A Study on the Ethics of Student Management System from the Perspective of Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

Student management systems have become pervasive instruments of governance inside contemporary schooling. This study interrogates the ethics of such systems through the lens of critical pedagogy. The inquiry adopts a systematic literature review guided by the PRISMA protocol. Thirty six records were identified through database searching and six through other sources. Four sources met the inclusion threshold and these comprise two documented case studies and two peer reviewed articles. The corpus is read through a Foucauldian and critical theoretical apparatus. Three analytical foci organise the synthesis. The first focus examines hegemonic surveillance and algorithmic governance. The second focus examines critical consciousness and dialogic praxis against digital panopticism. The third focus examines the dialectical tensions and reciprocal causality among dataveillance and emancipatory agency and technocratic dehumanisation. The evidence shows that systems introduced for safety migrate quickly toward discipline and metricisation. The same systems also generate residues of refusal and counterconduct. The study argues that the ethical horizon of student management lies in the restoration of dialogue and the cultivation of critical consciousness. The findings carry implications for educational policy and for the humane design of educational technology.