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This paper deals with a new approach in the promotion of literacy, which focuses on social integration. This approach has been inspired by a concept of adult education aiming at integration and by social work oriented to the life world of the addressees. These concepts are being adapted to the work with functionally illiterate persons. The approach discussed here includes different forms of action promoting literacy: both learning and consulting, and also institutional cooperation in networks. …
Normative Patterns of Biography and Contradictory Experiences as Resources in Women’s Educational Biographies As part of a research project on discontinuities in female educational and professional careers, this essay focusses on conflicting expectations women experience – conflicts between set normative social standards and biographies on the one hand, and the different individual plans and perspectives on the other hand. Group discussions among the participants of a Women’s Studies Program…
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…
Konzepte des selbstgesteuerten Lernens erscheinen auf den ersten Blick als Ausfluss einer spezifischen Rezeption des Konstruktivismus durch die Erwachsenenbildung. Im Gegensatz dazu wird die These vertreten, dass diese innerwissenschaftliche Verarbeitung des Konstruktivismus und die erwachsenenpädagogische Propagierung des selbstgesteuerten Lernens sich als Reflexe auf Modernisierungsimperative verstehen lassen. Mit Konzepten des selbstgesteuerten Lernens geht eine Entprofessionalisierungsstrat…
The article provides a systematizing overview of contemporary methodological approaches and results of research on guidance and counselling. As well qualitative as quantitative approaches will be explored and concerning its insight located. Different but also complementary findings become visible. At the end, it will be argued in favour of a further elaboration of research on guidance and counselling in adult education. Therefore, it should be looked for a mutual relation between studies and a …
The historiography of adult education has painted an almost entirely optimistic picture of enlightenment until today. The actors are defined as people who are willing to learn and capable of being educated. Thanks to the advances in the enlightenment process they mature into responsible citizens. Sources based on individual history, like the ones presented in the “Magazin zur Erfahrungsseelenkunde” (1783-1793), are not taken into consideration. In his role as editor of the periodical magazine, …
Um Literaturveranstaltungen in der Erwachsenenbildung durchführen zu können, benötigen Kursleiter/innen ein solides literaturdidaktisches Fundament. Die literarische Bildungsarbeit hat jedoch bisher nur für die Schule die geeigneten unterrichtskundlichen bzw. für die Hochschule die adäquaten Lehr-/Lernkonzepte entwickelt. Thomas Grieser liefert mit seinem Beitrag auf der Grundlage von literaturgesprächsdidaktischen Modellen erste Impulse für den erwachsenenbildnerisch fruchtbaren Umgang mit kün…
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…
Recent international trends in Adult Education (AE) mirror the diverse realities this field is experiencing around the world. This article discusses the trend towards democratization through a revision of existing knowledge in three main domains: theory, research and practice. First, a theoretical framework of democratization as applied in AE will be outlined. Second, recent research developments will be reviewed as they inform the process of democratization through Adult Education which is occ…
