the complete picture of a pupil’s experience: attendance, assessment, safeguarding, behaviour, SEND provision, wellbeing and parental engagement all contribute valuable insights, and prompt leaders to ask questions like:

• Why has attendance changed?

• Is there a safeguarding concern?

• Is SEND support having the intended impact?

• Are behaviour and engagement patterns connected? 

Answering those questions depends on information being connected, not just collected.

That’s why the DfE’s MIS procurement and Data Spine announcement feels significant. It recognises that the future of school technology depends on systems becoming better connected, not simply more powerful in isolation.

It also feels particularly timely. Earlier this year, the Schools White Paper placed significant emphasis on inclusion, attendance, belonging, collaboration and earlier intervention. Delivering those ambitions will depend on people and processes, of course, but it will also depend on schools being able to access and understand information more effectively.

Viewed through that lens then, the MIS framework feels like one of the first practical steps towards enabling some of the wider ambitions set out in February’s Every Child Achieving and Thriving. This is some of the detail that we’ve been looking out for ever since the Schools White Paper reveal.

Then there’s data portability – schools invest huge amounts of time building up pupil records, safeguarding histories, attendance information and wider operational knowledge, and they should be able to move between systems without unnecessary barriers or concerns about losing access to important information.

When schools retain genuine ownership of their data, technology suppliers are encouraged to compete on the quality of their services, support and innovation rather than on how difficult it is to leave. Ultimately, that creates a healthier environment for schools and trusts as they make decisions about the technology they use. 

Where the Problem Starts

These days, schools have access to more data than ever before and each piece of information tells us something about how pupils are experiencing school and what kind of support they might need. When I speak to school leaders, they very rarely say they don’t have enough information. In fact, it’s usually the opposite.  

The challenge they talk about – and I know this from having done the job myself – is that the information they need is often spread across different systems, platforms and reports. The result is that leaders can spend far too much time gathering evidence before they can actually do anything useful with it.

For me, the question isn’t whether schools need evidence. Of course they do. The real question is whether the evidence they’ve got is organised in a way that genuinely helps them make better decisions and drive improvement. 

When Evidence Becomes Fragmented

I can remember preparing for dozens of meetings, knowing the information I needed was somewhere, but there was always difficulty in bringing it all together. That usually meant multiple logins, different reports and a fair bit of patience before you could get to the point where you actually understood what was happening.

Attendance data, assessment information, safeguarding records and behaviour notes often sat in different places. Each system had value because each one helped us understand something important about a pupil and their circumstances, but the process of bringing it all together was time-consuming in a profession where time was already in short supply.

That may sound like a technical issue, but in schools it becomes a very practical one. When information is fragmented, workload increases and decision-making slows down. Staff spend time piecing together information that already exists somewhere in the system, while leaders find it harder to spot patterns and respond quickly when pupils need support.

That’s one reason why the DfE’s recent focus on interoperability feels so important.

Turning information into practical insight:  that’s the real value of evidence, and it lies in what it helps leaders understand at the point they need to act.

Schools are constantly asking practical questions about pupils, progress and support, such as:

• Which pupils may be beginning to disengage?

• Are attendance, behaviour and wellbeing patterns connected?

• Are our interventions making a measurable difference?

A question I have always found helpful in these situations is very simple: “What decision will this information help us make?”

When information is connected and presented clearly, leaders can spend less time assembling reports and more time discussing what the evidence actually means. That distinction really matters because evidence isn’t useful just because it exists – it’s useful because it helps the people in our schools to make better decisions.

Why Context Matters 

Of course, evidence rarely tells the whole story by itself.

A pattern in attendance may raise an important question, but it won’t always explain what’s happening in a pupil’s life. A dip in attainment may suggest that something has changed, and behaviour records may point to a concern, but all of this needs to be understood alongside the deep contextual knowledge of teachers, pastoral teams and families.

That’s why I don’t believe evidence should ever replace professional judgement... it should strengthen it.

Data that reduces pupils to numbers, or turns school leadership into a dashboard exercise, just isn’t good enough. Information and systems need to join up so that teachers and leaders can see what might otherwise remain hidden, enabling them to deploy their expertise more effectively and earlier.

Designing Systems that Support Better Decisions

For school leaders, the implications of the new MIS framework go well beyond technology. For me, this is about workload, decision-making, school improvement and, ultimately, how effectively we can support our children and young people.

The most effective leaders are constantly making decisions: where support is needed, which interventions are working, which pupils may be at risk of disengaging and where resources should be focused. Those decisions become easier when information is connected, contextualised and available at the point it is needed.

When systems allow different strands of information to be viewed together, leaders can begin to see connections that might otherwise remain hidden. That doesn’t mean schools need more data. In many cases, they already have more than enough. What they need is information that’s easier to access, easier to interpret and easier to act upon.

This is where technology can either help or hinder. If digital systems simply create more places to look, more reports to produce or more processes to manage, they risk adding to the workload they were meant to reduce.

But when systems are designed around how schools actually work, they can make evidence far more practical. They can help leaders move more quickly from “What is happening?” to “What should we do next?”

Evidence as a Tool for Improvement

Schools have always relied on evidence. Long before digital systems existed, teachers were making careful observations, reviewing pupils’ work, reflecting on progress and using their professional judgement to decide what children needed next.

What’s changed is the scale and complexity of the information schools now have available.

That brings opportunity, but it also brings responsibility. As a sector, we need to make sure evidence supports thoughtful decision-making rather than creating additional administrative burden. More information doesn’t automatically lead to better decisions... better-connected, better-organised and better-understood information does.

At Juniper Education, this principle sits at the heart of how we think about school technology. We’ve long believed that schools benefit when systems work together, when information can move securely between platforms and when leaders can access a fuller picture of pupil experience without unnecessary complexity.

It's also one of the reasons we developed JoinUp.  

The idea behind JoinUp is simple: schools shouldn't have to spend their time moving between disconnected systems to understand what's happening.

By bringing information together more effectively, we can help leaders focus less on finding information and more on acting upon it.

That’s one reason why the direction outlined in the DfE’s recent MIS announcement is so encouraging. Greater interoperability has the potential to reduce workload, improve access to information and give schools greater flexibility in how they use technology... which aligns with everything we are currently doing at Juniper Education.

We believe that when evidence is connected clearly and presented in ways that reflect the realities of school life, leaders can focus their attention on the questions that matter most:

• Which pupils need support right now?

• Which approaches are making the biggest difference?

• Where are patterns beginning to emerge across pupils or cohorts?

• How can our school continue improving outcomes for every single child?

If the proposed framework achieves what the DfE intends, schools will hopefully find themselves spending much less time moving information between systems, and far more time using that information to improve outcomes for pupils.

The real value of interoperability lies in helping schools understand what is happening more clearly and act more confidently. It also gives schools greater control over their information and greater flexibility in how they use technology.

For me, that’s the real opportunity presented by the DfE’s reforms.  

If schools can access better-connected information, use it more intelligently and build a fuller picture of each pupil more quickly, they can focus their time and energy where it matters most: improving outcomes for the children and young people in their care.