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The research memorandum for adult and continuing education (2000) focuses systematically on main research areas and contributes significantly to the systematization of the research landscape, the enhancement of possible collaborations and the provision of an overview of research achievements in the discipline for research sponsors as well as the public. Since 2007, adult educational research projects can be entered in a data base in accordance with the memorandum systematic. Acknowledging that …
This article presents the findings of a research project on structure and change in continuing education in Bremen, set out as a longitudinal analysis of selected years between 1979 and 2006. At the level of the continuing education system as a whole, the author identifies a certain structural stability evident from the fact that despite a growth in the number of market-oriented providers from 1996 to 2006, their competition – providers under public law – retained its structural influence on th…
South-east European countries are receiving support from “western” institutions in developing their education system structures. One professional involved in development cooperation in the field of adult education is dvv international, the German Adult Education Association’s institute for international cooperation. By evaluating work in Romania, Serbia and Kosovo, this article reflects on strategic decisions resulting from this work. It demonstrates that it is correct to take account of differ…
In der Berufsbildung ist die Diskussion über europäische und nationale Qualifikationsrahmen in vollem Gange. Die Erwachsenenbildung fühlt sich nicht recht »gemeint« – außer, was die Qualifikation ihrer eigenen Profession angeht – aber das ist dann ja wieder Berufsbildung, gewissermaßen. Das Heft hat weitere Verbindungen zwischen Qualifikationsrahmen und Erwachsenenbildung herstellen wollen, es wird ja immerhin ein ganzes Bildungssystem auf outcome umgestellt. Neue Bezüge zeigen sich indes in de…
Gender skills for adult education Gender mainstreaming is a central maxim for political action all across Europe. However, little effect is yet to be felt in adult education. Where there is gender-sensitive adult education, this is still strongly oriented towards the differential approach. In view of participation rates in general and vocational adult education, and the division of interests within the segments, which is again gendered, the author speaks of a “doubly divided structure”. For …
Natural Sciences as a Constitutive Element of Modern Adult Education Imparting natural scientific knowledge to a socially broad audience was already quite common in manifold forms before adult education as such was really constituted in the last third of the 19th century. Some of the questions raised when natural science spread in the 18th and 19th centuries are still or again relevant in the 21st century. This paper tries to demonstrate that notion in a summarized form on the basis of an ex…
This issue of REPORT focuses on current trends in adult and continuing education in various European countries, with a particular emphasis on the situation in Spain, Romania, Finland, Great Britain and Germany. Documenting the results of an international lecture series held at the University of Essen-Duisburg, the essays, for the first time, are presented in English. The articles gathered in this REPORT may serve as a point of departure for further studies in this area of research and contribut…
This contribution summarizes the most important trends in further education in Germany as they were elaborated in a secondary analytic research project of the DIE (Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenbildung – German Institute for Adult Education) in 2007. According to the study, participation in adult education in Germany is increasing after long years of decrease, even though, overall, financing of adult education has been further reduced. Cooperation as well as competition between adult educatio…
Colleagues from various European countries were invited to an international lecture series at the University of Duisburg-Essen to talk about trends in adult and continuing education. Looking back on this lecture series, we intend to examine different approaches to the term “trend” as well as to outline results of current research in adult and continuing education. We will then give an overview of main arguments of the essays presented in the following. Finally, common trends in European adult a…
The paper reviews trends in adult learning in England in the ten years from the election of Labour government in 1997. It highlighted an initial focus on expanding and widening participation in a wide range of initiatives in the years to 2002. From 2003 there has been a dramatic narrowing of focus giving priority to funding qualifications related to the labour market. Throughout the period it highlights restless change in institutional structures.
