Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

The reliability of the educational information is considered to be high. The information in the statistics is obtained from the schools' administrative registers and goes through comprehensive error check procedures in connection with the annual data collections. The update of The Student Register further requires that the active students are rediscovered each year. Thus, there must be continuity in the reporting over the years. It rarely happens that the basic schools need to correct their data. The uncertainty is particularly true over the last year.

The census of children in the primary and lower secondary school system covers all pupils in all schools approved by the Ministry of Education and the statistics cover practically all children in Denmark. Few records are deleted, if the civil registration number can not be established. The small amount of children, who are not enrolled in a school because they receive home education, is not part of the basic school statistics. For this reason, the number of children receiving education in Denmark is slightly underestimated.

Sampling error

Not relevant for this statistic.

Non-sampling error

The statistics on the Danish primary and lower secondary education cover almost every child in Denmark. The lack of complete coverage can be caused by an error in a school's data report, but also because children, who for varies reasons are not enrolled in a school, are not covered in the statistics. However, children, who do not have a civil registration number, but is attending classes in a Danish school, are covered by the statistics. Children, who recently immigrated to Denmark, are in that category - e.g. children seeking asylum or children of expats. Moreover, children living in another country, but attending a school in Denmark (eg. the Danish minority in Germany or children of diplomats) are also covered by the statistics. By comparison with the Civil registry, the number of children in this statistics is higher.

Quality management

Statistics Denmark follows the recommendations on organisation and management of quality given in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and the implementation guidelines given in the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF). A Working Group on Quality and a central quality assurance function have been established to continuously carry through control of products and processes.

Quality assurance

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

Quality assessment

The reliability of the educational information is considered to be high. The information in The Student Register is obtained from the administrative registers of the institutions and goes through a comprehensive error check in connection with the annual data collections. The update of The Student Registry further requires that the active students are rediscovered each year. Otherwise, the reason for the lack of continuity must be found and alleviated. Thus, there must be continuity in reporting over the years. Minor uncertainties arise from the fact that the institutions through the annual reports have the opportunity to correct and report data backwards in time. These uncertainties are approximately 0-3 pct.

There is a memo on Statistic Denmark's homepage describing important aspects of this year's data collection to The Student Register: Paper on Education.

Data revision - policy

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

Data revision practice

The figures from the latest year may be considered provisional because of the possibility of updating backwards in time when the institution is reporting. When updating Statbank Denmark with the present year, the previous year is also updated.