Surveillance Capitalism in the Classroom: Ethical Implications of EdTech Data Harvesting in European Primary Education

This article investigates the encroachment of surveillance capitalism into European primary education through an empirical examination of data harvesting practices embedded within widely deployed Educational Technology (EdTech) applications. Drawing on Shoshana Zuboff's theoretical framework of surveillance capitalism alongside critical media and platform scholarship, we analyze how corporate digital platforms extract, transform, and commodify student behavioral data under the umbrella of pedagogical innovation. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach that combines network traffic auditing of 15 commercial EdTech platforms with qualitative semi-structured interviews of 42 primary school educators and Data Protection Officers across five European Union member states, this study identifies widespread privacy vulnerabilities and regulatory compliance gaps. The technical audits reveal that 80% of audited applications integrate third-party commercial trackers, transmitting telemetry, device identifiers, and behavioral engagement metrics to external advertising networks and data brokers. Qualitative findings highlight systemic institutional friction, where resource-constrained schools face coercive platform dynamics and inadequate guidance, rendering the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) largely performative in classroom settings. The article concludes by discussing the ethical implications of normalizing continuous childhood surveillance and outlines actionable policy interventions for public digital infrastructure in European education.