1. The ISCED Standard for Coding of Education and DDI-Lifecycle
Hilde Orten
NSD - Norwegian Social Science Data Services
Joachim Wackerow
GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
3rd Annual European DDI Users Group Meeting, Gothenburg, Dec 5/6 2011

2. Outline Challenges in measuring education cross-nationally
The International Standard for Classification of Education (ISCED), why and what?
Possible DDI usage – resource packages for ISCED.
This autumn two events of importance for cross-national data collection on education took place.
In November, a new version of the International for Classification, ISCED 2011 was approved by the UNESCO’s 36th General conference.
In October, the European Social Survey (ESS) released their data and metadata from round 5, which include a major upgrade of the measurement of educational attainment based on ISCED.
Both the new ISCED version, as well as questions, variables and codings (bridgings) from the new education variables in the ESS represents material that typically can be reused.
This presentation is the result of some first steps of thinking of ISCED in terms of metadata structured for reuse in the DDI.
ISCED is a complex standard when it comes to metadata. First the standard will be explained and the relationship between metadata components based on ISCED explored.
Focus will then move to possible DDI usage as a resource package for ISCED.

3. Challenges in Measuring Education Cross-nationally
Education is a widely used variable in social research as a core explanatory factor or as a control variable
Education is a social institution that differ strongly between countries
Qualifications differs over time
Challenge: Cross-nationally comparable measurement of educational attainment, enrollment and other education related information
Education affects many aspects of an individual’s lifechances, behaviours, attitudes and values
(Walter Müller 2008)

4. ISCED – What is it, Developments
The International Standard for Classification of Education (ISCED) is the most advanced attempt at creating a systematic international framework for classification of educational programs and qualifications.
UNESCO is responsible
First version: 1976, was developed for own use, as well as for the use of other statistical agencies, e.g. the OECD. Classifies education levels.
Second version: 1997 – allows for measuring education and training in more detail within levels.
Third version: 2011 – released the 10th of November this year. More differentiation at tertiary level. Simplification of allocation criteria. 3-digit numeric coding frames for coding of educational enrollment and educational attainment.

5. Classification of ISCED 2011 - Purpose
System on an abstract level
Captures the variance of national programmes
Goal:
Comparability between countries
Heterogenity of programme systems and measurement systems between countries
Comparability within countries over time
Heterogenity of programme systems and measurement systems over time
ISCED is a classification system on an abstract level designed to allow for comparable measurement of education related information.
Originally designed for use in large-scale statistical reporting, ISCED has increased in importance when it comes to cross-national collection of survey data.
Several larger official and non-official surveys like the EU-Labour Force Survey, EU-SILC, the European Social Survey as well as the European Values Study have implemented more or less detailed versions of ISCED (1997).
The unit of classification is educational programmes and their related qualifications.
As educational systems and their measurement may vary to a large extent both between countries, as well as over time, the purpose of ISCED is to capture the variance of the national educational programmes.

6. Classification of ISCED 2011
Variants
Educational programmes
Educational attainment
Numeric coding framework
Strictly hierarchical
sub-levels add to the next upper level
3 levels (digits)
Level of education
Categories
Sub-categories
ISCED 2011 classifies Levels and Fields of education. In this presentation focus will be put on the classification of ISCED Levels which is in the heart of statistical reporting on education and an important variable in survey research.
ISCED 2011 Levels has two classification varianrts:
The coding of educational programmes (Annex 2 in the ISCED 2011 standard), and
The coding of educational attainmnet ((Annex 3 in the ISCED 2011 standard).

7. Classification of ISCED 2011 - Extract
0 Less than primary …
1 Primary
2 Lower secondary
24 general
242 partial level completion and without direct access to upper secondary
243 level completion, without direct access to upper secondary
244 level completion, with direct access to upper secondary
25 vocational
252 partial level completion and without direct access to upper secondary
253 level completion, without direct access to upper secondary
254 level completion, with direct access to upper secondary
3 Upper secondary
4 Post-secondary non-tertiary
5 Short-cycle tertiary
6 Bachelor or equivalent
7 Master or equivalent
8 Doctoral or equivalent
9 Not elsewhere classified
This slide shows an extract of the ISCED 2011 coding of educational attainment (ISCED11A).
The first level (digit) defines the 9 ISCED levels
Main and subsidiary classification criteria distinguish national educational programmes between levels.
The second and the third level distinguish educational programmes within levels according to a set of cross-classification variables.
The second level represents the categories where programmes are distinguished according to programme orientetion (general and vocational) at ISCED 2011 levels 2 – 8.
The third level represents the sub-categories where programmes are further distinguished according to level completion and/or access to higher level programmes (ISCED 2011 level 2 – 5)
and programme duration in and position in the national degree structure (ISCED 2011 level 6 and 7).

8. ISCED 2011 - Complete Standard
Three components:
Classification
Operational concepts and definitions as structured text
Mappings of national programs to classification
Required for usage in official statistics and surveys, especially to achieve comparability
Not available yet, planned for the next few years
The ISCED 2011 does not consist in the classification alone.
Basically, the ISCED 2011 standard rest on three components (ISCED standard p. 3):
The classification
Concepts and definitions
The mappings of educational programmes into ISCED, which will document the crosswalks between national educational programmes and 2011 codes. Mappings for ISCED 2011 are not yet available.

9. ISCED 2011 Definitions – Example Level 5 – short-cycle tertiary
B. CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA
211. For the definition of short-cycle tertiary, the following criteria are relevant:
Main criteria
a. Content of short-cycle tertiary programmes (see Paragraph 212);
b. Entry requirements (see Paragraph 208); and
c. Minimum duration of programme (see Paragraph 213). …
D. COMPLEMENTARY DIMENSIONS
216. Two dimensions differentiate educational programmes at ISCED level 5:
Programme orientation (see Paragraph 217); and
Level completion (see Paragraph 218).
Operational concepts and definitions make up an important part of the ISCED 2011 standard.
This example shows the classification criteria used to distinguish educational programmes between ISCED levels for ISCED 2011 level 5.
The complementary dimensions shown refers to cross-classification variables used to distinguish programmes within ISCED levels at level 5.

10. Mapping Example of ISCED 1997
ISCED alpha-numeric code
Germany
USA 5 5B
5B1
5B1sh or 5B1me
29 Fachakademien (Bayern)
30 Schulen des Gesundheitswesens, 2+3 jährig
5B1sh
31 Fachschulen, 2 jährig
Vocational Associate's Degree
Programme
5B1me
32 Fachschulen, 3+4 jährig
36 Berufsakademien
37 Verwaltungsfachhochschulen 5A
5A1
5Aish
Academic Associate's Degree Programme
5A1me
Bachelor's Degree Programme
5A1me or 5A1lo
38 Fachhochschulen
5A1lo or 5A1vl
39 Universitäten
…...
The ISCED mappings of national educational programmes into ISCED are a part of the ISCED 2011 standard. However, mappings for the ISCED 2011 standard are not yet constructed.
The existing ISCED97 based mappings document the coding of national educational programmes into ISCED97. Since educational systems and programmes undergo changes, the mappings are updated regularly in the UOE data collection. They also contain information about the national programmes in relation to a set of cross-classification variables that are used to distinguish between programmes between and within levels of education.
Even if the information in the ISCED97 mappings more represent qualitative descriptions, it makes sense to represent the mapping of educational programmes into ISCED by a 4-digit alphanumeric code, as displayed in the example above.
The three first digits are represented by single characters, while the fourth digit is represented by two characters.
Sometimes the ISCED97 mappings of national programmes into ISCED are not detailed enough to distinguish programmes at a four digit level.
For ISCED97, level 5 refers to first stage of tertiary education (e.g. University education including Master’s degrees). This is a much broader category than category 5 in ISCED 2011.
The A and Bs stands for type of education: B = vocational and A = general at ISCED97 level 5. Value i, 1 or 2 at the third digit stands for intermadiate, 1st and 2nd degree in the national degree structure, and the cumulative duration of the programme since the beginning of level 5, short, medium etc.
The ISCED coding used in the national UOE mappings follow the specification of the UOE data collection manuals, maintained by the OECD. The meaning of the codes deviates sometimes intendedly from the ISCED97 standard.
To build alternative variables based on ISCED, more cross-classification variables found in the mappings can be taken into account in the generation.

11. ISCED 1997 The ISCED 1997 standard consists in: - Classification
- Operational concepts and definitions
- Manuals
No codes available
- Alpha-numeric codes can be constructed
according to the text
No separate coding for attainment
Less detailed below primary and above secondary level compared to ISCED 2011
More complicated classification criteria (clarification and simplification in ISCED 2011)
For ISCED97 operational manuals are produced by UNESCO and the OECD. Manuals used in the UOE data collections are maintained by the OECD, and contains mappings of national educational programmes into ISCED since 1999.
In ISCED 2011 mappings are part of the ISCED standard, but not the manuals.
In ISCED97 a numeric coding framework is not available, but an alphanumeric coding frame can be produced on the basis of the standard.
As the structure and content of the ISCED97 standard is complicated, an issue is related to structuring of the concept and definition of the standard.

12. European Social Survey Round 5
EDULVLB – Motivation
More detailed and better coding framework for educational attainment
Allows for the construction of purpose built measures, e.g. EISCED and EDULVLA
Improvement of tertiary level, useful for European countries
Improvement of some simplifications in ISCED
Based on developments of ISCED 2011 till May 2010
EDULVLA
5-category system, based on ISCED 1997
Can be used as simple link between EDULVLB and ISCED 1997, useful for comparison with former rounds
EISCED
7-category system, of better analytical value than EDULVLA, useful for European countries
Dr. Silke Schneider acted as an expert consultant for the ESS in the construction and implementation of the new variables EDULVLB and EISCED (ES-ISCED European Survey version of ISCED). 12

13. Relationship between ISCED based components
Based on ISCED 2011
European Social Survey Round 5 Q DK DK
EDULVLA Q DE DE
EDULVLB
EISCED Q FI FI
Mapping of
National
Programs
This slide shows the relationship between a set of ISCED based components applying to the latest revision of ISCED, ISCED 2011, ISCED 1997 and the ESS.
Boxes:
Boxes represent some important ISCED based components.
Dark blue boxes represent cross-national variables, or classifications realised as variables in DDI.
Grey boxes represent national variables, or content from official national ISCED mappings realised as variables.
Green boxes represent questions.
Arrows:
Green and thick arrows represent relationships considered to be straightforward and easy to establish.
Blue and thin arrows represent relationships that are possible, but where additions are needed.
Circles:
Big unfilled ellipse covers ISCED 2011 components.
Small unfilled ellipse covers ISCED 1997 components.
Light blue ellipse covers ESS components and their relationship.
Questions, national variables and cross-national variables EDULVLB and EISCED are based on the developments of ISCED 2011 till May 2010 and new for round 5.
EDULVLA was used in earlier rounds and is based on ISCED97. EDULVLA represents a link between ESS data from round 5 and data from earlier rounds of the ESS. ?
ISCED97
ISCED11A
ISCED11P
Mapping DK
Mapping DE
Mapping FI
Based on ISCED 1997

14. Possible DDI Usage: Resource Package for ISCED 2011
Programme and Attainment as two variables (with codes and categories)
Relationship between programme and attainment variant, realised in comparison
Operational concepts and definitions as collection of notes (or as external other material with identifiable sections)
Issue: identification of each paragraph, cross-reference between paragraphs, integration of structured text
Future mappings from national variables to ISCED11, realised in comparison and generation instruction
Issue: current solution of extracting/adding parts of/to existing code list is probably not flexible enough

15. ISCED in a DDI Resource Package
Study-independent Metadata stored in a DDI Resource package can be reused by different studies, waves, or agencies
Study1
Round 1
Round n
DDI Resource Package
Education/
ISCED
question bank
Study2
Round 1
Round n
Agency 1
Collection A
Collection N
Agency 2
Collection A
Collection N

16. Structural Outline of Resource Package
DDIInstance
ResourcePackage
Purpose
DataElementScheme
DataElement
LogicalProduct
OtherMaterial
Note
CategoryScheme
Category
...
CodeScheme ISCED2011
Code
CategoryReference
Value 1
Value 11
DDI 3.2

17. DDI Category Map - Example ISCED11P vs. ISCED11A category descriptions
Code
ISCED11P
ISCED11A
Similarity 3
Upper secondary
Identical 34
general / academic
341
Upper secondary general/
academic. Recognized successful completion of programme is insufficient for completion or partial completion of ISCED level (and thus without direct access to programmes at a higher
ISCED level)
Not used
None
342
Upper secondary general / academic. Recognized successful completion of programme is sufficient for partial completion of ISCED level but without direct access to programmes at a higher ISCED level
Upper secondary general / academic. Partial level completion – without direct access to programmes at a higher ISCED level
High
Description: The categories of ISCED11P and ISCED11A at ISCED level 3 have higly similar meanings. Codes with 1 in the third digit in ISCED11P represent programmes insufficient for level completion or partial level completion, and should be classified at ISCED level 2 in ISCED11A
Example of possible output from DDI Life-cycle category map.
The information in this table displays codes of the ISCED 2011 ISCED11P (Programmes) and ISCED11A (ATTAINMENT) coding frameworks , as well as the correspondance between the category descriptions of ISCED11P and ISCED11A.
The descriptions rather than the categories have been chosen for the comparison, as the meaning carrier of the category.
The descriptions are compiled from Table 1 – 3 at p. 17 and 18 in the ISCED 2011 manual.
A category map in the DDI provides possibilities for identifying and mapping source and target schemes, a description of the correspondence between source and target, a CommonalityTypeCoded that allows for a controlled vocabulary or UserDefinedCorrespondenceProperty, as well as a commonality weight (0 -1).

18. Possible DDI Usage II Resource Package for ESS education variables
EDULVLB, EDULVLA, EISCED as variables
National variables and questions
Mappings from national variables to EDULVLB, realised in comparison and generation instruction
Relationship of EDULVLB, EDULVLA, EISCED, realised in comparison and generation instruction
Explanations and definitions for EDULVLB, realised as notes
Resource Package for ISCED 1997
Variable ISCED97 with alpha-numeric codes
National variables based on the ISCED mappings
Mappings from national variables to ISCED97, realised in comparison and generation instruction

19. DDI Code Map based on ESS variables - Example
EDULVLB (source)/EDULVLA (target)
EDULVLB
EDULVLA
Category 1
Less than lower secondary education (ISCED 0-1) 2
Lower secondary education completed (ISCED 2) 3
Upper secondary education completed (ISCED 3) 4
Post-secondary non-tertiary education completed (ISCED 4) 5
Tertiary education completed (ISCED 5-6)
5555 55
Other
7777 77
Refusal
8888 88
Don’t know
9999 99
No answer
Description: EDULVLA is a 5-category variable based on ISCED97 levels where code 0-1 and 5-6 are collapsed. EDULVLB is a 26 category harmonised variable based on the developments of ISCED11 as of May 2010.
Generation instruction EDULVLB (source) to EDULVLA (target):
* SAS command;
if 0 <= EDULVLB <=129 then EDULVLA = 1;
else if 212 <= EDULVLB <= 229 then EDULVLA = 2;
else if 311 <= EDULVLB <= 323 then EDULVLA = 3;
else if 412 <= EDULVLB <= 423 then EDULVLA = 4;
else if 510 <= EDULVLB = 800 then EDULVLA = 5;
else if EDULVLB = 5555 then EDULVLA = 55;
else if EDULVLB = 7777 then EDULVLA = 77;
else if EDULVLB = 8888 then EDULVLA = 88;
else if EDULVLB = 9999 then EDULVLA = 99;
run;
CodeMap in DDI allows the use of GenerationInstruction to define the item level of correspondence between s source and a target item.
GenerationInstruction in DDI LifeCycle allows for entering a machine-actionable syntax. The example shows a syntax in the SAS software.
EDULVLB represents the new detailed ISCED based variable in the ESS, while EDULVLA is the variable used in earlier ESS rounds. EDULVLB can usefully be coded to EDULVLA to provide comparability over time.

20. Possible DDI resource packages based on ISCED and potential use
RP: ISCED 2011
RP: ISCED 1997
<ddi>
RP: ESS
<ddi>
<ddi>
<ddi>
<ddi>
Official
Non-
official
National
Inter-
national
SURVEYS
STATISTICAL
REPORTING

21. Next Steps Resource Package for ISCED 2011 Realised in two steps:
Motivation: latest version, most structured version
Challenge: ISCED 2011 is a complete package not just a classification
Realised in two steps:
1) The classification variants ISCEDA and ISCEDP
Terminology and definitions
2) Mapping of educational programmes into ISCED.
The next steps consist in developing a DDI resource package for ISCED 2011.
Start with a multilingual realisation of the classification variants ISCEDA and ISCEDP , and include operational concepts and definitions.
When available, include details from the mappings as variables. Display coding of ISCED11P and A, as well as other purpose built measures in comparison tables and generation instruction.
Outlook: Ohter ideas of ISCED-based resource packages.

22. Thank you for your attention!