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Aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an extra-occupational graduate program. Hence it was of crucial importance, whether the alumni assessed the graduate program as effective. To investigate this research question a quantitative questionnaire was designed. Thus the graduate program was evaluated at the three levels reactions, learning and transfer. Overall 88 graduates were interviewed. Data analysis shows the efficacy of the program on all levels. Consequently (theoretical and pra…
The 4th sector of education is dominated and directed by market economical criteria while government organized adult education and lifelong learning systems for active labour market policy only have an additional function. The author discusses alternatives by intervention of education policy and isolates three types of financing systems in countries of the European Union: the market regime, the bureaucratical regime, and the mixed regime. Generally he realizes a trend towards a growing relevanc…
This article addresses learning, educational and activity-related prospects upon entering into retirement age and the search for meaning in one's career associated with this. The topic is explored at various levels: first of all autobiographically taking the example of a new, self-employed orientation. At the second level, the case example can be interpreted as part of a societal trend towards activities crossing the age border. Finally prospects for the topic in the context of adult education …
This article describes the “Dorfbildungstage” ("Village Education Days” as a specific instructional format widely used in the valleys of the autonomous Italian province of South Tyrol. The format's regional importance comes from the fact that it integrates an inter-ethnic factor. In these largely rural communities, where differences between ethnic groups are always in the foreground, the village education days form a culture whereby German and Italian ethnic groups shape village learning togeth…
Going out from the »UN ECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development« of March 2005 the author describes which challenges have arisen from the establishment of the perspective of sustainability. In an overview of the different areas of adult education it becomes obvious, how variable the concept of ESD finds acceptance (adult evening classes, environmental education, global learning, academies). Eventually the contribution encourages to comprehend ESD as a chance for adult education an…
In Germany numerous instruments exist for the documentation of individual activities of lifelong learning in formal, non-formal and informal educational contexts. Under the heading of »education passport« alone there are 48 different activities. A systematical and comprehensive approach to the recording, documentation and evaluation of knowledge, skills and competences is lacking up to now. The authors of the DIE project BIBER plumb the chances for a convergence process, which however faces pro…
The focus of this article is on the necessity of competences and qualifications in the lower job segment of the labour market and the applicability of educational programs to acquire these and encourage people with low skills to participate in lifelong learning. Various requirement profiles of literacy in the work context are described. The importance of operational multipliers used in job-related basic education is pointed out. Exemplary methods, used in GRAWiRa in order to concretize basic ed…
In-company further education causes direct and indirect costs that can be divided up between employers and employees in different ways. The article provides an overview of a number of financing models of in-company further education, presenting empirical results of various surveys conducted in enterprises. Not only range of and participation in further education is dealt with, but also the height and composition of further education costs, the timing of qualifying measures, employees’ paying a …
The report presents first results of a study dealing with the whereabouts of former participants of literacy classes. Assuming courses of adult education have a beginning and an end, the authors pursue the phenomena of participants sojourning permanently at adult education courses. Taken data material into account, the reconstruction of possible reasons for staying in the courses finally leads to the demand for an initial consulting – analogical to the starting and learning consultation in the …
Striving for quality is at the core of pedagogical professionalism. Therefore the science of further education has to intervene in the quality discussion in two ways: Firstly, it must develop criteria by which systems of quality assurance can be compared and by which their appropriateness for the sector of further education can be evaluated. Secondly, it must inquire yet more persistently into the specifics of pedagogical quality and find out what further education science can contribute toward…
