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Is there anything to the cliché of the xenophobic and violence-prone East German? More than many will like: Three modernization and informalisation defects more common to the society of the former GDR than to the Czech Republic or Poland make these defense mechanisms against foreigners more understandable: • a certain „intergenerational resistance to modernisation”, • a GDR-specific „egalitarian outlook“ and • a continuation of subtly racist attitudes within families. The addressing of construc…
This article discusses the consequences of increasing access of non-traditional students to higher education (HE) in Sweden for society, individuals, and HE. The findings are based on a recently finished European Research Project called Access and Retention: Experiences of Non-traditional Students in Higher Education (RANLHE) with seven countries involved. First, an introduction about opening access to HE is presented, followed by a review of Swedish HE policy. Next is a presentation of the RAN…
Opening higher education for new target groups is regarded as an important political and social goal. Based on central political frameworks the following article analyses, which new target groups are addressed in higher education institutions and which specific demands they have for the organization and structuring of teaching and learning. In the focus of the analysis are studies from higher education research and instructional design. The perspectives of these two in the past almost separated…
In aktuellen Diskussionen um Wissen, um dessen Genese und Bedeutung werden kulturtheoretische Aspekte ebenso wie Fragen des Zugangs zum Wissen oder einer Technokratisierung der Gesellschaft verhandelt. Die Erwachsenenbildung beteiligt sich an diesem Diskurs und bringt dabei ihr klassisches Verständnis von Wissen ein, das sie als Grundkategorie von Bildung und Lernen versteht. Dieses Heft untersucht Wissen im Spannungsfeld von Potenzial und Macht und diskutiert Fragen des Nutzens, der Instrument…
The concept of support-networks is currently finding its way out of the theoretical discussions into practical application. This is not only due to the zeitgeist of reduced governmental investments in education policy but also because the concept of support takes into account the social embeddedness of learning costs and thus contributes to the discourse of the „learning society“. Networks are propagated as an alternative to either the state or the market, on the other hand they are likely to c…
Political education as a par t of general adult and continuing education with regards to lifelong learning and on the background of social change, is confronted with a new challenge. Science, economics, representatives responsible for education and learning of adults and politics are looking for instruments to navigate the consequences of globalization. – The author focusses – besides social questions of inequality – problems of cultural identity as one of these consequences and identifies lear…
In welchem Verhältnis stehen Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit? Wie kann dies dialogisch gestaltet werden und welche Bedeutung kommt dabei der Erwachsenenbildung zu? Ulrike Felt hinterfragt kritisch Stellung und Bedeutung wissenschaftlicher Bildung in der Wissensgesellschaft. Es stellt sich die Frage nach den Kompetenzen, die es braucht, um Wissenschaft zu kommunizieren, z.B. von Experten (Peters) und von Journalisten (Göpfert). Im DIE-Gespräch erläutert Hans-Olaf Henkel, Präsident der Leibni…
The results from the PISA study and the future of adult education The results of the PISA study have made it clear how urgent the individual as well as the society as a whole depends on a secure system for after school learning and a secure system for lifelong learning. In the contribution perspectives of the development of the qualification demand on behalf of the employment system are scetched with a view to globalization tendencies. In front of this background it is necessary to filter th…
Already Max Scheler developed a functional definition of education. With Scheler, education is not only not opposed to usefulness, but even prerequisite for reaching certain aims at all. In terms of the postmodernist media and mass society the relationship between education and usefulness has to be reformulated. With reference to Lyotard, the author develops a concept of education as a regulative idea. Under these conditions, individuals are not expected to integrate themselves culturally into…
Am Beispiel eines Seminars zur multikulturellen Gesellschaft, das die Autorin – selbst Gastdozentin aus Südkorea – in einer US-amerikanischen Universität hielt, deutet sie Lernbarrieren der Studenten als Folge der Verdrängung globaler Machtverhältnisse. Die Teilnahme am Seminar zwang die Studenten, ihre eigene privilegierte Position als Angehörige der weißen Mittelschicht und ihre Involviertheit in soziale Ungerechtigkeit zu reflektieren. Die Folge waren verschiedene Formen der Verweigerung, di…
