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.
Lifelong education for seniors is becoming a significant policy focus because of factors relating to the global aging society phenomenon. Yet the modern ‘educational demoralisation’ that can result from informal experiential learning not being sufficiently valued or encouraged, may also apply to later life learning—typically manifest as a ‘fear of ageing’ as well as ageism. This is especially so in contexts where policymakers tend to just mainly focus on the worrying economic, health and other …
The article presents findings of an ethnographical research project concerning the international concept of literacy as social practice. In this project, literacy was analyzed from an individual and a public point of view, focusing on its multidimensional uses and purposes in everyday life. Referring to a broader understanding of literacy as social practice, the study aims at initiating a discussion concerning the purpose and use of literacy among adult educators and practitioners in literacy c…
»Die Gefahr ist, dass die Wirkung der Piaac-Studie verpufft, weil sie zu viele Adressaten hat und sich jeder hinter dem anderen verstecken kann. Wie schlau die Deutschen wirklich sind, wird sich daran zeigen, ob sie dieser Versuchung widerstehen.« So schrieb DIE ZEIT am 10. Oktober 2013. Die Ergebnisse der beiden Studien PIAAC und CiLL bilden eine wesentliche Grundlage für bildungspolitische Entscheidungen im Weiterbildungssektor. Wie wird dies von Wissenschaft und Praxis wahrgenommen? Welche…
Das Buch deckt auf, welche Konstruktionsmuster von Geschlechterverhältnissen in der Erwachsenenbildung wirksam werden - offen und latent. Das untersuchte empirische Material bilden Diskurse der Erwachsenenbildung, greifbar in "Fragmenten" wie Veranstaltungsankündigungen, wissenschaftlichen Studien oder Dokumentationen von Fortbildungen. Die Ergebnisse sind ernüchternd: Wider besseren Gender-Wissens der Professionellen schreiben Bildungsprogramme alte Geschlechterstereotype fort. Noch trägt die …
The article provides an education-theoretical reflection of spaces for teaching and learning in education centres. Adult education is defined as a »learning process concerning everyday life«, which requires particular architectural adjustments. In this context, Joachim Ludwig stresses that architecture is by far more than a simple arrangement of building material. Room structures rather contain a »significance« which has a great influence on the »standard of living« for learners as well as teac…
Recent empirical data show that 7.5 million adults in Germany do not reach a minimum level of reading and writing skills and, therefore, are classified as functional illiterates. However, the social and educational background of this part of the population differs considerably from wide-spread perceptions of the target group as it is represented in courses for illiterates in adult education. While the latter normally showed heavy learning problems at school, the wider group normally passed scho…
First results from the PIAAC survey, which was conducted in 25 countries, will be published in October 2013 by OECD. PIAAC collected information about adult competencies through representative data from a background questionnaire and from assessments of three competence domains. In Germany exists an additional study called "Competencies in Later Life" (CiLL), which is designed for people (aged) between 66 and 80 years. This article presents the context of the study, the process of data collecti…