School leavers’ surveys, research programmes which are surveying students leaving school or graduating, can provide important and relevant information on the processes of lifelong learning. The main aim of the current research is to study ‘the construction, interpretation, and display of statistics in quantitative social research’ to interpret the informal knowledge and procedures beyond the technicalities of statistics; this is referred to by Gephart (1988: 9) as ‘ethnostatistics’. The kind of issues raised in this investigation include the nature of measurement: what do we measure? How can we measure? What does the data collected mean? How is the ‘evidence based policy making’ working in everyday life? These questions are applied here to the notion of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning, referring to the time-line of the individual life, is complemented with life-wide learning suggesting that learning takes place in different sections, spaces and places of our lives (Harrison et al. 2002). This concept emerged from the 1960s and became important within the European Union discussions in the 1990s (Tight 1998, Biesta 2006, Edwards et al. 2002, Field and Leicester 2002, Jarvis 2009a, Rubenson 2009, Schuller, 2009).

This research project uncovers how data is produced and used within this area of educational research and policy-making in several European countries. The new research involves analysing and comparing national research programmes which gather information on school leavers after having left compulsory education. The new analysis deals with the school leavers’ survey methodology, how the research is financed and managed and special emphasis is put on the dissemination and utilization process.

The project is therefore a kind of meta-research, which has an international comparative educational framework.  The time element involves the current versions of school leavers’ surveys with reference to their recent changes over time; the geographical element involves comparisons of national survey programmes.

This research project will uncover how data is produced and used within this area of educational research and policy-making. The new research involves analysing and comparing national research programmes which gather information on school leavers after having left compulsory education. The new analysis deals with the school leavers’ survey methodology, how the research is financed and managed and special emphasis is put on the dissemination and utilization process.

The project is therefore a kind of meta-research, which has an international comparative educational framework.  The time element involves the current versions of school leavers’ surveys with reference to their recent changes over time; the geographical element involves comparisons of national survey programmes.

BIESTA, G. 2006. What’s the Point of Lifelong Learning if Lifelong Learning Has No Point? On the Democratic Deficit of Policies for Lifelong Learning. European Educational Research Journal, 5, 169-180. EDWARDS, R., MILLER, N., SMALL, N. & TAIT, A. 2002. Supporting lifelong learning. Vol.3, Making policy work In: EDWARDS, R., MILLER, N., SMALL, N. & TAIT, A. (eds.) Supporting lifelong learning. Vol.3, Making policy work London: RoutledgeFalmer. FIELD, J. & LEICESTER, M. 2000. Lifelong Learning. Education Across the Lifespan, London, Routledge/Falmer. GEPHART, R. P. 1988. Ethnostatistics: Qualitative Foundations for Quantitative Research, London, SAGE Publications. JARVIS, P. 2009. The European Union and lifelong learning policy In: JARVIS, P. (ed.) The Routledge international handbook of lifelong learning. London: Routledge. SCHULLER, T. 2009. The OECD and lifelong learning. In: JARVIS, P. (ed.) The Routledge international handbook of lifelong learning. London: Routledge. TIGHT, M. 1998. Lifelong Learning: Opportunity or Compulsion? British Journal of Educational Studies, 46, 251-263.