Verification of the Attainment of Basic Competencies (ÜGK)
The Verification of the Attainment of Basic Competencies (Überprüfung der Grundkompetenzen, ÜGK) is a nationwide assessment of performance in mandatory education using Swiss measurement instruments and is intended to show the extent to which the national educational goals are being achieved in each canton. In addition to standardised achievement tests, a questionnaire is used to record individual characteristics of the students as well as other contextual characteristics relevant to education. The Large-Scale Assessment (LSA) provides important information for national education monitoring.
The LSA is carried out in different subject areas (school language, mathematics, science, foreign languages) and in different school years (4th, 8th or 11th HarmoS). The basic competencies are based on the national education goals adopted by the Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) in 2011. The acquisition of these basic competencies is considered a key prerequisite for further educational processes and for the future participation of students in society.
ÜGK is commissioned by the cantonal departments of education. As part of its research collaboration with the EDK, the ICER is responsible for coordinating the ÜGK.
Key facts about ÜGK 2023
Contents
Basic competencies: School language, first and second foreign language
Contextualisation: Questionnaire for students
Sampling
Pupils from the 11th school year HarmoS, drawn in a stratified, two-stage random procedure
Website
http://uegk-schweiz.ch/uegk2023/
Duration
2017 - 2024
Project team at ICER
Dr Andrea Erzinger
Dr Simon Seiler
M.A. Franka Baron
M.A. Julia Diarra
M.Sc. Angela Aegerter
B.Sc. Dilan Cümen
Cooperation partners
Universität Zürich (UZH)
Pädagogische Hochschule St.Gallen (PHSG)
Service de la recherche en éducation (SRED)
Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana (SUPSI)
Fachhochschule Graubünden (FHGR)
EDK Item Database (IDB)
ÜGK: Links with register data of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO)
Key facts about ÜGK 2024
Contents
Basic competencies: Mathematics, school language
Contextualisation: Questionnaire for pupils
Sampling
4th grade HarmoS students, selected using a stratified, two-stage random sampling procedure
Development projects
In order to ensure a valid collection of individual characteristics (gender, social origin, language spoken at home and migration status) for eight-year-old pupils, alternative measurement instruments were used within the framework of the 2024 ÜGK, in particular to measure socio-economic origin (SES), and additional validation steps were carried out within the framework of the 2024 ÜGK pilot survey before the questionnaire was used for the first time. For the validation of the student data, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) project ÜGK: Links with register data was used.
Website
https://www.uegk-schweiz.ch/uegk-2024-harmos-4/
Duration
2019-2025
Project team at ICER
Dr Andrea Erzinger
Dr Simon Seiler
Dr Jessica Herzing
M.A. Tobias Ackermann
M.A. Franka Baron
M.A. Julia Diarra
M.Sc. Angela Aegerter
B.Sc. Dilan Cümen
Cooperation partners
Universität Zürich (UZH)
Pädagogische Hochschule St.Gallen (PHSG)
Service de la recherche en education (SRED)
Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana (SUPSI)
Fachhochschule Graubünden (FHGR)
Aufgabendatenbank der EDK (ADB)
ÜGK: Links with register data of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO)
Selected publications
Konsortium ÜGK (Hrsg.). (2019). Überprüfung der Grundkompetenzen. Nationaler Bericht der ÜGK 2016: Mathematik 11. Schuljahr. Bern und Genf: EDK und SRED.
Konsortium ÜGK (Hrsg.). (2019). Überprüfung der Grundkompetenzen. Nationaler Bericht der ÜGK 2017: Sprachen 8. Schuljahr. Bern und Genf: EDK und SRED.
Seiler, Simon (2021). Socio-Economic Status (SES) Variable Definition for "Überprüfung der Grundkompetenzen" 2016 (ÜGK16) Data Based on PISA Inspired Imputations (Stata script). [Software und andere digitale Objekte].