The national report on education periodically presents a major empirical review which covers the entire German education system.
Published every two years, each national report provides indicator-based information about the general conditions, features, results and output of education processes. The reports analyse the entire structure of the education system from early childhood education and school education to vocational training, higher education and adult education.
As a data-based, problem-centred analysis the reports do not include assessments and recommendations. What is special about these reports is that they are mainly based on selected indicators, i. e. statistical parameters, each representing a central feature of education processes or a central aspect of education quality. These indicators are derived from official data and representative socio-scientific assessments and wherever possible, they are compared as regards developments over the past years and decades, broken down by the federal states (Länder) and compared internationally. However, this claim to quality and explanatory power of the data also renders evident the limits of the educational report. It can only take into account current problems in the development of education to the extent that reliable data have been ascertained. The core set of indicators remains the same in each report, hence a comparison of developments is guaranteed while the accentuation differs. Educational reporting receives its specific informative power from this consistency. Moreover, each volume includes further indicators for additional subject areas.
The project pursues the following research questions:
- What transfer strategies do the individual projects in the funding line ‘Language Education in the Immigration Society: Developing Individual Potential and Shaping Transitions’ pursue?
- How can the individual projects be systematically located within a common body of research on language education?
- To what extent is the phenomenon of multilingualism taken into account in research?
- How can research findings be successfully transferred into educational practice?
- What role does the evaluation of evidence, relevance and usefulness by practitioners play in the successful transfer of knowledge when implementing empirically proven concepts?
The aim of the meta-project ‘Language Education in the Immigration Society’ is to place the research questions, strategies and findings of the funded individual projects and their contributions to the further development of educational practice in a larger scientific and social context. To this end, the meta-project accompanies the individual projects and also works on independent research questions. On the one hand, the state of research on language education in the immigration society is systematically communicated to the funded individual projects through research syntheses and expert opinions and introduced into the scientific discourse. On the other hand, concepts and findings from transfer and implementation research are used to investigate the personal, organisational and institutional conditions under which the funded projects succeed in putting research knowledge and innovative concepts into practice and thus fulfilling the transfer and implementation promise of language-related educational research.
The meta project also contributes to knowledge and technology transfer through its own transfer and communication activities and by supporting the funded projects.
The core of the project is a large panel survey, the ‘Corona und Du’ (CoDu) study. This investigates the educational attainment of socially disadvantaged children and young people and ways of coping with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to regular surveys of children of different age groups and their parents, two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are being used to investigate a) how the provision of free e-book readers for children affects their reading behaviour and reading performance and b) whether online tutoring for young people from SGB II families is a suitable instrument to compensate for possible inequalities in the Covid-19-related educational gaps.
The joint project Domain Data Protocols for Empirical Educational Research in Germany (DDP-Education) is concerned with the development of standardised data protocols to ensure data quality and the subsequent use of research data. The aim is to create publicly accessible and referenceable model protocols for research data management in empirical educational research. Domain data protocols describe all relevant aspects of research data management with regard to data quality, preparation and documentation as well as the handling of legal requirements – in concrete terms and in relation to the specific data type or the specific data collection method. The sample protocols support researchers in generating quality-assured and reusable research data that fulfils current requirements in terms of reproducibility, FAIRness and open science. In addition, the model protocols help to make the process of applying for funding and the associated review and monitoring processes more efficient.
The meta-project (Digi-EBF II) is part of the Empirical Educational Research framework programme and the BMBF research focus ‘Digitalisation in Education’. It pursues the overarching goals of advancing research on education and digitalisation, making it visible and shaping it in collaboration with practitioners.
Coordinated by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), the project brings together the UDE, DIPF, DIE and IWM. The network sees itself as a service provider for the projects funded by the research centre, whose services are based on research findings that have already been obtained (Digi-EBF I) and are currently being collected (Digi-EBF II).
In Digi-EBF II, measures and practices of co-construction are identified, programmes are created to enable and shape transfer and own research is conducted to develop the challenges and potentials of co-construction and transfer in education. In the sense of design-oriented educational research, approaches to cooperation with the funded projects are reflected upon and discussed in reflection meetings and dialogue formats with educational practice and bridging actors and introduced into a broader discourse. The meta-project networks the funded projects with each other and within the research community on content-related, methodological and transfer-related topics. The state of research on practice-relevant issues relating to education and digitalisation is compiled in research syntheses, prepared in a practice-oriented manner and disseminated via appropriate channels. Accompanying these activities, various formats of knowledge transfer (dialogue formats, knowledge products and online portals) are researched and used.
The project investigates how the fundamental possibilities of digital learning contexts can be realised in a real school context.
AI-based adaptive, interactive systems enable a genuine improvement in learning through customised support. However, there has been little discussion to date about how individualised digital support can be meaningfully integrated into school lessons.
The project offers both the necessary technical expansion and systematic further training on digitally supported teaching and learning in English. As part of the project, the school-proven, AI-based tutor system Feedbook will be expanded to include an interface for teachers. This is intended to process the diverse information on the learning processes and individual competences of the pupils in a class in such a way that teachers receive the information they need to design lessons in a way that promotes learning in a short space of time.
Further training for teachers supports both the concrete use of such an interface in school practice and the learning psychology and methodological-didactic principles required for independent interpretation.
The goal of the DiFA project is to combine methodological perspectives from the fields of psychometrics and learning analytics to support learners through automated feedback. Using digital trace data in online courses, DiFA will develop new forms of non-invasive measurement (so-called “stealth assessment”) and explore the possibilities of automated feedback that supports learning. The research results are significant for a better understanding of learning behavior and outcomes, as well as for the automated provision of individualized feedback to learners in digital environments.
Data will be collected from a specially developed online course for student teachers on digital literacy. Based on the data obtained from the course, automated learning support feedback will be developed in the pilot phase of the research project. The evaluation phase will then examine whether the feedback has a positive effect on students’ learning progress.
In the previous project MultiTEX, a computer-based test was developed to assess students’ competence in understanding multiple documents (Multiple Document Comprehension, MDC).
In the MultiTEX Transfer project, the test will be made available to students of the humanities and social sciences in the introductory phase of their studies. The research question is which conditions have to be fulfilled in order to support a sustainable use of the MDC ability of students in the course of the first semester.
In a two-stage approach, the MDC test is first provided with accompanying introductory courses so that students can check their own MDC skills and identify and work on any deficits.
Researchers then identify conditions for the optimal use of the MDC test as a diagnostic, feedback, and support tool.
Finally, they develop a concept for the sustainable use of the test for students, teachers and student advisors.
The aim of Multi-DES is to investigate systematic design parameters and assessment measures of intervention studies in education in the multi-level context of the German school system. The research results are intended to contribute to the evidence base in education.
For the first time, design parameters and assessment measures are examined in a multi-level context in the german school system.
This is done in four studies based on representative data from three longitudinal large-scale assessment studies conducted in Germany: The National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), the national extension of the international PISA 2003 study (PISA-I+), and the DESI study (Assessment of Student Achievements in German and English as a Foreign Language).
- Study 1 examines design parameters for cluster-randomized studies for the general student population and for different school types.
- Study 2 analyzes the extent to which different covariates improve the statistical power and estimation accuracy of cluster-randomized studies.
- Study 3 examines average skill growth as an assessment measure of effect sizes for the general student population and separately by school type.
- Study 4 looks at differences in competency between low-performing and average schools as an assessment measure.
The aim of the project “VideT: Communicating the research process – a video-based transfer tool for students” is to clarify the influence of various parameters on the understanding of research processes and scientific findings, on attitudes and on the credibility of science and researchers. In order to achieve the project goals, this interdisciplinary joint project combines competencies from the natural and social sciences as well as from educational research. The aim of the joint project is to develop a video-based transfer instrument for communicating empirical scientific research processes and to test it prototypically in school laboratories with schoolchildren. In addition to testing the instrument in schools and student laboratories, the accompanying scientific research will analyze parameters that condition and influence the success of the transfer. The topic of the videos is the research of the Leibniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) on the ecology of bats and the effects of human activities on these animals.
