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A video-study of language courses in adult education analyses the transformation of a learning side into a pedagogical space. The definition of pedagogical space is linked to the theory of social space. Space is thus viewed as an arrangement and perception between human beings and social goods. This recasting of social space as a pedagogical space specifies social space to include two additional elements: the representation of knowledge and pedagogical media. For this study, the transformation …
Learning from other countries? International perspectives on participation in continuing education at schools of higher learning This article adopts an international comparative perspective to identify the conditions favouring or impeding participation in university continuing education and seeks to answer the question of what we can learn from other countries. To this end, data selected from seven countries through secondary statistical analyses is presented and systematically compared to t…
The product clinic – a method to plan demand-oriented planning of courses and programmes for continuing higher education Continuing higher education is facing the challenge of having to react to heterogenous target groups and having to position itself in the competitive market of further education. In order to be able to plan demand-oriented programms for further education, knowledge of the addressees´ specific educational needs is required. Product clinics as an innovative method of market …
Learning behaviour and milieu as central dimensions at the analysis of the life-long learning process Based on the empirical qualitative research project on "Biography and Learning Behaviour", in which the influence of the generation threshold established knowledge and the origin milieu of dockyard workers in Rostock with which the biographical processing of the societal transformation processes in the former DDR were examined, the following facets are made a subject of discussion. Prefacing…
This study starts from a dilemma which has been observed in adult basic education. On the one hand the use of assessments is regarded as supportive in order to determine in detail the learning needs of adults. On the other hand it is to be expected that persons with experiences of performing inadequately show justified anxieties or resistances in connection with test situations. I have chosen a research approach, which follows Holzkamp’s concept of a subject-scientific learning theory (1995), b…
This paper brings into focus the discourse on competences and reviews critically the potential of large-scale assessments. The measurement of competences in adulthood is a step towards a deeper understanding of the development of competences during the life course, although only domain specific and not general competences are taken into consideration. Based on the current research, the debate on competences will be reflected and the central points in the field of modeling the constructs of skil…
It is widely acknowledged that adult education is a moral enterprise in many respects. There is a demand for empirical research on which groups of actors are dealing with professional ethical issues and which specific ethical problems arise in adult education practice. The authors analyze ethical standards and policies of adult education associations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Based on the outcomes of this analysis, they present a proposal on how a discourse on ethical standards in ad…
The research project KLASSIK examines the question of whether it is possible to increase competencies for information processing skills of older people. To this end, training courses that serve as experimental groups, performed a special, metacognitive thinking training. In the project also included comparison groups received no training. Before the treatment a performance test and an intelligence test ensure that both groups come from the same starting conditions. After the final test an appro…
This article presents results of a national medical impact analysis of relaxation and stress-management courses. The impact on health was examined on 132 persons at 40 adult colleges (VHS) at the beginning and end of courses as well as three months thereafter. The courses attained high levels of satisfaction among the participants and significantly improved health-related quality of life, psychological and physical ailments, and this effect remained three months after the end of the course as w…
“The Ideal World of the Bildungbürger and Rural “Borderline Experiences” Programmes of German adult education centres in 1957 In this article course programmes of German adult education centres in 1957 are examined from the perspectives of four time-witnesses of German social history during the Cold War: (1) What memories are stimulated among time-witnesses as to what the courses were really like? (2) What approach is used in the cover text? (3) What differences can one find when comparing th…
