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.
Continuing Education for the teaching Staff in adult Education in Europe – Situation, Strategies, Systems This article reviews the results of the efforts for establishing a frame for the measuring of competencies and skills for the teaching staff in adult education which has been implemented on the European level (EQF). It is shown that, due to the situation in various European countries, a rather open understanding of the term “adult education” is in use, including vocational training and n…
The Gutenberg era is coming to an end. Caused by the expansion of digital media and progressing networking opportunities, another technical revolution after the invention of the printing press is forthcoming – "the secondary orality". The author points out the effects on both publishers and the entire academic and learning culture.
This study is the first extensive attempt to chart the rise and fall of popular educational movements across Europe following the 1848 revolutions to their demise at the outbreak of World War Two. It examines in detail the relationships between the educational, political and social aspirations of the emergent nationalist, workers' and women's movements, and the challenge to traditional intellectuals and academic knowledge. Following the emergence of the bourgeois public sphere in the early mode…
The article deals with cooperation under the perspective of governance from an organisational view. According to the variety forms of cooperation in the field of adult education, cooperation can be seen as a medium that adult educational organisations can use for their reproduction and coordination in different institutional environment. Based on empirical findings from a case study, it can be shown that organisations initiate cooperation for collecting resources and legitimation. So, organisat…
The International PIAAC study has collected data on competencies of adults in three domains in 25 countries, in many of them for the first time ever. The article provides an overview of central terms, main aims and the methodological approach of this OECD study. It also discusses its potentials and limitations. One limitation is the focus on the labour force, excluding adults older than 65 years, a fast growing part of many populations in times of demographic change. To remedy this limitation,…
Based on data collected in the OECD project »Social Outcomes of Learning (SOL)«, empirical research findings and resulting policy recommendations were generated in the report »Improving Health and Social Cohesion through Education«, which are presented in this shortened and translated version. Due to the overall sparse empirical evidence of benefit research, future research forms and necessary methodological approaches are outlined.
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…