YEAR 2019

Standardized surveys of refugees pose a variety of methodological challenges. It was not only the translation of survey instruments into the various languages of origin that proved to be difficult in the ReGES study. Challenges also occurred with the choice of survey type where origin-specific characteristics had to be taken into account.

The results of the seventh PISA study with a focus on literacy were the subject of a nationwide symposium on December 12 in Berlin. LIfBi Director Prof. Dr. Cordula Artelt is co-author of the study and participant in the panel discussion Promoting reading in schools at the secondary level from the perspective of digitalization and digital reading, disparities, and multidimensional educational goals.

How are children and adolescents doing in Europe? How do they perceive their living conditions and how do they look at education and health in different countries? The first trans-European longitudinal study will explore these questions from the perspective of adolescents. Prof. Dr. Gary Pollock of Manchester Metropolitan University presented the progress of the project at the LIfBi Lectures.

Since mid-November, the approvals of the Ministries of Education of the Federal States have been available for the second survey in the LIfBi project “INSIDE–Inclusive Education in Lower Secondary Schools in Germany”. This will allow the surveys that have been prepared for the 2019/2020 school year to take place as planned.

What are the characteristics of people who come from a nonacademic background but are themselves pursuing an academic career such as a degree and doctorate? What is special about this group, which is also called "first-generation students"? On November 26, 2019, sociologist Friederike Schlücker from the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories presented research results from a nationwide study at the TU Berlin and discussed—as part of the First Generation Day—what special support services at universities are possible and reasonable.

Dr. Robert Polgar was elected Deputy Spokesperson of the Administrative Committee of the Leibniz Association. "The election is a sign of confidence by the administrative colleagues of the Leibniz Association. I am very pleased to accept it and look forward to actively supporting the work of the Administrative Committee in this role", said Robert Polgar, Executive Director of Administration at LIfBi since July 1, 2014. He takes up office as of November 28, 2019.

The Director of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi), Prof. Dr. Cordula Artelt, awarded 27 scientists the honorary status of LIfBi Research Affiliate in September.

On November 7-8, 2019, the international NEPS conference took place for the fourth time at LIfBi. Guest speaker was Prof. Eric A. Hanushek from Stanford University, one of the most renowned education economists in the world today. Once again, this year, prizes were awarded for outstanding works based on NEPS data. The award-winning entries deal with, among other things, school-related helplessness that may be experienced by students with poorer performance and also with the effects that higher education can have on health and wages.

Go to program (PDF)

To commemorate the anniversary of the regional edition "ZEIT im Osten" (No. 46/2019), the editors present 100 young East Germans up to the age of 40, who they believe "will be making headlines soon". Among them is LIfBi employee Dr. Gundula Zoch.

The conference "Education and Space" took place on November 6 at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories. The focus was on questions and findings of empirical educational research from a spatial perspective. The opening lecture by Prof. Dr. Rainer Schnell offered an exciting introduction to the challenges of data protection law.