Research

The Zentrum für Empirische Pädagogische Forschung (zepf) is a central research institute primarily dedicated to issues of educational research with the aim of contributing directly and indirectly to quality development in the education system. This is achieved by creating empirical foundations for decision-making for stakeholders at various levels of the education system and by providing concepts to support the professional activities of teachers and other educational staff. This is based on a broad understanding of quality development, which also includes the long-term and sustainable improvement of processes in educational and health psychology contexts.

School quality assurance & development

 

The question of how quality in the education system can be further developed is the focus of a large number of projects carried out at zepf. We see this question as a continuation of the interdisciplinary research established by the institute's founder, Karl-Heinz Ingenkamp, on optimising the school system, in which both quantitative and qualitative methods of empirical social research are used in line with our empirical approach. The focus is regularly on educational practitioners such as teachers, subject conferences, school administrators and various actors in educational administration.

Projects

Comparative tests (Vera)

In their overall strategy for education monitoring (KMK, 2015), the federal states agreed to conduct cross-state learning assessments in various school years. In most states, these are referred to as comparative tests (VERA) and are an important element of measures to establish evidence-based quality development and assurance in schools. They contribute to the development of teaching and schools. To this end, pupils' performance is measured on the basis of educational standards and made available to schools in feedback of various aggregations. The concepts underlying the procedure have been developed mainly in Landau since 2002. Currently, zepf comparative tests are conducted in the 3rd and 8th grades in the federal states of Bremen, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, as well as in the German-speaking community of East Belgium.

Impetus for the further development of schools and teaching (WeSu)

The BMBF-funded WeSu project (Impulses for the further development of schools and teaching through work with results from comparative tests in primary and secondary schools) uses qualitative interviews to investigate the question of which school and teaching development measures are implemented by schools that say they work with (results from) comparative tests or comparable learning assessments. The aim was to identify and document exemplary courses of action for schools after conducting comparative tests in the sense of best practice.

Online learning assessment tests (Leo.MV)

The Leo.MV project: Online assessment of learning outcomes in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is a cooperation project between the Institute for Quality Development at the Ministry of Education and Culture and zepf, financed by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The aim of the project is to develop and establish an online tool for assessing the initial learning levels of pupils in years 5 and 7 and to evaluate this process. The tool is intended exclusively for use by teachers in schools and serves the purpose of providing a learning group-related overview of basic skills in mathematics, German and English at the respective point in time.

Feedback portal for learning progress diagnostics

The project Feedback Portal for Learning Assessment (TBA III / technology-based assessment) was commissioned by a consortium of federal states and is financed by the Digital Pact for Schools. It serves to develop a nationwide digital infrastructure for feeding back data from comparative tests to various recipients, which is to be made available as an open source solution. To this end, a web-based platform is being set up and prototypical innovative digital feedback systems are being developed in an agile manner and empirically tested with regard to their usefulness in schools. The feedback is intended to optimally support further work in schools, among other things by addressing various user groups such as teachers, subject conferences, school management and school administration.

Experiential education / Challenges in schools

The self-financed research network ‘Challenges as an Independent Reform Activity of Innovative Schools’ (HeRiS) examines the impact of challenges on schools and supports and assists a network of schools throughout Germany. Several publications have been released by the network (including contributions from a doctoral thesis), and network meetings are organised and held. The aim is to support schools in their school reform activities with the help of research findings.

Health and well-being

 

The ‘Health and Well-Being’ research area deals with topics and issues related to health psychology, both in the form of application-oriented empirical research and in the practical implementation of scientific findings in the field of prevention and health promotion. One key focus here is stress and burnout prevention. In the context of stress reduction and health promotion, great importance is attached to the concept of self-care.

Projects

Better living! Self-care for teachers – Evaluation of the short- and medium-term effects of a prevention and health promotion measure for teachers at general education schools

The prevention seminar ‘Better living! Self-care for teachers’ was developed at zepf with the aim of strengthening self-care in everyday (school) life and thus preventing work-related stress and burnout. The seminar has already proven to be effective in the long term for another target group (psychosocial professionals). An accompanying scientific study also examined the effectiveness of the seminar for teachers. 

  • Live better! Self-care for psychosocial professionals – Designing a health promotion measure
  • Study on mental stress and occupational stress factors among psychosocial professionals in Germany
  • The role of self-efficacy and mindfulness in promoting the health of socially disadvantaged people
  • Techniker Krankenkasse Health Week: Updating a health promotion measure for employees
  • Evaluation of the project ‘Getting Depression off its Feet’

Professionalisation of educational staff (and educational institutions)

 

Quality assurance and development in the education system and the further development of schools and other educational institutions also directly affect issues of professionalism and professionalisation among those working in education. Their professional knowledge and skills form the basis for quality assurance and development. At the same time, professional educational practice must be constantly realigned in the wake of ongoing changes. This applies, for example, to the growing range of needs and requirements of the target group and the demands placed on those involved. Routines and practices of professional practice must therefore always be reflected upon and further developed. Accordingly, this research focus centres on learning and professional development in the (educational) profession and focuses, among other things, on competencies that only prove relevant in the context of professional activity. Professionalisation is not understood as a purely individual matter, but as a collaborative process that cannot be understood and changed without being embedded in specific institutional and organisational contexts.

Currently, the research focus is on a professional competence facet that is central to numerous educational fields of action but is often not addressed separately and is acquired more informally in the course of professional development: counselling (see also the dissertation project by Heike Liepelt ( ‘The challenge of parental counselling. How teachers learn to deal with a professional task for which they are not trained’, completed in 2024 ).

Furthermore, professional practices in the context of data-supported school and teaching development are being investigated.

Projects

Impulses for the further development of schools and teaching

The BMBF-funded WeSu project (Impulses for the further development of schools and teaching through work with results from comparative tests in primary and secondary schools) uses qualitative interviews to investigate the question of which school and teaching development measures are implemented by schools that say they work with (results from) comparative tests or comparable learning assessments. The aim was to identify and document exemplary courses of action for schools after conducting comparative tests in the sense of best practice.