To content
Department of Educational Sciences and Psychology

NEPS stage 5 successfully launched at the IFS

-
in
  • News
  • Projects
Foto von Sekundarschüler*innen im Gespräch miteinander © iStock.com​/​Christian Schwier

NEPS stage 5 focuses on the upper secondary school and integrates upstream and downstream transitions into its research perspective.

The National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) is the largest long-term educational study in Germany that examines educational trajectories from early childhood to adulthood. As a network partner of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi), the Center for Research on Education and School Development (IFS) has been involved in the design of the surveys at lower secondary level since 2009 with Stage 4. School-specific measurement instruments for this important stage of life were initially developed in starting cohort 3 and, since 2019, in starting cohort 8 and collected from year 5 onwards. Since fall 2023, stage 5 has been reorganized in the Becker working group for starting cohort 8. Stage 5 focuses on upper secondary school and integrates upstream and downstream transitions into its research perspective. Accordingly, it deals primarily with the preparation for upper secondary level and with career and study orientation during this time, but also with the recording of individual convictions about knowledge and knowledge acquisition, trust in science and science-related forms of work. Science propaedeutics is considered a central goal of the upper secondary school. Previous studies on the Abitur and the transition to higher education or vocational training have not yet addressed the teaching of science-related thinking and acting at school in sufficient depth. NEPS stage 5 is intended to make an important contribution to research into the upper secondary school level and its relevance for the further course of life and education in a society shaped by science.