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.
The "Blue Series" is the DIE's most traditional series of books. It is aimed at researchers and students of adult education as well as academically interested practitioners. Scientific papers on a theoretical and empirical base provide access to adult education research and enhance the transfer of knowledge between practice and research. Over the past 30 years, it contributed significantly to the discipline of adult education.
Every educational event inevitably comes to an end. A »good« ending to educational events is - in contrast to their opening - often not sufficiently reflected upon in didactical terms. Ulrich Papenkort’s article focuses attention on this subject, which has received little attention from the field of research to date. By distinguishing between »opening«, »a retrospective look«, »criticism«, »look forward« and »farewell«, new possibilities for designing a successful conclusion to teaching/learni…
Gieseke, Wiltrud; Robak, Steffi: Programme planning and management from the perspective of educational research Empirical results and conceptional changes The text reflects the correlations between new learning cultures and organistional structures with a view on appropriate institutional concepts. As a result of the reflections the authors declare themselves in favour of a change of educational theories by taking the concept of education as a basis for conceptional and organisational devel…
Im Mai 2025 wurde Karin Prien (CDU ) zur Bundesministerin für das neu gegründete Ministerium für Bildung, Forschung, Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend ernannt. Erstmals vereint ein Bundesministerium alle Bildungsetappen von der frühen Kindheit bis ins Alter und ermöglicht so eine durchgängige Perspektive auf lebenslanges Lernen. Über ihre Pläne und deren Bedeutung für die Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung sprachen mit ihr die Herausgeber Prof. Dr. Josef Schrader und Dr. Peter Brandt.
In the context of lifelong learning, adults are increasingly being viewed from a biographical perspective. This article takes a look at how differently – and in some cases inconsistently – adults are construed as biographical subjects in education policy, in educational practice, and in research on adult education. It argues that to even begin to examine the processes and practices of biographical subjectification that take place in adult and continuing education, biographical research must be …
Ekkhard Nuissl, Professor für Erwachsenenbildung an der Universität Marburg und Direktor des DIE, spricht mit Dr. Angela Franz-Balsen über die Notwendigkeit von Supportstrukturen und über die konkreten Supportleistungen, die das DIE erbringt. Er sieht die Weiterbildung insgesamt herausgefordert, gemeinsam und intensiv an weiteren Supportstrukturen zu arbeiten und nationale Kapazitäten auf europäischer Ebene zu vernetzen.
"Entwicklungsorientierte Bildungsarbeit" zeigt sich in dieser REPORT-Ausgabe von zwei grundsätzlichen Seiten. Zum einen verdeutlichen die Aufsätze aus den unterschiedlichen Ländern und Kontinenten, dass die jeweiligen sozialen, historischen und kulturellen Gegebenheiten einer Gesellschaft von großer Bedeutung für jede Bildungsarbeit sind. Zum anderen zeigt sich aber auch, dass entwicklungsorientierte Bildungsarbeit methodisch, lerntheoretisch und bildungspolitisch von eben den zentralen Fragen …
Didactical shift of epoch? Needs for clarification for the further development of didactical thinking, with regard to a DFG-supported research This contribution deals with the question, what science should clarify, explore and do in order to tackle a possible stagnation of didactical thinking (and therewith also its practical possibilities of impact). In spite of the fruitful provocation with which the didactical discussion has been revived in the last decade, especially from sides of cons…
Educational research is often focused on biographies. Literacy and basic education frequently use knowledge about biographies as a means for educational support within the scope of catch-up education (“second chance”). The article discusses how biographically generated knowledge can be transferred into pedagogical practice. The authors give up on the idea of a direct “utilization” of biographical insights into practical work – the yield is rather to indirectly stimulate and irritate professiona…
This volume aims at the description, the analysis and the explanation of cultural/arts education for adults. It conveys insights into the field through the lens of interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to the arts, to culture and to transculturality and links them to reflections and empirical findings from the adult education discipline, in particular in the areas of programme analysis. Through this we attempt to inspire further research and theory-building on cultural/arts education for adu…
