The International Classification of Fields of Education and Training
The most recent classification developed for measuring and coding fields of education and training for cross-national comparisons is UNESCO's International Standard Classification of Education on Fields of Education and Training (ISCED-F). It builds on an earlier version of ISCED as well as work done at Statistics Sweden for Cedefop and Eurostat in the 1990s. ISCED-F was developed by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in 2013 and aims to describe and classify fields of education and training at the secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education levels (UNESCO-UIS, 2014, 2015). It was developed by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in 2013 and describes and categorise different fields of education and training of secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary educational (UNESCO-UIS, 2014, 2015).
The units of the ISCED-F classification are the same as in the related classifications of educational programmes and educational attainment. Fields of education and training are defined across levels of educational levels so the same field can exist at several levels. The most recent version of ISCED-F distinguishes between 11 broad fields of education on the first digit, 29 narrow fields on the second digit and about 80 detailed fields on the third digit. Detailed fields are grouped into narrow fields and narrow fields into broad fields based on the similarity of content covered in the respective programme. This structure is adopted for the search tree in the surveycodings fields of education tool, assuming that content similarity of different fields will also guide respondents when browsing the search tree.
Further readings:
UNESCO-UIS. (2014). ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013). Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/isced-fields-of-educ...
UNESCO-UIS. (2015). International Standard Classification of Education. Fields of education and training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013) - Detailed field description. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/international-standa...
UNESCO. (2006). International Standard Classification of Education ISCED 1997. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000146967?posInSet=1&queryId=a8...
Eurostat. (1999). Fields of Education and Training - Manual. https://ico.metu.edu.tr/system/files/fields_of_education_and_training_eu...
Table of Fields of Education and Training (ISCED-F 2013)
| Broad field | Narrow field | Detailed field |
| 00 Generic programmes and qualifications | 001 Basic programmes and qualifications | 0011 Basic programmes and qualifications |
| 002 Literacy and numeracy | 0021 Literacy and numeracy | |
| 003 Personal skills and development | 0031 Personal skills and development | |
| 01 Education | 011 Education | 0111 Education science |
| 0112 Training for pre-school teachers | ||
| 0113 Teacher training without subject specialisation | ||
| 0114 Teacher training with subject specialisation | ||
| 02 Arts and humanities | 021 Arts | 0211 Audio-visual techniques and media production |
| 0212 Fashion, interior and industrial design | ||
| 0213 Fine arts | ||
| 0214 Handicrafts | ||
| 0215 Music and performing arts | ||
| 022 Humanities (except languages) | 0221 Religion and theology | |
| 0222 History and archaeology | ||
| 0223 Philosophy and ethics | ||
| 023 Languages | 0231 Language acquisition | |
| 0232 Literature and linguistics | ||
| 03 Social sciences, journalism and information | 031 Social and behavioural sciences | 0311 Economics |
| 0312 Political sciences and civics | ||
| 0313 Psychology | ||
| 0314Sociology and cultural studies | ||
| 032 Journalism and information | 0321 Journalism and reporting | |
| 0322 Library, information and archival studies | ||
| 04 Business, administration and law | 041 Business and administration | 0411 Accounting and taxation |
| 0412 Finance, banking and insurance | ||
| 0413 Management and administration | ||
| 0414 Marketing and advertising | ||
| 0415 Secretarial and office work | ||
| 0416 Wholesale and retail sales | ||
| 0417 Work skills | ||
| 042 Law | 0421 Law | |
| 05 Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics | 051 Biological and related sciences | 0511 Biology |
| 0512 Biochemistry | ||
| 052 Environment | 0521 Environmental sciences | |
| 0522 Natural environments and wildlife | ||
| 053 Physical sciences | 0531 Chemistry | |
| 0532 Earth sciences | ||
| 0533 Physics | ||
| 054 Mathematics and statistics | 0541 Mathematics | |
| 0542 Statistics | ||
| 06 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) | 061 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) | 0611 Computer use |
| 0612 Database and network design and administration | ||
| 0613 Software and applications development and analysis | ||
| 07 Engineering, manufacturing and construction | 071 Engineering and engineering trades | 0711 Chemical engineering and processes |
| 0712 Environmental protection technology | ||
| 0713 Electricity and energy | ||
| 0714 Electronics and automation | ||
| 0715 Mechanics and metal trades | ||
| 0716 Motor vehicles, ships and aircraft | ||
| 072 Manufacturing and processing | 0721 Food processing | |
| 0722 Materials (glass, paper, plastic and wood) | ||
| 0723 Textiles (clothes, footwear and leather) | ||
| 0724 Mining and extraction | ||
| 073 Architecture and construction | 0731 Architecture and town planning | |
| 0732 Building and civil engineering | ||
| 08 Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary | 081 Agriculture | 0811 Crop and livestock production |
| 0812 Horticulture | ||
| 082 Forestry | 0821 Forestry | |
| 083 Fisheries | 0831 Fisheries | |
| 084 Veterinary | 0841 Veterinary | |
| 09 Health and welfare | 091 Health | 0911 Dental studies |
| 0912 Medicine | ||
| 0913 Nursing and midwifery | ||
| 0914 Medical diagnostic and treatment technology | ||
| 0915 Therapy and rehabilitation | ||
| 0916 Pharmacy | ||
| 0917 Traditional and complementary medicine and therapy | ||
| 092 Welfare | 0921 Care of the elderly and of disabled adults | |
| 0922 Child care and youth services | ||
| 0923 Social work and counselling | ||
| 10 Services | 101 Personal services | 1011 Domestic services |
| 1012 Hair and beauty services | ||
| 1013 Hotel, restaurants and catering | ||
| 1014 Sports | ||
| 1015 Travel, tourism and leisure | ||
| 102 Hygiene and occupational health services | 1021 Community sanitation | |
| 1022 Occupational health and safety | ||
| 103 Security services | 1031 Military and defence | |
| 1032 Protection of persons and property | ||
| 104 Transport services | 1041 Transport services |