YEAR 2020

The number of scientists registered for using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) has exceeded the threshold of 2,500 users in July 2020. Over the past year and a half, on average almost 25 data users per month have been added.

Two renowned journals, "Soziale Welt" and "Frontiers in Psychology", have announced special issues on the Covid-19 pandemic. In both cases, researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) are involved as editors. Abstacts can be submitted for both journals as of now.

Recommendations for a crisis-resistant education system: During the Covid-19 pandemic, day-care centers and schools were only able to fulfil their educational mission to a very limited extent. In their current statement, the members of a working group of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina have given recommendations on how to make the education system more flexible so that the right to education can be fulfilled even under the conditions of the current pandemic. One of the authors is Professor Cordula Artelt, Director of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi).

Due to the still uncertain situation regarding the corona pandemic, it will be possible to participate virtually in the 5th International NEPS Conference hosted by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi, Bamberg) on 7 and 8 December 2020. You can now register online for participation in the event.

On Thursday, July 23, 2020, the Innovation Circle of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) started its work. This internal working group composed of LIfBi staff is to develop innovative ideas for improving work processes. The Innovation Circle will initially deal with the topic of sustainability; however in the future, it will also work on other topics. The proposals drawn up by the Innovation Circle serve as a basis for decision-making, which may lead, for example, to the formulation of guidelines for the Institute.

The National Educational Panel Study invites all interested researchers to submit proposals for new survey modules in all NEPS starting cohorts. With the first "Call for Modules", the NEPS now opens its survey program to external content. The deadline for sending in a short outline is 30 September 2020.

On July 15, 2020, the Senate of the Leibniz Association issued its statement on the first evaluation of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in Bamberg. In this statement, the Senate confirms the supra-regional importance of LIfBi and endorses the positive report by the independent evaluation group. The statement also serves as a recommendation to the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz, GWK) on the continuation of joint Federal and State funding.

For 15 years, the pairfam study has been offering a unique potential to analyze how relationships of couples and generations develop in different stages of their lives. Prof. Dr. Sabine Walper—Vice Director of the German Youth Institute, co-initiator, and co-PI (Principal Investigator) of pairfam—introduced the design and the various possibilities of the panel during her LIfBi Lecture. In her presentation, she also gave an account of the recent additional survey in response to the corona pandemic, which—like the additional survey in the National Education Panel Study (NEPS)—assesses the burden on families and changes in the family climate.

The third quarter of 2020 will see the start of the study “Teachers in Adult Education–A Panel Study“ (TAEPS), which is jointly led by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) and the German Institute for Adult Education–Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE). Over a period of six years, information on professionalization and on promoting the development of competencies of teachers in adult and further education will be gathered using standardized surveys and randomized field experiments. The project receives funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF).

The Swiss TREE study “Transitions from Education to Employment”—one of the models of the National Education Panel Study (NEPS)—has been in existence for almost 20 years now. As part of LIfBi Lectures, the two project heads Prof. Dr. Ben Jann and Dr. Thomas Meyer from the Institute of Sociology at the University of Bern reported on panel progress and some results.