Research
We explore how adult education can be made inclusive, digital and effective.
Services
Digital tools, specialist portals and data – for teachers, researchers, students and interested parties.
Institute
We offer research, transfer and infrastructure for lifelong learning.
As a result of the current migration of several hundreds of thousands refugees in Germany alone, concepts for successful language training become increasingly important. The integration programme funded by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) plays a central role. This article refers to data collected by the author regarding success factors for language learning. In this qualitative study, 51 interviews were conducted with integration programme participants in a reception centre…
Successful communication – i.e. reaching an understanding between speaker and listener – depends on the content and its format, the personality of the speaker, but also on the form and presentation of the content. Especially in situations of learning and teaching, the voice of the speaker plays an important role in the presentation of the content of teaching and learning. Some ways of speaking may render unwanted effects and may be seen as distracting. It is important to note, however, that all…
The article deals with the question of organizations' internal control problems, which appear during the implementation of scientific continuing education, and how these problems relate to the implementation process and also to the general opening of universities for higher education to adult learners. Based on qualitative empirical results from a currently ongoing DFG project, three control problems are deployed and appropriate forms of action are demonstrated. The results provide evidence of …
This contribution describes an approach for the assessment of the total expenditure for adult and continuing education and training (ACET) in Austria, broken down by public and private sources of financing. Variants of estimates of the expenditure are presented. Direct expenditure has been at 0.7% and the sum of direct and indirect expenditure at 1.2% of GDP in 2009. The largest share is born by the enterprises (40%), followed by the public (30-34%), and the individuals slightly below 30%. Amon…
Didactical quality is a crucial precondition if all citizens of the European Union are to be able to develop multilingual skills. Here it is in particular adult education centres which have the task of training their teachers and offering them continuing education so as to make possible optimum didactical classroom instruction. This article shows that applied linguistics and research on teaching languages can provide an important impetus here. The author moreover issues a plea for specialised d…
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…
Due to special legal status, differences in social structure, and fewer chances on the labor market, people with migration background are less successful in initial schooling and vocational training programs. They are also under-represented in the area of adult education. The role of continuing education counseling, therefore, is to inform immigrants interested in education of the many individual educational opportunities that are available, to purposefully remove educational barriers, and to p…
Teilqualifikationen bieten eine effektive Möglichkeit zur beruflichen Qualifizierung von Menschen ohne formalen Berufsabschluss. Die Autorin und der Autor zeigen Zielgruppen und Verfahren auf und diskutieren Erfolge und Hemmnisse in der Verbreitung von TQ.
New responsibility for older people. “Senior citizen trainers“ in the EFI Programme: training concept and fields of activity This article presents a continuing education strategy with which older people are prepared for voluntary work as senior citizen trainers. The six-week course was developed in the model programme “experiential knowledge for initiatives” (briefly: EFI), which was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth over a five-year period,…
The German „Bundesanstalt für Arbeit“ runs a comprehensive system of advisory programmes not only for unemployed persons, but also for working persons interested in further professional training, special programmes for disabled persons as well as for employers. With the multiplying „factors of uncertainty“ the demand for information about current developments on the labour market is increasing. In addition to traditional forms of consultancy the job centres are building up several computer bas…