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Adult education is a field that is strongly shaped by tensions between scientific and political demands. The development of competencies as well as the idea of continuing to learn throughout the whole life are topics that have been debated in science and policy for many years and are still of great importance today. This dissertation deals with the relationship between science and European education policy in adult education by analyzing scientific journal articles and political documents from …
So far, numeracy as part of basic education has only been considered peripherally in the German-speaking countries, regarding the scientific as well as the practical approaches of adult education. In this article, theoretical and conceptual lines of the discourse are linked systematically. In addition, it is argued for an extension of the discourse by including the concept of subject-oriented basic education, which is based on the concept of numeracy as social practice. Initial findings from tw…
On the basic The article looks at which values (defined as ‘conceptions of what is desirable’) are important to managers in continuing education, especially in terms of their interactions with employees, and to what extent they succeed, according to their own perception, in actually doing what is desirable. A re-analysis of interviews with managers acting under different general conditions suggests that collaboration based on participation and solidarity is especially important to all three man…
This volume aims at the description, the analysis and the explanation of cultural/arts education for adults. It conveys insights into the field through the lens of interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to the arts, to culture and to transculturality and links them to reflections and empirical findings from the adult education discipline, in particular in the areas of programme analysis. Through this we attempt to inspire further research and theory-building on cultural/arts education for adu…
An essential task for administrative staff in adult education is to develop and offer courses. In the field of economic education (basic education), there exist only very few offers and didactic material. Hence, there is a great demand to describe requirements concerning competencies to be taught in this area. Such requirements for competencies may serve as a base for the development of courses in adult education. This article explores the questions on which requirements concerning competencies…
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…
The German Adult Education Centres (VHS) consider themselves as further learning institutions for all whose aim it is to address the population at large. However, the data basis on the extent to which socially disadvantaged groups are reached is restricted. The present contribution investigates to which extent persons with a low level of school education are represented among the participants of the Adult Education Centres in Berlin. The investigation is linked to previous results of the resear…
Labor economists argue that private investment in the training of workers may be too low. This view is based on the notion of worker skills being a common-pool resource available in principle to any employer. Such under-investment ought to be more pronounced the less difficult it is for outside firms to exploit the skills of workers qualified elsewhere. Thus, higher labor turnover may be expected to reduce firms’ commitment to developing worker qualifications; investment in general skills shoul…
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…
Cooperative education arrangements are confronted with manifold anticipations which can be subsumed as ‘synergy’. This article which presents qualitative-empirical partial results of a current research project, is dealing with the question how Volkshochschulen (folk high schools) which are part of an integrated cooperation, are broaching the issue of synergy and how they describe their handling with this demand of cooperation. There are five strained dimensions of synergy and a broad spectrum o…
