Statistical processing

Source data

The sources of the Danish primary and lower secondary education statistics are collected through administrative systems of the schools. Statistics Denmark has in collaboration with the system suppliers of the administrative systems established requirements for reporting formats, validation and error searches. A thorough validation of data is carried out by Statistics Denmark prior to linking of the primary and lower secondary education school data with rest of the education data, resulting in the formation of The Student Register.

Frequency of data collection

The statistics are based on information that is gathered once a year.

Data collection

The majority of data is collected by system to system reporting. In fact, Statistics Denmark has devised demands for reporting formats, validation and error detection in cooperation with the system vendors. Some schools do not have an administrative system through which they can report the data. Thus, there are a few educational institutions that report through the schools Uni-login or manually via Excel.

In August, all primary and secondary schools are informed that the yearly reporting of data is due to be delivered the following September. Most of the schools adhere to the deadline when reporting their data, while a small number of schools misses the reporting deadline for various reasons, e.g. uncertainty as to what to report. Reporting is obligatory and, as a result, the data are repeatedly called for until they are received.

Data validation

In cooperation with system suppliers, Statistics Denmark has established requirements for reporting formats, validation and error searches. When data is received by Statistics Denmark, it is subjected to several error checks.

One of the main types of error checking and quality insurance procedures is the macro error check that searches for unlikely fluctuations. The counts are compared with the figures from last year. If there are larger and relatively improbable fluctuations, the school in question must make a new report of its student data. It happens that some schools do not update all their students. In these cases, if it relates to a larger number of students, the institutions are asked to make a new report of data, before the error search is continued.

Micro-data trouble shooting checks are carried out in line with the more general checks. The focus of the micro checks are the discrepancies of the individual records. This could be invalid educational codes for individual students in different schools or a relational check: e.g. whether the starting date is set to after the time of departure date. Furthermore, Statistics Denmark conducts checks with regard to inconsistencies between variables, such as age at commencement time in relation to education. Time series on intake and completion on each education level are controlled.

A duplication check is also conducted due to occasional lacks of consistency between the dates when pupils change schools, resulting in duplications. Statistics Denmark changes the dates, as pupils can not be enrolled in several educations simultaneously. The primary and lower secondary education statistics are checked for unlikely changes in the educational levels (grades), e.g. if a pupil goes from grade 0 to grade 10. Likewise, an error search for the grades in different types of schools, for example youth schools, is also carried out. Normally, 6th grade is the lowest grade in the youth schools, unless it concerns special classes for immigrants. Immigrants, and especially refugees, are often placed in classes that do not necessarily fit their age. Statistics Denmark does not change the educational levels of these pupils.

Data compilation

When data is entered into the statistics from different schools, there are in some cases duplications due to a pupils' change from one school to another during the school year. These overlaps are removed from the data set by changing the dates. Unlikely changes of level may be corrected, as well as unlikely grades at e.g. municipality youth schools. Special schools for children and schools for maladjusted children can find it difficult to report the educational level of their pupils, as it can vary from pupil to pupil in the same class. For this reason, the educational level and UDD code are stated as the normal grade according to the age of the pupils.

Based on the information in The Basic School Register a separate data set is created with a class-id which makes it possible to follow which classes a given student has followed through primary school.

The data set with information about class-id can be linked to The Basic School Register using the variables TAAR, PERSONID.

The Psd.grundskole_laerer dataset is updated once a year. It contains teacher information, the subject they teach in and in which classes. This information is linked with the information in The Basic School Register. Therefore, it is possible to examine which teacher taught which students in specific subjects.

When using or publishing data from The Psd.grundskole_laerer one must comply with Statistic Denmark’s data policy.

Adjustment

No further corrections are carried out besides those described in 3.4 and 3.5.