Educational Governance

The department of Educational Governance focuses on the investigation of educational attainment processes.

About

The department focuses on societal, structural and institutional conditions that impact educational attainment. The research projects investigate the education system’s efficacy, the provision of equal educational opportunities and chances within the system, and the effectiveness of educational innovations and governance instruments. Researchers in the department are particularly engaged in assessing the role institutional and individual conditional factors play for success and failure in educational pathways.

A focus is placed on the analysis of transitions and trajectories in education as well as their consequences for further educational attainment depending on individual resources and institutional or organisational variables of the education system. In this context, the department also targets effects of structural change and reform measures in the education system.

Research findings deliver important indications for evidence-based and sustainable governance in education. At the same time they enter into educational reporting.

Central projects of the department are the national report Education in Germany as well as the SchuMaS-Project.

Director: Prof. Dr. Kai Maaz

Department Units

Educational Monitoring and Educational Reporting

Which general developments and trends can be observed in the German education system? This area of research comprehends several projects that focus on a continual, data-based observation, analysis and interpretation of the education system at different levels and to different extents depending on the region. The core of this research area is currently marked by the coordinating function DIPF holds for the National Report on Education which is conducted in cooperation with a number of partner institutions.

School Structure, Implementation and Effects of Educational Reforms, School Development Conditions

What role do structural and organisational conditions and their changes play for educational attainment? Currently, fundamental structural and school organisational changes are happening in nearly all areas of the school system. On the one hand, this research unit focuses on the analysis of intended and unintended consequences of structural changes and administrative reforms regarding educational attainment and patterns of inequalities in educational success. On the other hand, concrete prerequisites for successful implementation of educational reforms are investigated to identify approaches to an effective and efficient implementation of reform measures.