Long-Term Study PIAAC-L approved by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

How do individual competencies impact on the employment careers of people living in Germany? How are person abilities interrelated with occupational mobility? How are competencies distributed between individual families and between partners? And what does this mean for chances of upward mobility in our society?

These and similar questions are examined by the nationwide long-term study PIAAC-L (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies), for which funding worth over €5.7 million has now been approved by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF). PIAAC-L is continuing the work of PIAAC in the German context. PIAAC—a study by the OECD and also known as the PISA study for adults—analyzes everyday skills and abilities of adults by international comparison.

The study is carried out by researchers from the Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences GESIS, the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories LIfBi, and the German Socio-Economic Panel SOEP situated at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). About 5.000 people in Germany aged between 18 and 67 years who have participated in PIAAC before, as well as their families, are surveyed by PIAAC-L. Overall, the survey will take place on three occasions from 2014 through 2017.

Contact:
Monika Wimmer, Press referent, German Socio-Economic Panel SOEP
E-mail: mwimmer@diw.de
Kerstin Hollerbach, Head Communication, GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences, E-mail: kerstin.hollerbach@gesis.org

Dr. Götz Lechner, Public Relation , Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, E-Mail: goetz.lechner@uni-bamberg.de

GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
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 advise researchers at all levels to answer socially relevant questions on the basis of the newest scientific methods, high quality data and research information. GESIS do this with essential research-based services and consulting, covering all levels of the scientific processes.
SOEP
The Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) is the largest and longest-running multidisciplinary longitudinal study in Germany. The SOEP is based at DIW Berlin and receives federal and state funding for research infrastructure as a member of the Leibniz Association (WGL) of German research institutes. Since 1984, the survey institute TNS Infratest Sozialforschung has been interviewing thousands of people for the SOEP each year. At present, the SOEP has around 30,000 respondents in around 15,000 households across Germany. The SOEP data provide information about people’s income, employment, education, health, and life satisfaction. Since the same individuals are surveyed every year, these data make it possible to analyze not only long-term social trends but also life-course patterns of specific social groups. Around 500 scholars worldwide use the SOEP data in their research.
LIfBi
The Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) is a registered association promoting longitudinal studies in educational research in Germany. LIfBi provides fundamental, transregional, and internationally significant scientific, research-based infrastructure for educational research. As of January 1, 2014, LIfBI will run the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS).