Question Text:
What is your highest general school leaving certificate?
[Welchen höchsten allgemeinbildenden Schulabschluss haben Sie?]
Answer Categories:
No school leaving certificate [keinen Schulabschluss]
Primary school [Grundschule]
Secondary education/higher education: lower secondary [Sekundarbildung/Höhere Schulbildung: Unterstufe]
Secondary education/higher education: Upper secondary [Sekundarbildung/Höhere Schulbildung: Oberstufe]
Vocational training [Berufsausbildung]
Tertiary education/ university degree/ education at university level [Tertiäre Bildung/ Universitätsabschluss/Bildung auf Universitätsniveau]
Recommendations:
This question sometimes mixes school and vocational qualifications in the answer categories, even if the question only asks for the highest school leaving certificate. A further difficulty is that each country has its own school/education system with its own degree titles and that these vary by country and not by language.
Due to the diversity of school systems and the fact that the answer categories in one language (e.g. Arabic) do not have to correspond to the designations in other countries with the same language, we recommend a very reduced survey of educational qualifications (cf. SOEP Migration Panel).
Which school-leaving certificate did you obtain?
[Welchen Schulabschluss haben Sie erworben?]
- Compulsory school finished with degree [Pflichtschule mit Abschluss beendet]
- Secondary school finished with degree [Weiterführende Schule mit Abschluss beendet]
- Still in school education [Noch in Schulausbildung]
- Don’t know [Weiß nicht]
Have you completed vocational training or studies?
[Haben Sie eine berufliche Ausbildung oder ein Studium abgeschlossen?]
- Yes, a vocational training [Ja, eine berufliche Ausbildung]
- Yes, a college education [Ja, ein Hochschulstudium]
- No, no completed training [Nein, keine abgeschlossene Ausbildung]
- Don’t know [Weiß nicht]
None.
Findings for Question:
This question has not been systematically tested. Therefore, only the spontaneous comments of some test persons are available - if at all.
Serbian
The test persons SER01 and SER02 point out that primary school in Serbia lasts 8 years. Subject SER02 has attended only this primary school, but probably should have chosen the answer category "secondary education/ higher education: lower level" in accordance with the German school system. A similar "translation problem" is present in test person SER01: This test person has attended primary school in Serbia, in Germany she has attended secondary modern school for two more years and left with a secondary modern school leaving certificate after grade 10. She should therefore have chosen the answer category "secondary education/ higher education: lower school" (instead of "upper school").
Farsi
Test person FAR01 is Afghan and does not understand the question, because - as the test person suspects - it was translated by an Iranian and a different school system applies in Iran than in Afghanistan. With the exception of the last answer category, the test person does not know the terms. However, she can still place herself correctly, as she has a Bachelor's degree.
Arabic
Test person AR01 points out that the answer categories for Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Morocco would not fit entirely. Vocational training is integrated into secondary education in these countries. For example, someone could complete secondary education with a focus on "vocational training". In addition, the category "medium-level institutes", which would correspond to a two-year course of study, was missing.
Russian
Test person RUS01 and the interpreter in this interview stated that the answer option "tertiary education" in both the German and Russian questionnaires would not fit the question, as it had nothing to do with school education. According to the interpreter, the Russian questionnaire also asks for "education", whereas the German questionnaire speaks of "school leaving certificate".
Both test persons RUS01 and RUS02 point out that in the Russian education system there is also a intermediate school or an intermediate secondary which does not appear in this question.
Question Topic:
Social demographics
Construct:
Highest general school leaving certificate
