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The study text points out relevant research criteria for an evaluation in the field of adult education. For that purpose, basic concepts and theories are discussed and objectives, tasks, and principles of evaluation are outlined. The author refers to classic targets of evaluation – teaching/learning processes, educational institutions, projects/programmes as well as the education system – to present the features of adult education evaluation. In this context, the issue of required object-relate…
The contribution summarizes occasion, assignment, object, procedure and results of the evaluation of the North Rhine-Westphalian law of adult education. Thereby it also includes following statements of clients an association. Going out from this it tries to find answers to general questions concerning the evaluation of adult education laws. For the question of objectivity of analyses and results the disclosure of the targets and the independence of researcher teams are vital.
Hattie‘s study »Visible Learning« is no reason to call for didactic changes in adult education - this is this article’s conclusion of the New Zealander’s meta-study from a continuing educational perspective. Nontheless, Hattie provides significant suggestions for the didactic debate. These suggestions include guidelines for suitable teaching activities as well as his rather provocative findings on the positive effects of actively guided lessons, which do not contradict adult educational conside…
PISA and adult education – temptations and open questions “The PISA results are an invitation for the debate and for developing the research rather than conclusive judgeements on the miracle recipe to improve the educational performance” (Heller 2003, p. 30). Earmarking for the discussion of policies of adult education after PISA is that the results are taken to express most different positions in little differentiated way. To this also the typical reception problems contribute, such as t…
How to relate Natural Sciences to Adult Education Drawing on an intensive debate on the improvement of scientific literacy going on in Germany for more than ten years, this article deals with possible contributions of adult education. Starting with the marginal supply of science courses for adults, I focus on typical didactical arrangements and concepts. Based on an empirical study, exemplary didactical concepts are analysed regarding aims, topics, course type, and audience. The results are…
The article deals with a change in public, political, and scientific understanding of migration and integration issues, which has to be taken into account by organisations of adult and continuing education. Furthermore the present focus on migration and integration offers new challenges as well as opportunities to improve the role of organisations of adult and continuing education in shaping the German society as an immigration society.
The authors take the model of reproduction contexts, which has been developed by Josef Schrader in order to systematize the adult education sector, as a point of departure to discuss the possibilities of its empirical transfer. Based on the re-analysis of structural data of adult education institutions the problems of transfer of a theoretically developed model are explored. They conclude by outlining impulses for further discussions.
In adult education as an almost deregulated educational sector, governance happens indirectly via support programs and educational initiatives. Money plays a central role as a medium of governance and is also used to promote quality management systems. Quality management itself unrolls a governing capacity in the adult education system: in doing so, different models stress different starting points for quality development. This paper responds to the question which factors influence the developm…
In today’s societies literacy is regarded as the prerequisite for participating in the professional and private spheres of everyday life. It is regarded as a human right, a tool for personal empowerment and a tool to influence the behaviour of individuals, families and communities. Despite the international consensus that literacy skills determine opportunities and provide access to today’s information-based societies, many adults in both industrialized and developing countries find themselves …
Based on the currently observable »generation change« in organizations of adult and continuing education, the text deals with conflicts between different generations and age groups, which may arise from this special situation of transition. Different forms of conflicts and tensions are outlined with regard to selected findings from studies of business and adult educational research on organizations. Above all organizations of adult and continuing education are confronted with the dilemma of con…
