In 2012, the GEBF was founded in Frankfurt. In the middle of March 2013, the first conference of this, the youngest, interdisciplinary association in the field of educational research has now taken place in Kiel. Host of the conference, with over 600 researchers from different disciplines attending, was the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN), which is led by Managing Director Prof. Dr. Olaf Köller in cooperation with the Christian-Albrecht-University in Kiel. The high attendance figures surpassed by far the expectations of GEBF President Prof. Dr. Manfred Prenzel from TU Munich.

Among about 400 contributions, the work of NEPS staff members and analyses with NEPS data from our external users were prominently represented. Thus, symposia were held on the assessment of competencies over the life span within the framework of the NEPS, or on the equivalence of competence measurements in large-scale assessments such as NEPS and PISA. Individual contributions addressed, for example, the assessment of parent-child interaction in early childhood, the measurement of reading ability in children with special educational needs, early educational disparities at preschool age, or the importance of native-language competence for persons with migration background.

With the NEPS convention booth as a contact point for data users as well as researchers who are in the process of developing questions relating to the extensive theoretical links of NEPS data, the NEPS Consortium was also available outside of the auditoriums and seminar rooms as a provider of services concerning data transfer and user training.

The NEPS is pleased to congratulate GEBF on its highly successful and exceptionally well-organized conference premiere, which has succeeded in addressing the latest trends concerning quantitatively oriented educational research in its different facets throughout all areas of society and all life stages.