Report on the conferences with different stakeholders organised in the participating countries of the parallel running RIAs
Creators: name: Kardon, Béla
name: Krasztev, Péter
name: Kardon, Johanna
name: Merza, András
name: Nagy, Péter Tibor
name: Tardos, Róbert
name: Kakasi, Ágnes
name: Biró, Zsuzsanna Hanna
name: Kormos, Fruzsina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Inclusion4Schools project
subject: H2020
subject: EU
subject: Horizon2020
subject: data collection
subject: educational inequalities
subject: longitudinal studies
subject: transnational studies
subject: comparative studies
subject: researchers
subject: policymakers
subject: policy recommendation document
subject: online surveys
subject: think tank events
subject: comprehensive report
subject: data sensitivity
subject: data merging
subject: quantitative research methods
subject: data harmonisation
subject: methodology
subject: census data
subject: data access
subject: mixed-methods research
subject: social economic status
subject: Data networks
subject: Special education
subject: Databases
subject: Data science
subject: Social sciences
subject: FOS: Social sciences
subject: Literature studies
subject: Social issues
subject: Data mining
subject: Big data
subject: Census
subject: Relational databases
subject: Educational sciences
subject: FOS: Educational sciences
subject: Data exchange
subject: Data protection
subject: Inclusive education
subject: Social inequalities
subject: Data processing
subject: Social work

description: Working Package 2 of the Inclusion4Schools project sets out to collect information about data collection and provision methods across Europe with the aim of creating an internationally applicable tool that would enable longitudinal, transnational, comparative studies in the field of educational inequalities that could inform and aid the work of both researchers and policymakers. Our main product is going to be a policy recommendation document that will include practical information about the present state of data collection methods and practices, as well as the challenges identified in relation to data collection and access to data. The results of the policy recommendation document are going to be based on a set of  online surveys that were conducted between December 2021 and June 2022, on 13 online and personal think tank events that were organised between June 2022 and January 2023, and on the feedback received about the first draft of the policy recommendation document that participants at the “Measuring educational inequalities in Europe: methodological, ethical, and policy aspects” will provide in September, 2023. Currently, our first comprehensive report on the think tank events is available to view here.

The international think tanks confirmed our hypothesis that there is a great need among researchers to find internationally comparable data but it is quite difficult to get access not only due to data sensitivity issues but also due to the fact that merging different data sets seems to be costly, time consuming, and many times, impossible, even at a national level.

What we have found so far:



All think-tank participants have agreed on the need to conduct large-scale empirical research on educational inequalities both at a national and transnational level, using quantitative research methods.

All agreed that the harmonisation of data would be highly necessary to be able to conduct trans-European research both historically and in terms of country specificities.

Methodology and rapport during think tanks – different approaches during online and in-person events

Identification of most frequently occurring topics. Top themes: level and source of data; comparability and data harmonisation;  use of census data; external limitations and restrictions to data access; and the use and misuse of data collection

Almost no one has purposefully used the national censuses to collect data on students’ and teachers’ immediate and wider social backgrounds, revealing a lack of knowledge about the widespread usability of the censuses in the research of educational inequalities.

creating safe spaces for research

Most common indicators: social economic status, regional specifications, cultural background – sensitive data            


The think tanks have also revealed that



There is a need for mixed-methods and field-based research

The involvement of NGOs and local authorities can increase the success of data collection through maintaining a direct personal connection with communities