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Normative Patterns of Biography and Contradictory Experiences as Resources in Women’s Educational Biographies As part of a research project on discontinuities in female educational and professional careers, this essay focusses on conflicting expectations women experience – conflicts between set normative social standards and biographies on the one hand, and the different individual plans and perspectives on the other hand. Group discussions among the participants of a Women’s Studies Program…
More lower rungs for the ladder. A proposal for new literacy levels This article asks whether international models can be applied as a means of finding well-differentiated literacy levels to map skills acquired during the literacy process. To this effect, the article examines the American “component approach”, the English “entry levels” and the “lower rungs approach”. One result is that the article leans towards the means of educational diagnosis known as “formative assessment”. Based on thi…
New trends in educational management This contribution is about sharpening the awareness in companies in an offensive way in the sense of a fair debate with the considerations of the other party by means of educational management. In order to invite all organisation members and to enable such processes, the project group scientific consultancy (PwB) has elaborated a staff development seminar with several affiliated groups. The basis for professional feedback talks and on these building staff…
Organisation psychological profit for adult education using the example of "quality" In this contribution organisation psychological theory concepts and empirical methods are used for the current problem of educational institutions of providing a "quality proof" – in the sense of the implementation of quality management systems -, in order to maintain the continuity of their promotion. Before, the organisational psychology is sketched in its extension level, its methods and its reception beh…
Mathematics, natural science and engineering are not among the most favourite learning objectives of either pupils or adults. While they do enjoy a high esteem, they are also perceived as difficult. The authors discuss why this should be so, and give a summary over participation statistics of Volkshochschulen in the past decades, where courses in mathematics, science or technical matters have been on the decline for some time. Against this background, they present aims and methods of their proj…
Internationality is increasingly gaining in importance for the domain of further education. However, its tangible added value is of a size which has hitherto been difficult to define for adult-pedagogic practice. This tape presents the results of an evaluation of around 100 international cooperation projects which were promoted within the framework of the EU SOCRATES programme. Numerous examples reveal the possibilities which currently exist and limitations of European cooperation. Deductively,…
In Switzerland, experienced teachers can validate their competencies which they have achieved in the field of adult education. By submitting a self-assessment which is oriented along a competency profile, to the Swiss Association for Continuing Education (SVEB), the teachers demonstrate in a comprehensible way that they possess the necessary competences to teach in adult education. Experts examine the submitted self-assessments and use the competency profile as a reference standard. The experts…
So far, numeracy as part of basic education has only been considered peripherally in the German-speaking countries, regarding the scientific as well as the practical approaches of adult education. In this article, theoretical and conceptual lines of the discourse are linked systematically. In addition, it is argued for an extension of the discourse by including the concept of subject-oriented basic education, which is based on the concept of numeracy as social practice. Initial findings from tw…
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…
Cooperative education arrangements are confronted with manifold anticipations which can be subsumed as ‘synergy’. This article which presents qualitative-empirical partial results of a current research project, is dealing with the question how Volkshochschulen (folk high schools) which are part of an integrated cooperation, are broaching the issue of synergy and how they describe their handling with this demand of cooperation. There are five strained dimensions of synergy and a broad spectrum o…
