In particular, the contractor undertakes the field work and data preparation of a survey of facility managers and pedagogical professionals in day-care facilities who work with children from the age of three to school entry (Ü3 sub-study), as well as a survey of facility managers and pedagogical professionals in day-care facilities who work with children under the age of three (U3 sub-study). These two sub-studies together form the national TALIS Starting Strong study, which is carried out as a module of the international TALIS expert study of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Germany.

For both sub-studies, a field test (field phase: February - March 2023) and a main survey (field phase: February - April 2024) will be carried out.

The German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V.) intends to award the national surveys of managers and educators of child day care as part of the TALIS Starting Strong Survey II project.

The surveys in day-care centres each comprise two different, but interlinked survey surveys of managers of day-care centres and pedagogical workers in these institutions. The aim of the surveys is to raise the view of pedagogical professionals and managers on the framework conditions of their pedagogical work and development conditions of quality. The topics relate, among other things, to questions about the staffing and resource equipment of the institutions, professional qualification as well as opportunities for further education and training. Managers who are also active in pedagogical work represent their own target group.

TALIS Starting Strong 2024 is divided into three phases:

1) The pilot study, which took place between December 2021 and April 2022;

2) the field test, which begins with the publication of the international field test instruments in September 2022 and ends with the data analysis in July 2023; and

3) the main survey, which will begin with the publication of the final main international survey instruments in September 2023 and will end with the publication of the first international reports and international databases in October 2025.

The pilot study for both sub-studies as part of the TALIS Starting Strong Survey was conducted and completed in Germany by the National Study Centre in February and March 2022 and is therefore not part of the contractor's services.

The contractor is responsible for carrying out two sub-studies of the TALIS Starting Strong Survey in Germany:

1) The ISCED level 02 sub-study with day-care centres working with children from 3 years of age to school enrolment ("Ü3 sub-study")

2) The sub-study with day-care centres working with children under 3 years of age ("U3 sub-study")

A field test and a main survey will be carried out for both sub-studies.

All sub-studies and surveys are subject to the same uniform standards and procedures and quality control measures as set out in the TALIS 2024 guidelines and related manuals and guidelines.

Before and during the individual survey phases, a number of different tasks have to be fulfilled:

- Review and comment on the draft study framework and survey instruments

(carried out by the National Study Centre)

- Preparation of national samples for day-care centres

(carried out by the International and National Study Centre)

- the preparation of national survey tools and accompanying materials

(carried out by the National Study Centre and partly .dem contractor)

- the collection and entry of the survey data in accordance with international standards (carried out by the contractor)

These tasks are summarized in checklists that are part of the detailed Survey Operations Procedures (SOPs) that are published and shared with the contractor before each new phase of the survey.