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Based on the currently observable »generation change« in organizations of adult and continuing education, the text deals with conflicts between different generations and age groups, which may arise from this special situation of transition. Different forms of conflicts and tensions are outlined with regard to selected findings from studies of business and adult educational research on organizations. Above all organizations of adult and continuing education are confronted with the dilemma of con…
The textbook provides an introduction to the field of education of older adults and lifelong learning. Coming from an interdisciplinary field of research related to ageing, learning abilities and learning needs of older adults are discussed. Additionally, adequate forms of learning and educational arrangements are presented. A special focus lies upon the correlation between competencies and age, taking into account diverse living conditions and biographies. Thus, the textbook offers impulses to…
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 report contributes statements by educational counsellors indicating their self-expectations and objectives and their attempt to obtain a high beneficial level of counselling in continuing education. At the same time, the ratio of the competences of counselling personnel in continuing education to their self-defined objectives is observed. This qualitative empiricism backs the analysis of the location of continuing educational counselling as a location in the triangle between public expectat…
Educational institutes have always been seen as needing to cooperate: this idea first took shape in education acts and is now increasingly being applied to lifelong learning. In practice, however, there are many arguments against cooperation at institutes of continuing education, not least as it can create unwanted situations of rivalry among the cooperating institutes. To develop models which will help guide schools on issues of cooperation better, further research is required: What advantage…
Dealing professionally with negative emotions Tolerance of frustration and ambiguity as a key competence of providers of continuing education Dealing with disruptions is a key challenge in educational activities. This article uses abusive, insulting or fault-finding statements by participants to analyse professional ways of dealing with negative emotions. Tolerance of frustration and ambiguity are developed theoretically, understood as an element of a broad “feelings-management” and propa…
Voluntary Commitment and Learning. Results of a Survey on Volunteers by the Federal Government The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth’s (BMFSFJ) survey on volunteers, carried out in 1999 and 2004, shows that voluntary work is on the rise, especially in the area of work with young people and adult education. Learning motives play a major role in voluntary commitments. Technical expertise is also considered to be important, but more so by men than by women. O…
Research on learning - a retrospective The history of empirical research on adults’ learning reaches back until the twenties of the last century. This contribution evokes some interpretative research on the pedagogy of learning and teaching for adults. It seems that the adult education sciences’ disciplinary memory is underdeveloped as many instructive older analysis seem to have fallen into oblivion. Recent studies mostly don’t pay attention to the linkages and continuity of the questions. …
For the author, "globalization" and "lifelong learning" are the epitome of disengagement in the economic and/or the pedagogic field. Using the genre of meditation, he develops the concept of disengagement - a shedding of limitations - by the example of disasters, markets, exacting demands in the context of learning, the power of the economy, the responsibilities for education. Reflecting on Comenius and Ralf Dahrendorf, the author tries to “bring the amok-running economism back to its senses” a…
