Short facts about Adult Education/Continuing Education (AE/CE) in Germany
[up]Who has the political responsibility for CE?
The Federal Republic of Germany is a federal state. This is of particular importance in the area of education and culture, where state powers are principally vested in the federal states (the Länder, often written as Laender) and not in the federal government.
[up]How is the structure of AE/CE institutions?
- AE/CE institutions have a varied structure. They differ not only in size, but also according to whether:
- they are exclusively responsible for CE or carry out other activities as well;
- their provision is open to all interested persons or is limited to a restricted group;
- they are part of a major societal organization such as the churches, trade unions and entrepreneurial associations, or are not bound in this way;
- they are governed by commercial interests (e.g., distance education institutes), private social interests (e.g., church education services), public interests (e.g., community adult education centres) or other organizational interests (e.g., industrial and commercial companies);
- their legal status is private, governed by public law or state-controlled; and
- they offer provision in the whole field of AE or concentrate on specific areas of provision.
[up]What are the most important actors?
The most important AE institutions and groupings are:
- Trade union AE
- Company-based AE
- Community adult education centres (Volkshochschulen, VHS)
- Religious AE
- Commercial AE institutions
- Institutes of distance education
- The "Work and Life" association
Arbeit und Leben, AuL)
- Residential adult education centres and, in the broader sense, all education centres offering accommodation
- Chambers of industry and commerce, and chambers of craft trades and agriculture, which offer a broad range of AE
- State CE institutions, i.e., colleges of continuing education sponsored directly by the state
- Educational organizations of the various sectors of the economy
- A large number of voluntary initiatives and alternative groups
- Higher education institutions, which have an obligation to AE/CE under the Basic Higher Education Act
- The foundations of the political parties.
[up]What are the main sources of funding?
In accordance with the pluralistic structure of AE in Germany, funding relies on a variety of sources:
- the state (the Federation and the Laender) and the communes;
- the (private) economy;
- the sponsoring bodies of AE institutions;
- private households; and
- the Federal Labour Agency (Federal Labour Office to 2003).
[up]How many institutions exist in the field?
The number of institutions is very high. Those institutions recognised and publicly supported by the state (by the Federation or the Laender) number well over 2,000 alone, 1,000 of these being community adult education centres. The AE institutions of industrial and commercial companies, chambers of industry and commerce, and chambers of craft trades, are of a similar order of magnitude. There are in addition numerous private and commercially run AE institutions – in many major cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, there are between 300 and 600 such institutions alone.
[up]What is the amount of public expenditure in AE?
The funding of AE in Germany amounted in the year 2000 to 36,7 billion EUR.
Spending on continuing education out of the "public purse" (Federation, Laender, Communes) amounted in 2000 to 0.38% of total public expenditure (1992 0.42%) and 0.11% of Gross Domestic Product (1992 0.14%). The proportion of total public expenditure thus continues to lie well below that spent on elementary education (1.43% of total expenditure; 1992 1.20%), higher education (3.18% of total expenditure; 1992 3.97%) and schools (7.83% of total expenditure; 1992 7.33%). Public spending on continuing education has shown the largest rise of any sector of education since 1975 but, at 28 EUR per inhabitant in 2000, is still far behind the other sectors of education (elementary education: 104 EUR, schools: 569 EUR, higher education: 231 EUR). Public spending principally covers subventions for activities and institutions (largely run by the communes and Laender), pilot projects, education programmes (chiefly federal) and provision for specific target groups. However, public expenditure is in fact increased by "hidden" spending on AE, for example through budget headings relating to AE in other areas of government (agriculture, administration, etc.).
[up]What are general facts about participation in CE?
- Participation in adult and continuing education declines over the age of 40, especially in vocational and work-related fields.
- Participation in vocational continuing education is well above average among the age group 15 to 35. The proportion of those with higher levels of education is also considerably above the average.
- Participation in adult and continuing education increases as the level of education of participants rises.
- Participation in adult and continuing education differs between men and women only if differences in patterns of active involvement in the labour force because of "family breaks" and part-time employment are disregarded.
- Participation is lower in rural areas, where multimedia-based learning and distance education acquire greater importance.
- Participation is also dependent on both social and educational situation: the worse the social situation, the less likely people are to take part in continuing education.
- Information and counselling are of growing importance as determining factors in participation in continuing education.
- Self-directed learning and integrated learning at the workplace are increasing in importance relative to organized learning in the spectrum of continuing education participation.
[up]What can be said about numbers, duration and provision in vocational education in Germany?
The "Continuing Education Reporting System" surveys carried out by Infratest Social Research on behalf of the
Federal Ministry of Education and Research have provided overall statistics of participation in AE in Germany since 1979. The most recent survey took place in 2000. With the exception of a fall between 1997 and 2000, the long-term trend in participation in continuing education participation has been upwards. In 1979, 23% of the adult population stated that they had taken part in continuing education within the last year, in 1991 (old and new Laender combined) this figure was 37%, in 1997 it was 48% and in 2000, most recently, it was 43%. The 43% of the German population aged 19 to 64 years in 2000 equated to some 21.4 million people.
Participation in vocational education
Between 1999 and April 2000, 4,099,000 people in the active labour force took part in initial and inservice vocational continuing education, i.e. 10.2% (compared with 13.3% in 1998) of the entire active population (Microcensus) 1998 and 2000
Federal Office of Statistics. After German Unification, the rate of participation among women reached that of men (1991: both 15.5 %), and the trend is still upwards (1998: women 13.7%, men 13.0%; 2000: women 11.0%, men 9.6%).
Participation in vocational continuing education is appreciably above average in the age group 15 to 35 years. Participation is also above average among those with higher levels of initial education – in 1999, only 3.1% of people with lower secondary leaving certificates took part in vocational continuing education, while this proportion was 20.6% among people who had successfully completed upper secondary education (Microcensus 1999).
Places of vocational education and duration of courses
The majority of vocational education and training (just over half) took place at the workplace, and a third in special training or retraining centres. In 1998, half of vocational continuing education courses lasted less than one month (this accorded with training at the workplace and therefore refers primarily to initial work-based learning), in a quarter of cases courses lasted between one and six months, and all others were between six months and two years in length. By 2000, however, the position had almost reversed. Courses lasting less than six months now accounted for under 10%.
Distance education
In 2000, a total of 141,480 people took part in distance education. After a steady decline between 1993 and 1998, a clear upward trend has been seen since 1999.
[up]How many people are working in the field of CE?
There are no exact data on how many people in total are engaged in planning provision and in teaching itself in adult education establishments. The German Institute for Adult Education (DIE) is the only body regularly to publish statistics on staffing in community adult education centres. For the reporting year 2002, it can supplement these from its surveys of adult education provided by the Churches and political adult education centres for. According to these figures, a total of 205,000 people were employed in community adult education centres in 2002, and a further 78,000 in religious and political continuing education establishments. The vast majority (95%) worked part-time on a freelance or voluntary basis.
The full-time professional staff is chiefly engaged in planning and resource allocation, and increasingly also in organizational and management tasks.
[up]What are the most important points concerning the professionalisation of educational staff in CE?
- A first or Master‘s degree focusing on adult education is offered at
many universities. At other higher education institutions, the specialist area of AE/CE is represented.
- There is above all a lack of basic training in adult education, of an adequate and effective programme of inservice training, and of a suitable occupational profile.
- There is inadequate social security cover for part-time staff in particular, who earn their living by combining a number of part-time teaching contracts; this group is very numerous especially in publicly supported AE (above all in the community adult education centres).
- Training of educational staff in organizational matters, for example in public relations, organizational development, marketing and financial planning, all aspects which used to appear quite distinct from educational activities.
- Issues relating to the enrichment of teaching activities by the addition of counselling, mediation, tutorial and service functions, to be achieved through closer links between organized and self-directed learning.
[up]How pervious are the different sectors of education in Germany?
Germany has a well-performing school system, with compulsory school attendance lasting nine years and differentiated types of schools, a well-developed higher education sector with a range of types of higher education institutions throughout the country, and a particular scheme of vocational education (the "dual system"), which combines state vocational schools with private apprenticeship contracts. In recent years it has become easier to move from one sector of education to another, and to combine different elements of education in one educational career. It is now possible to gain the Abitur (upper secondary leaving examination which grants access to higher education) by a route other than the Gymnasium (grammar school), and the Abitur is no longer the only means of gaining access to a university. However, it is evident that the various sectors of education are poorly integrated and that their provision and courses pay insufficient attention to each other.
[up]What are the different types of CE courses?
Types of CE course vary widely. They range from long-term full-time courses (of up to two years), especially for retraining programmes, to two-hour lectures. Vocational education tends to be longer, while political, general and cultural education is shorter. The most typical forms of CE provision are:
- Courses of one to two hours per week outside working hours, in the evening or, for those not working, in the daytime. This type of provision takes place chiefly in the community adult education centres.
- Seminars of two or three days, frequently arranged at weekends. Most providers offer this type of provision.
- One- to two-week intensive courses of the "educational leave" type. These are offered principally by community adult education centres, other educational centres, companies, and "Work and Life", sometimes with accommodation.
[up]What types of certificates exist?
Large parts of short-term CE/AE provision are run without any certification, while longer-term activities usually lead to the award of a certificate. There are three usual types of award:
- State certificates
- Certificates particular to continuing education
- Certificates specific to organizations
[up]Does Germany have a law on educational leave?
In many Laender, the AE Act has been supplemented by a law on educational leave, sometimes under a different name. Such laws govern the paid leave of employees for participation in educational activities, lay down an individual entitlement usually to one week per year, and have fundamentally influenced the development of a special mode of provision (one- and two-week courses) and the design of their content. The laws on educational leave which apply in eleven of the sixteen Laender have brought about a change in the social structure of the adult and continuing education courses affected (especially in relation to the required level of previous education), but have as yet had little quantitative impact since only between 2 and 4% of employees on average take up their entitlement to educational leave.
The "Short facts" are based on
Nuissl, E.; Pehl, K. (2004): Portrait
Continuing Education Germany, third revised edition, Bielefeld (W. Bertelsmann Verlag); from the series of books "Länderporträts
Weiterbildung".
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