Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi)

The Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in Bamberg investigates educational processes from birth through to advanced adulthood. In order to promote longitudinal educational research in Germany, LIfBi provides fundamental, research-based infrastructures of supra-regional and international relevance for empirical educational research.

At the core of the institute is Germany’s largest long-term educational study, the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), which is based at LIfBi and brings together the expertise of a nationwide, interdisciplinary network of excellence. Further large-scale projects for which LIfBi collects and/or provides longitudinal data include, in addition to the refugee studies ReGES and BildungswegeFlucht, the inclusion study INSIDE as well as the monitoring study Data Literacy. These activities are grounded in the institute’s own research and development work, in particular in the well-established development of instruments and methods for longitudinal educational studies, from which other research projects also benefit.

Important work and services:

Through the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), longitudinal data representative of Germany are collected on competence development, educational processes, educational decisions, and educational returns in formal, non-formal, and informal contexts across the entire life course. A total of more than 70,000 participants are followed in seven starting cohorts—from early childhood to advanced adulthood. In addition, around 50,000 individuals from participants’ social environments, such as parents and educational professionals, are surveyed.

The Research Data Center of LIfBi (FDZ-LIfBi) prepares the survey data from LIfBi’s large-scale projects in a user-friendly manner and provides them free of charge as Scientific Use Files for academic analysis. The data offering includes the extensive NEPS datasets, complemented by specialized NEPS data products, the longitudinal data from the refugee study ReGES, the TAEPS study on instructors in adult and continuing education, the GUS study on students’ health behavior, as well as other unique datasets, such as the regional study BiLO. The full range of LIfBi research data and related services is available via the FDZ-LIfBi data and service portal.

The DFG Priority Programme “New Data Spaces for the Social Sciences” (SPP 2431) aims to research and develop technical and methodological solutions to ensure the future viability of panel surveys, to enrich them with data from other sources, and thereby to further pave the way for social science research addressing key societal challenges. “New Data Spaces” is coordinated and managed by the overarching project CONNECT, which is based at LIfBi. SPP 2431 also includes a “Research Infrastructure and Innovation Lab” (ENTAILab), comprising four measures. Measure 4, “Results for Future Data Spaces and Open Science,” as well as two projects within the Priority Programme, are also based at LIfBi.

IWM | Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien

Digital media are playing an increasingly important role in daily life. People nowadays readily use computers, Internet and mobile technologies at school, at work or in their leisure time. At the same time the information environments are becoming more and more complex. With this in mind, the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM) in Tübingen investigates how digital media affects knowledge and communication processes and how they can be used in order to optimize these processes. The psychological basic and application oriented research of IWM’s scientists focuses mainly on these fields of practice:

Knowledge processes in formal learning settings
Teaching and learning with digital media in schools
Teaching and learning with digital media in universities
Knowledge processes in informal learning settings, e.g. museums, memorials, portals, archives
Knowledge processes in everyday media use

Together with cooperation partners from practice the IWM jointly realizes pilot projects for testing new learning scenarios. One example is the information portal e-teaching.org (in German only) for the application of digital media in university teaching. In the field of practice school the IWM has established a digital teaching lab TüDiLab (in German), where media based teaching processes can be analyzed. The research done at the IWM thus results in essential knowledge for scientific progress and gives answers to important societal questions. Additionally in 2023, the IWM opened a Future Innovation Space (FIS) (in German) where future digital possibilities for schools can be explored and experimented with. It consists of three components – alongside the TüDiLab, there is a Mixed Reality Lab and a Multi-Touch Lab.

Important work and offers:

The LEAD („Learning, Educational Achievement, and Life Course Development“) Graduate School & Research Network offers an integrated research and training program for doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers willing to do research in the fields of learning, educational achievement, and life course development. The IWM is actively involved in the supervision of PhD students in the LEAD program. Furthermore, several IWM lab heads are members of the steering committee of LEAD.
The Tübingen School of Education (TüSE) structures, pools and organizes the research of teacher education in Tübingen. It actively promotes new research activities and connects existing expertise. The IWM works closely together with TüSE and jointly created a new junior professorship for Teaching and Learning with Digital Media in cooperation with the University of Tübingen. Also associated with TüSE is the Tübingen Digital Teaching Lab (TüDiLab – in German), which is located at the IWM. The TüDiLab simulates a classroom equipped with up-to-date digital media and data collection instruments. The project has two aims: (1) practice-oriented professionalization of teachers related to their media competence in the context of the Tübingen School of Education, and (2) research on the effects of teaching with digital media.
Digitization in Teacher Education (TüDiLB) Center for Research and Transfer is a virtual network of the IWM and the University of Tübingen that bundles research and transfer activities in the field of digitization in teacher education in Tübingen. In addition, the network prepares and presents the latest research results on teaching and learning with digital media for teachers and other stakeholders involved in the various phases of teacher education.

Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB)

The associated partner “Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB)” is a research institute that supports the federal states of Germany in developing and monitoring the quality of primary and secondary education. As an academic institution of the German states, the IQB is an associated institute of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The educational standards, which have been introduced by the Standing Conference of the Ministries of Education and Cultural Affairs of the federal states of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz, KMK), form the basis of their work. These educational standards describe competencies students are expected to have developed at a certain point in their school career. The mission of the IQB is to monitor regularly to which degree these goals are met by schools in Germany (educational monitoring). Furthermore, the IQB supports the German states in implementing the educational standards, which are expected to serve as a central orienting framework for all actors in the educational system (implementation). In addition, the IQB is a research institute that conducts research projects in several areas of empirical educational research.

Important work and services:

Educational Monitoring and Implementation:

Under the auspices of the IQB, experienced teachers develop large collections of test items designed to measure competencies aligned with the educational standards.
The IQB develops proficiency level models as tools for interpreting test scores. These models provide a more concrete description of what students with a given test score are able to do.
The IQB conducts National Assessment Studies (Ländervergleiche) in order to determine the extent to which educational standards are being met in the 16 German federal states.
The IQB coordinates the development of items for state-wide comparison tests. These tests provide teachers with information on the strengths and weaknesses of their students with regard to the educational standards and are expected to promote the implementation of competence-oriented teaching.
In collaboration with experts in subject-matter education, the IQB publishes collections of annotated learning tasks which teachers may use in class.
The IQB coordinates the development of a pool of Abitur examination questions based on the educational standards.

Research – Some of the central research questions are:

How are students’ competencies structured and how can they be assessed?
Which factors influence educational success of children and adolescents?
How can methodological and statistical requirements of educational testing and large-scale assessments best be met?
Language skills are vital for school success. How can their development be measured and promoted?
To what extent and under which circumstances do teachers successfully adopt competence-oriented teaching methods?

Research Data Centre:

The Research Data Centre (FDZ) at IQB archives and documents data sets from national and international large-scale assessment studies and makes them accessible to researchers.

IPN – Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education

The IPN – Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education was established in 1966 as a research center for science education. It is affiliated with Kiel University. The department heads at the IPN hold professorships at Kiel University, one department head holds a professorship at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

The institute’s mission is to advance science and mathematics education through its research. Recently, it has also incorporated computer science education into its agenda. The institute’s research covers a full range of issues related to teaching and learning these subjects both in and outside of schools. The institute comprises seven academic departments: Educational Research and Educational Psychology, Educational Measurement and Data Science, Subject-Related Knowledge Transfer, Biology Education, Chemistry Education, Mathematics Education, Physics Education, and a Computer Science Education Research Group. The IPN employs more than 200 people, around 140 of whom are scientists, including 50 doctoral students.

The IPN conducts long-term and nationwide research and transfer projects, which cannot be carried out by universities.

The IPN’s research program focuses on the following areas:

Domain-Specific Learning in Preschools and Schools
Professional Competence and Learning of Teachers
Science Communication and Extracurricular Learning
Methodological Research and Machine Learning

The IPN’s transfer activities comprise various formats such as coordinating national and international student competitions in biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental issues, programs for teacher (educators) education, and publications for teachers and the general public.nd publications on science and mathematics education addressing teachers and scientists.

Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology (HIB)

The Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology (HIB) is a research institute within the University of Tübingen. The institute focuses on individual, social and institutional determinants of learning and teaching processes. It takes an inter-disciplinary approach drawing from psychology, educational science and other disciplines. The Hector Research Institute is mainly funded by the Hector Foundation II. In addition, the state Baden-Württermberg funds the Tübingen Postdoctoral Academy for Research on Education (PACE).

Research at the institute can be grouped into the following six focus areas: (1) Educational Effectiveness, (2) Motivation, (3) Personality, (4) Potential Development and Giftedness, (5) Teaching Quality and Professional Competencies of Teachers as well as (6) Methodological Research. The institute played a leading role in the establishment of the LEAD Graduate School (Learning, Eduational Achievement and Life Course Development) which was funded by the Excellence Initiative via the German Research Foundation and has since developed into a flourishing research network.

Important work and services:

The Hector Research Institute is responsible for the multi-cohort longitudinal studies TOSCA, which examines educational biographies of high school students, and TRAIN, which analyses effect of learning environments in lower tracks in secondary education. With Professor Hasselhorn (DIPF) the institute also runs the scientific evaluation of the Hector Children’s Academies.
Regarding research on methods, the Hector Research Institute develops new statistical tools and strives to make them freely available as software (e.g. see here).
Within the National Education Panel Study (NEPS), the Hector Research Institute coordinates the focus area „From Upper Gymnasium Level and Transition to Higher Education, Vocational Training, or the Labor Market“ together with Professor Maaz (DIPF).

GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

As the largest German infrastructure institute for the social sciences, GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences, with its expertise and services, stands ready to support researchers on the basis of the newest scientific methods, high quality data and research information.

Research projects generally go through a process with several phases – the research data cycle. Therefore, the services offered by GESIS-Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences are structured along a four-phase research data cycle, as follows:

Plan studies & collect data
Finding & retrieving data
Prepare & analyze data
Archive & share

GESIS offers consulting and practice-oriented guidance for each phase.
In the first phase, for example, GESIS experts advise on the collection of survey data and digital behavioral data. Researchers are supported in the development of an adequate project design and the quality assurance of the implementation.
The second phase, Find & Retrieve Data, enables researchers to find the appropriate data for secondary analysis. For this purpose, more than 6500 national and international studies are available in the GESIS data archive.
The preparation of data is also an essential step on the way to their analysis. Therefore, in the third phase Prepare & Analyze Data, GESIS supports the modification, linking, and analysis of data.
In the fourth phase, Archive & Share, GESIS promotes scientific transparency in line with the FAIR principles: F(indable) A(ccessible) I(nteroperable) and R(e-usable).
At GESIS, researchers can find repositories and services to archive, register, and share their data and publications over the long term.

The services offered for the research process are based on our own continuous and interdisciplinary research in the four areas of Survey Methodology, Research Data Management, Current Societal Issues, and Applied Informatics, as well as within their intersections.

Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS)
The department Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS) is Germany’s central infrastructure for the registration, documentation and digital archiving of quantitative research data which can be used to analyze societal developments from a national, internationally comparative or historical perspective.

Research Data Center
The Research Data Centers (RDC) at GESIS offer a special service for a number of survey programs for which GESIS partially participate in the data collection or permanently take over the tasks of data processing, archiving and delivery

One of GESIS’ most important research areas is education research. GESIS is involved in significant German, European, and international projects: Within PIAAC, GESIS is part of the PIAAC Consortium, which is the board responsible for planning and controlling. GESIS is also responsible for the German project management. An enhancement is PIAAC-L, a project that is implemented together with LIfBi and SOEP. It is the first internationally comparable long-term study worldwide for competencies in adulthood. Further selected GESIS projects within the area of educational research are:

CIDER – College for Interdisciplinary Education Research for the support of talented junior researchers in interdisciplinary context
Feasibility study for the Baden-Württemberg-Panel to generate progress data on the transfer from education at school and vocational training
CAMCES – Computer-Assisted Measurement and Coding of Educational Qualifications in surveys to make the internationally greatly varying survey tools for education comparable in survey data.

DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education

The DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education provides a central information infrastructure for and about education in Germany, expanding scientific foundations by conducting research in its own right. As a national centre for educational research, DIPF investigates education from systemic, institutional, individual and historical perspectives. Accordingly, it critically reflects on existing concepts for quality, governance and improvement. DIPF delivers theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions, connecting fundamental research with innovative developmental work and applications for the benefit of society. Owing to its diversity of disciplines, long-term experience in co-ordinating large-scale projects, national and international networking and positioning as a competence centre for knowledge communication and research on education, the Institute is particularly well equipped to react flexibly with respect to complex demands and diverse developments in education, and to provide incentives for the further development of education systems.

Important work and services:

DIPF holds a leading role in national educational reporting, commissioned by the federal government (Bund) and states (Länder).
DIPF continually takes on relevant tasks in the context of large-scale OECD studies on education (PISA, PIAAC).
In co-operation with Goethe-University Frankfurt and the Sigmund-Freud Institute (in German), DIPF runs the interdisciplinary centre for research on individual development processes in children and adaptive instructional design, IDeA.
The German Education Server is a central guide to education on the web. Jointly funded by the federal government (Bund) and the federal states (Länder), it is co-ordinated at DIPF.
The Research Data Centre for Education provides observation data (e.g., lesson videos) and interview data and related material. Questionnaires and individually indexed scales (item batteries) are also openly accessible. Registered users can download available anonymized transcripts, coding and descriptions
The Institute provides the German Education Portal (in German), the central access point to scientific information for educational researchers, educational scientists and pedagogical practice.
The interdisciplinary area of “Technology Based Assessment” is concerned with researching and developing new procedures in computer-based educational measurement.
The DIPF department “Research Library for the History of Education” is a centre for education historical research; it is the largest specialised pedagogical library in Germany.

German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE)

The German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE) is an extramural research institute, which processes the socially and educationally relevant task of substantiated learning and adult education acadamically and its succesful development. As a central institution for research, politics and practice, the DIE supports stakeholders in the field of continuing education with research findings and services. The range of tasks includes application-relevant and fundamental research, infrastructural services as well as counselling for politics and practice.

On this basis, the institute’s activities focus on two objectives: On the one hand, they support adult education science and research with national and international publications and research data. On the other hand, this knowledge contributes to the development and sustainable professionalization of practice. The claim is to acknowledge and meet the needs of science, practice and politics equally. Another objective is the productive exchange with international stakeholders to visualise adult education in Germany in the international context and to position it in the European educational debate. DIE employees elaborate research and infrastructural services in six departments, which are closely connected and cooperate in numerous projects. All research activities focus on the prerequisites, forms and consequences of adult learning. They cover all areas of continuing education: adult learning processes, didactic design of programmes, staff, organisation and management of continuing education institutions in various institutional contexts, and financial, political and legal aspects of the continuing education system. DIE services are a supporting pillar of the academic infrastructure in German continuing education – increasingly often in open access. This covers publications, statistical services, professional data base and portals as well as an academic specialised library for adult education.

Important Work and Services:

wb-web, a portal for teachers in adult and continuing education (only available in German), is a nationally unique information infrastructure for a user group of more than 530,000 full-time, freelance and part-time adult educators. wb-web provides basic information on the activity fields and an adult educational knowledge base. All materials are offered as open educational resources (OER).
The project OWL (Open web-based learning space for continuing professional development of adult educators) enhances an online learning opportunity for adult educators, which results in the development of the online learning space wb-web. It contributes to the professionalisation of educators, which is highly relevant for the quality and effect of continuing education.
The DIE publication series “DIE Survey. Data and reports on continuing education” (only available in German) covers current research findings gained in empirical studies of the continuing education system – available in open access. The publications are directed at stakeholders in education policy, practical continuing education, as well as national and international research. The series was launched in spring 2016 – its first titel was: „Das Personal in der Weiterbildung. Arbeits- und Beschäftigungsbedingungen, Qualifikationen, Einstellungen zu Arbeit und Beruf“ (“Staff in continuing education. Work and employment conditions, qualifications, attitude toward work and profession” – only available in German).
wb-personalmonitor – Personal in der Weiterbildung. Beschäftigungsverhältnisse und Tätigkeiten (wb-personell monitor. Staff in continuing education) is an extensive survey of adult and continuing education staff, which was conducted by the DIE, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The findings were published in the new publication series “DIE-Survey” (see above). Based on this data, staff in continuing education was first incorporated into the National Report 2016. (only in German)
The “Deutsche Weiterbildungsatlas“ (Atlas on German continuing education) is a research project in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation, which processes the transparency of regional and municipal differences in continuing education programmes and participation for the first time. Thus, striking differences of regional continuing education behaviour as well as inhibitory and encouraging factors of regional adult educational chances were identified. In a subsequent study on continuing education behaviour and programmes, the focus on districts and independent cities was more emphasised. The open access volume is available here (only in German).
Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung (Journal for Research on Adult Education) is the leading scientific journal for research debates and findings in the field of adult and continuing education science and associated disciplines. It is available only in German via open access.