Information for parents

Is your child’s school taking part in the TIMSS field test or main survey? Then you and your child can make an important contribution to improving our education system.

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Your child’s part in TIMSS

Photo: Canva/UHH

If your child’s class has been selected for participation in the field test or main survey, the test day will follow a pre-arranged schedule. From the arrival of test administrators at the school to the processing of the collected data, everything will have been carefully planned out. And there’s no need for your child to worry: no grades will be awarded for TIMSS, and teachers won’t find out how their students have performed. The results from TIMSS will be used solely for research purposes.

What participation in TIMSS means for you:

On the day of the test, your child will be given a number of mathematics and science tasks to complete at school on a laptop. They should complete them within a set time frame, working on their own.
Your child will also receive a questionnaire that will collect various pieces of information. Mainly these will be personal details (such as their age or gender) but there will also be questions on their motivation and attitudes towards the subjects.
In addition, your child will be given a questionnaire for parents. This asks you for additional information on their home life and learning environment. The parent questionnaire can also be completed online.

By combining this data, we can identify connections and patterns – for instance, whether enjoyment of science tasks is related to performance or whether children who get support outside of school perform better in mathematics.

Your answers will be anonymized. This means that the researchers who process and evaluate the data can’t identify you from your answers or those of your child.

Downloadable leaflet

Our TIMSS information leaflet is available in six different languages. You can download it via the links below.

FAQs

How is respondents’ personal data protected?

All data is processed in accordance with the applicable statutory regulations. Unauthorized persons not connected with the study cannot at any point identify the specific data you or your child have provided. No names or addresses are collected as part of the study. Your responses and those of your child are used solely for research purposes. School principals and teachers are also unable to view the information provided.

Does my child have to take part in the test?

If your child’s class has been selected to participate in TIMSS, your child has to take part in the testing, unless they meet one of the test exemption criteria. Completing the questionnaire is not obligatory in every federal state. The rules in your state will be outlined in the letter to parents.

As a parent/guardian, why do I need to fill in a questionnaire?

The completion of the questionnaire for parents/guardians is voluntary. However, the information provided will help us to better understand the home lives and learning environments of the participating students and can help provide pointers on how to improve the education system. For instance, it can be used to ascertain which groups of children need particular support.

Who should I contact if I have questions about the test?

If you have questions about the test day at your child’s school or about procedures relating to the questionnaires, please contact IEA Hamburg:

Cornelia Kutter
Tel.: 040 - 48500-629
E-mail: timss_national"AT"iea-hamburg.de

If you have questions relating to the research side of TIMSS, please contact the TIMSS research leads for Germany:

Professor Mirjam Steffensky and Professor Knut Schwippert
timss2027"AT"uni-hamburg.de

Under what circumstances can a student be exempted from the test? (test exemption criteria)

If certain internationally agreed criteria are met, a child can be exempted from participation. These include insufficient proficiency in the test language, i.e. in German if the school is in Germany.