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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 …
People with low literacy skills are often experiencing difficulties to manage their everyday life. For example, filling out forms, correspondence or banking may pose huge challenges. But what about the political participation of functional illiterates in a society which is dominated by the use of literacy? The following article focuses on how participants of literacy classes use their possibilities of contribution. These assumptions are based on first results of the qualitative research project…
Reshaping the Relationship between Natural Sciences and Society – The implicite Learning in Contemporary Society How much does an average citizen need to know in the field of natural sciences in order to cope with the challenges of contemporary society? This question is being asked from various points of view. We will reconstruct current debates related to this question along three different lines: on the European level, within academia, and by means of a concrete case study. By relating the…
This contribution summarizes the most important trends in further education in Germany as they were elaborated in a secondary analytic research project of the DIE (Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenbildung – German Institute for Adult Education) in 2007. According to the study, participation in adult education in Germany is increasing after long years of decrease, even though, overall, financing of adult education has been further reduced. Cooperation as well as competition between adult educatio…
This article examines the guidelines and objectives of political (societal) and citizenship education in Finland during the past 40 years approximately. During this relatively short period different programmes have arisen which aptly reflect changes which have taken place, in viewpoints, in the social atmosphere and in citizens’ political interests. The article is concerned with the reports of two committees, the Adult Education Committee and the Lifelong Learning Committee, since the beginning…
This article discusses the Federal German “Orientation course“ and different prototypes for “naturalisation tests“ in the German Länder in the context of comparative integration policy. Integration courses and naturalisation tests have at the same time become a policy tool for promoting integration in a targeted manner in various countries which attract immigration. Following a presentation of the context and the presentation of instruction material in the orientation courses, the authors inter…
Common staff qualification concepts hardly ever pay attention to the needs of disabled people. Qualification measures for sensorically handicapped employees must, however, yield a surplus. Above and beyond the teaching of professional know-how, problems have to be addressed which derive from the handicap and affect day-to-day work. The article gives information about a further education concept for people with hearing disabilities and about the chances and difficulties in its implementation.
Older people often lack the competences for the handling of digital media. This is problematic in a society which is more and more based on digital exchanges. Courses of continuing digital education for older people prove to be successful when they are embedded into their living environments. In this article, the author presents several of these educational formats.
The author investigates whether, to which extent and due to which motivation migrants participate in general further education programmes of the City-Volkshochschule (adult education school) of Berlin. Results: The ethnic composition of the city district is not mirrored in that of the course participants. Whichever their formal education, migrants are more than German course participants motivated on the personal level.
Worin liegt das Innovationspotenzial neuer Medien? Inwiefern können die neuen Medien demokratische Beteiligungsprozesse im Sinne einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung fördern? Diesen Fragen gehen die Autoren Gertrud Wolf und Rolf Peuke theoriegeleitet anhand praktischer Erfahrungen im Rahmen des Umweltbildungsprojekts "Multimediaschulung für Naturschutzarbeitskreise der Lokalen Agenda 21 in Baden-Württemberg" nach. Die Fähigkeit, souverän mit dem Internet umgehen zu können, ist eine Voraussetzung für…
