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 field of education policy, in particular adult education policy, is gaining importance in recent international-comparative research on education and adult education. In comparative politics, education policy is also a young but increasingly established issue. The close connection of education policy to the discipline of comparative politics, as well as theories used in that discipline, provide a well-founded research approach on education policy, which should be considered by international-…
Seen before the backdrop of adult education being a necessary moral practice, the limited presence of ethical reflections in research and practice on adult education may surprise. This article aims at presenting an overview of pondering on such questions in recent years. Due to the small number of contributions to this issue, the author will include international and school related research as well. Thus, the article will open the view for innovative research aspects and projects stimulating …
Teachers and trainers can only act on what they notice. In line with use-inspired basic research, the question pursued in this book is how teachers’ and trainers’ competence to perceive, analyze, and diagnose situations of learning and instruction can be enhanced resulting in long-term effects. The present state of research with regard to adult education science’s professionalization discourse, teacher education research, competence as well as expertise research is drawn upon in order to gain a…
The latest PIAAC-results confirm from an international perspective the alarming data of the leo. – Level One Study published in 2011 in which 14,5 percent of the German population capable of work could be identified as functionally illiterate. Both studies have an immense impact on political discussions concerning basis education. To point out the strength of both studies for the field of adult education, there will be a brief summary and tabular comparison concerning the research design of bot…
It becomes apparent in the current critique on methods of competence diagnostics that the problem does not lie in empirical or methodical, but mainly in theoretical deficits. Psycho-dynamic explanations are missing. Moreover, competences are mainly constructed as individual traits while social dimensions are ignored. Both deficits are considerable blank spaces. This paper argues that competence cannot be the cause of performance, but only the conscious notion of how masterly ways of acting look…
Working in small groups can be regarded as constitutive for learning with cases. Using the example of case-based “train the trainer courses”, this contribution focuses on cooperative learning processes in small groups regarding the contents of the conversation and discussion structure as well as the effects on the competence development of individual adult learners. The presented results provide an insight of the processes of situated, problem-based learning in small groups which are common in …
From 1992 to 2007 a considerable amount of German and EU funding was put into development projects described as “Qualification Development Management” (German acronym: QUEM) and aimed to support the quality of vocational qualification structures in the former GDR. QUEM was sponsored by the ABWF (Study Group for Corporate Continuing Education Research). In this article the author, a scientist working on QUEM, sums up the activities in the programmes and projects which were funded. He identifies …
Exploring the inner aspect of learning. Methodological considerations for investigating life-long learning This article sets out research methods required for qualitative research aimed at understanding the inner aspect of learning. The aim is to make qualitative single case studies more relevant with regard to issues of education policy and social analysis. For this purpose, the following measures are proposed. (1) Close reading and reflexivity: Precisely studying the source texts sheds lig…
