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The ageing population presents a series of policy challenges, for which our current three phase model of the lifecourse is unhelpful, especially by overlooking the changing nature of the “third age”. Encouraging people to stay longer in paid work is a key priority for Government, and training is often advocated as a way of encouraging this. This paper summarises the demographic challenge and presents a proposal for rethinking the lifecourse. It then describes the findings of a project, which ex…
In order to reach real equality of men and women it is necessary to substitute not only women but also men and fathers in their role as an “active” father in family, society and professional life. The article describes education of fathers as a relatively new form of adult and further education focusing the consequences of social change processes and orientating by biographical transitions as there are pregnancy, bir th preparation, to be familiar with the role of parents, separation and di…
Education or competence – a pseudo alternative? It is a platitude that the structural change of society also leads to structural problems of further education. Therefore this is discusses intensively for some time past and the practical transpositions are gross. The impression of the authors is that it is argued, latently or explicitly, dichothomic even though that in fact is not necessary. In this contribution the authors want to expand on two such contradiction theorems with the intention …
In view of the demographic change the investments in education for elderly population are becoming increasingly more important. At the same time the educational system’s endeavours of repair are rather targeted at the very young. How can the educational investments be divided usefully between the old and the young? By showing examples of Scandinavian countries, the author elucidates a double strategy of high educational investments for the phase of youth and in adult life. The countries have su…
Adult education is a field that is strongly shaped by tensions between scientific and political demands. The development of competencies as well as the idea of continuing to learn throughout the whole life are topics that have been debated in science and policy for many years and are still of great importance today. This dissertation deals with the relationship between science and European education policy in adult education by analyzing scientific journal articles and political documents from …
The following article focuses the neglected relation between identity and learning by reconstructing foreign language learning efforts by adults. In spite of educational policy’s proclamation of (continuous) lifelong learning, real learning processes are characterised by various discontinuities. Adults deal with these discontinuities by perceiving, describing and structuring them dependent on their self-images as learners. Interpretations of interviews with adult language learners supply eviden…
Net based communication is changing business and private life and education and learning of adults as well. Important condition for using new chances by new information and communication technologies for learning processes is media competence. – The authors describe components of media competence as a pedagogical target including technical competence, communicative competence and the competence of coping with the information flood. Problems are restrictions of participation on net based communi…
Positive learning experiences in childhood, adolescence, as well as during employment have a favourable effect on learning in old age. From a gerontological perspective, the significance of school education and of professional qualifications attained later in life for educational behaviour in the post-employment phase can be explained with the continuity theory. To evaluate the relevance of one’s educational biography, a representative survey was conducted. 500 individuals at the age from 50 to…
Literacy as a social practice in a district. An ethnographic theory for basic education practice In German-speaking countries, the theoretical discussion on literacy work is characterised far more by a focus on deficits than is the Anglo-Saxon debate. This article narrows this theoretical gap by adopting Barton & Hamilton’s ethnographic research approach to local literacies for an empirical investigation into literacy practices. The project presented here studies how and why reading and wri…
Foundation of a family as a predetermined breaking point? On the interaction of parenthood and participation in adult education and continuing education Within the context of an empirical longitudinal research project, the processes and turning points of the continuing education practise are documented and discussed in a gender-typical context of life. The survey proves the gender-typical change of the (continuing) education behaviour of men and women when they become fathers and mothers: The …
