Exploring Teachers’ Data Literacy in Compulsory Education: Dimensions, Self-Reported Professional Enactment, and Cross-National Variation in Five European Countries

This study examined teacher Data Literacy (DL) across compulsory education in Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Poland, and Portugal. Teacher DL was conceptualized as a multidimensional professional competence involving the critical, ethical, and responsible use of educational data. A cross-sectional survey of 545 in-service teachers examined DL conceptualizations, within-block dimensionality, cross-country variation, and associations with professional enactment and future data-use intention. Descriptive and non-parametric analyses were combined with exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression. Separate block-level analyses supported internally coherent observed-score indices without establishing discriminant validity across blocks. Cross-national differences were clearest in self-reported professional enactment. The final model explained 59.9% of enactment variance, with perceived DL capacity showing the strongest association (β = 0.401, p < 0.001). The future-intention model explained 42.1% of variance, with professional-development orientation (β = 0.403, p < 0.001) and positive attitudes (β = 0.197, p < 0.001) strongest. Findings remain exploratory and sample-specific.