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In this paper, the authors examine the setting of and working with boundaries between everyday work and innovation development, based on an empirical analysis of an innovation lab in the social economy. The lab allows intrapreneurs to learn and use entrepreneurial practices to foster social innovation. The process of boundaries setting can be made clear by the spatial structuring of performative practice, the constitution of symbolic spaces, the rhythm of divergence and convergence as well as a…
The International PIAAC study has collected data on competencies of adults in three domains in 25 countries, in many of them for the first time ever. The article provides an overview of central terms, main aims and the methodological approach of this OECD study. It also discusses its potentials and limitations. One limitation is the focus on the labour force, excluding adults older than 65 years, a fast growing part of many populations in times of demographic change. To remedy this limitation,…
The paper is based upon a qualitative-empirical study in the field of basic education for adults (literacy, numeracy, language, and computer skills). The study is located in the andragogical research on teaching and learning. A constitutive characteristic of the examined basic skills courses is the variety of the participants. The variety is both, didactical challenge and potential, for it enables teaching and learning interactions. With interpreting some data examples the paper aims to show ho…
The research memorandum for adult and continuing education (2000) focuses systematically on main research areas and contributes significantly to the systematization of the research landscape, the enhancement of possible collaborations and the provision of an overview of research achievements in the discipline for research sponsors as well as the public. Since 2007, adult educational research projects can be entered in a data base in accordance with the memorandum systematic. Acknowledging that …
This article sheds light on cooperation between different educational fields as seen from the point of view of experts in education. The authors present the initial findings from the group discussions of a DFG project which started recently. These findings cast doubt on whether cooperation can succeed when different occupational groups know so little about one another within and outside their educational sectors. It remains to be seen whether future data expected from the project confirms the c…
Continuing education and justice The question as to the connection between education and justice has always been important, even before education was established as a functioning sub-system of society. This applies in a similar manner to the sub-field of “continuing education”. The REPORT examines different approaches to the difficult topic of justice and the required linkage between a discussion based on standards and norms and empirical data (which is too unreliable). The articles especially…
The German Adult Education Centres (VHS) consider themselves as further learning institutions for all whose aim it is to address the population at large. However, the data basis on the extent to which socially disadvantaged groups are reached is restricted. The present contribution investigates to which extent persons with a low level of school education are represented among the participants of the Adult Education Centres in Berlin. The investigation is linked to previous results of the resear…
Labor economists argue that private investment in the training of workers may be too low. This view is based on the notion of worker skills being a common-pool resource available in principle to any employer. Such under-investment ought to be more pronounced the less difficult it is for outside firms to exploit the skills of workers qualified elsewhere. Thus, higher labor turnover may be expected to reduce firms’ commitment to developing worker qualifications; investment in general skills shoul…
Recent empirical data show that 7.5 million adults in Germany do not reach a minimum level of reading and writing skills and, therefore, are classified as functional illiterates. However, the social and educational background of this part of the population differs considerably from wide-spread perceptions of the target group as it is represented in courses for illiterates in adult education. While the latter normally showed heavy learning problems at school, the wider group normally passed scho…
This paper deals with the relation between the "effort" produced by institutions of further education for successfully realizing inter-organizational participation in networks and the "significance" of participation for the performing of the services of the institutions. A polythetic classification based on the qualitative data material is presented that allows for the differentiation between three different groups of organizations based on the relation between effort and significance. The resu…
