Adult Education Survey (AES 2018 - Germany)

The further education behaviour of the adult population is a topic that has gained high priority within the framework of educational policy objectives. It is generally agreed that this discussion requires a well-founded empirical database in order to make the diverse forms of learning in adulthood (adult learning) visible and to be able to observe the development of participation in continuing education. The European framework regulation on statistical surveys in the field of education requires all European countries to conduct an Adult Education Survey every five years. Against this background, the BMBF has so far commissioned additional purely national AES surveys between the European AES surveys. The target group of the German AES 2018 is the German-speaking resident population in Germany aged 18 to 69. The target group of the purely national AES survey 2018 is thus analogous to the last German AES survey 2016. 5,836 persons were interviewed face-to-face with the help of computers (CAPI: Computer Assisted Personal Interviews). The respondents were selected with the help of a multistage random sample with three selection levels according to the ADM standard.

Based on the ´Classification of Learning Activities´ (CLA)6 the AES distinguishes between the following educational and learning activities: (a) formal education: formal/regular education, (b) non-formal education: non-formal Further Education, (c) informal learning: informal learning. The activities are recorded individually and described in more detail by demand blocks. In AES, the analysis can therefore change from a person-related perspective (participation in continuing education) to a system-related perspective (structures of the totality of continuing education activities). To this extent, three data sets are available for AES 2018: (1) Data set based on the respondents aged 18 to 69 years (AES personal data set), (2) Data set based on the continuing training activities cited by the respondents (NFE data set) and (3) Data set based on the informal learning activities cited by the respondents (INF data set).

In the context of the 2018 AES survey, the supplementary study Digitisation in Further Education (AES-Digi) was also implemented, which dealt with the deployment and use of digitisation in connection with the educational behaviour of adults.

Demography: Sex; age (year of birth, month of birth, age open and grouped); first language learned in childhood (mother tongue); mother tongue(s) in the case of bilingualism with and without German; German citizenship; migration background; other citizenship; acquisition of German citizenship; citizenship before acquisition of German citizenship; born in Germany; other country of birth; years in Germany throughout; number of years in Germany; 11 and more years in Germany, namely; age when moving to Germany; residence status (unlimited/limited residence permit, tolerated); household type; living together with a partner; age of partner (grouped); marital status; children; total number of children; number and age (grouped) of children in the household; children under 5 years of age in the household; children from 5 to 13 years of age in the household; other persons in the household; age group of other persons in the household (household composition); household size; net household income; satisfaction with household income; self-assessment of language skills in German and in English.
Information on parents: country of birth Germany; country of birth of parents; German citizenship; acquisition of German citizenship; migration background generations 1 and 2.

Additionally coded: ID (respondent, informal learning activities, courses); West-East; town size (BIK); political community size class; weighting factors and extrapolation factors; participation in FED and/or NFE in the last 12 months; broadband availability via wired / wireless technologies in the household; definition of migration background until AES 2016; household size: Total AES (number of persons in household between 18 and 69 years), Trend AES (number of persons in household between 18 and 64 years), EU Core CP (number of persons in household between 25 and 64 years); Auxiliary variables (e.g., number of persons in household between 18 and 69 years); AES (number of persons in household between 18 and 64 years); EU Core target subject (number of persons in household between 25 and 64 years); auxiliary variables (e.g. to determine the course of education); FED participants 1st/2nd phase; matrix of NFE activities named; activities used for demand in loop x; selected activity (course); course; courses in total in demand loops 1 to 12; form(s) of continuing education in demand block 1 to 12.

The AES-2018 dataset contains a range of information that can be coded according to international classification systems. The educational activities covered by the questionnaire are coded according to ISCED level 2011 (questions on educational background) and ISCED fields 2013 (FED, NFE and INF activities). For this purpose, Kantar Public has revised the processes developed in AES 2007 in the context of AES 2016 and has fundamentally re-defined the required variable definitions (for ISCED levels) or developed a computerised coding system (for ISCED fields 2013).