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The focus of this article is on a historical-didactical theory which aims at establishing skills in historical thinking, broken down into skills in historical knowledge, questions, methodology and orientation. The approach, its potential and challenges facing it are explored using the example of the Berlin Wall Monument, a particularly useful example with Germany commemorating the 50th anniversary of the construction of the wall in 2011.
In the future it should be possible for educationally qualified applicants to be able to attend a university without university-entrance certificates acquired in a secondary school. This is meant to help ease the looming shortage of skilled labour in Germany. Facilities in the area of adult education are also to help facilitate the transition to a school of higher learning. The authors of this article report on a promising approach along these lines – the Lower Saxony model project »Open Univer…
The forgotten walking stick. A find from the legacy of Franz Pöggeler This article presents an object from the historical archive of the Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung – a walking stick which has been passed down by Robert von Erdberg, Walter Hofmann and Rudolf Reuter among the protagonists of the »Hohenrodter Bund« which was found in the legacy of Franz Pöggeler. By tracing how this object was handed down, it is possible to illustrate continuities in the history of adult educati…
Interdependence of context, selection criteria and usability of assessment methods Competence assessment is a broad field increasingly difficult to structure. The article distinguishes different assessment methods regarding their relation to different definitions of competence (competence as a collective term vs. competence as an organizing function), purpose of assessment (summative - formative) and objects of assessment (action - resources - reflection). There are contingencies shown which s…
More lower rungs for the ladder. A proposal for new literacy levels This article asks whether international models can be applied as a means of finding well-differentiated literacy levels to map skills acquired during the literacy process. To this effect, the article examines the American “component approach”, the English “entry levels” and the “lower rungs approach”. One result is that the article leans towards the means of educational diagnosis known as “formative assessment”. Based on thi…
