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.
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…
From 1992 to 2007 a considerable amount of German and EU funding was put into development projects described as “Qualification Development Management” (German acronym: QUEM) and aimed to support the quality of vocational qualification structures in the former GDR. QUEM was sponsored by the ABWF (Study Group for Corporate Continuing Education Research). In this article the author, a scientist working on QUEM, sums up the activities in the programmes and projects which were funded. He identifies …
Family is a learning space with special features. Learning processes do not only involve children but also adult family members. Taking the example of the acquisition of media competences, the older generation’s learning processes are analysed based on the qualitative IgelMedia study. With regard to adult education, the author concludes that intra-family learning processes attract attention. The focus should not only be on transferring new knowledge but also on the classification of acquired sk…
Der demografische Wandel wirft Fragen auf, die auch für die Weiterbildung von Bedeutung sind. Führende Alternsforscher stellen in diesem Buch Ergebnisse ihrer Forschung vor, die multidisziplinär mit Methoden der Psychologie, Soziologie und Erziehungswissenschaft arbeitet. Das Buch präsentiert den internationalen Forschungsstand und diskutiert Möglichkeiten, den Alterungsprozess gesellschaftlich und persönlich zu bewältigen.
The article focuses on an empirical desideratum of research on teaching and learning in adult education – the planning of courses. The planning of courses is a complex decision-making process, which influences the teaching and learning behavior. Empirical findings of schoolteachers’ planning and results of interviews with trainers in adult education are used to identify elements and potential factors that influenced planning behavior. Based on this, the article develops research prospects and a…
In the past, continuing higher education at university level has been a marginal phenomenon in Germany, both within universities and the context of adult education on the whole. Internationally though, adult education has gained significant importance / relevance in recent years. While implementing the objectives of the bologna-process, German universities are undergoing a far-reaching transition. In addition, the rules of market economy will apply for universities increasingly. This very devel…
The German Institute for Adult Education (DIE) works as a provider of scientific ser vices for both research and practical work in adult and fur ther education, supplying institutions and researchers with statistical data, documents and support. Its strategic position at the interface between theory and practice corresponds with the institutes specific understanding of its own supportive function and distinctive corporate identity: transmitting scientific knowledge to practice and vice versa, p…
The understanding of a knowledge-based society that orientates itself alongside an economic paradigm, is enhanced by showing up the pluralism of different types of knowledge. Within these different types the specific criteria of scientific knowledge are identified. Concerning the teaching and learning of scientific knowledge the question arises, by which methods this kind of knowledge can be communicated. These methods are associated with the function of unfolding the specific structure of scie…
This article discusses the question how knowledge may be used for new or alternative learning decisions and in how far the post-modern understanding of “knowledge” is involved in this process. More precisely, it is discussed how organisations and individuals use knowledge as a result of learning in general and with respect to continuing learning decisions and how expectations and evaluations regarding the use of continuing education are placed in cultures of learning. The argument is based on l…
Parent and child programmes are the most frequently offered programmes in family education. The intergenerational experiment of education and lifelong learning has proven its worth in adult and family education and may be regarded as a counter weight to the »expertisation« during the early childhood.
