NEPS Corona & Education

Objective of the NEPS additional surveys on corona pandemic (NEPS-C)

The longitudinal data of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) will be used to investigate the medium and long-term effects of the corona pandemic on skills development and educational pathways over the life course. Therefore, NEPS participants will be asked about the direct consequences of the corona pandemic on school, work and family life in the context of the NEPS additional surveys on corona pandemic (NEPS-C). This allows research on both retrospective differences in the response to the crisis and long-term consequences for educational biographies in Germany. Against the background of the core topics of NEPS – Competence development and educational trajectories over the life course – the following questions arise in particular:

• How do learning environments change and which potentials and risks become clear through the beginning digitalization of learning?

• Are there effects on upcoming educational decisions (transition decisions/participation) and are there medium and long-term effects on social educational inequality?

• What are the medium and long-term effects of the corona pandemic on educational outcomes, such as income, but also non-monetary returns, e.g. health/health behavior, labor market participation?

Design of the NEPS additional surveys on corona pandemic (NEPS-C)

The National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), which is based at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in Bamberg, consists of six large-scale studies, the so-called starting cohorts. Each of these cohorts is representative for the whole of Germany and comprises a total of 100,000 persons in all educational phases and their respective contexts, e.g. parents or educational professionals. Detailed information on the NEPS and the design of the NEPS starting cohorts can be found at Data and Documentation.

Data on the direct consequences of the corona pandemic will be collected by means of a cross-cohort questionnaire program adapted to the current situation of the respective NEPS participants. In order to collect this data in a timely manner, the first questions were administered via online survey in the NEPS Starting Cohorts 2 to 6 in May, together with a panel support measure. Furthermore, the integration of the corresponding questions in the so-called NEPS additional module on the corona pandemic is planned for the forthcoming main surveys in all starting cohorts.

These additional NEPC-C data will be made available to the research community free of charge promptly or at the latest within the regular release of the Scientific Use Files after careful preparation and anonymization.

In order to cope with the actuality of the topic and to be able to provide first descriptive results promptly, the NEPS network and especially a team of NEPS staff members at LIfBi are working on first analyses, which can be found here.

Documentation of the NEPS additional surveys on corona pandemic (NEPS-C)

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To the press release (German)