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The paper is based upon a qualitative-empirical study in the field of basic education for adults (literacy, numeracy, language, and computer skills). The study is located in the andragogical research on teaching and learning. A constitutive characteristic of the examined basic skills courses is the variety of the participants. The variety is both, didactical challenge and potential, for it enables teaching and learning interactions. With interpreting some data examples the paper aims to show ho…
Transformations in German adult and continuing education (ACE) are discussed in their relation to more far-reaching transformations in society concerning the ways in which knowledge and non-knowledge are processed. Some features of the discourse related to the notion of „knowledge society“ as well as empirical findings on the general spreading of knowledge transfer activities are pointed out, before three instances of change in ACE are discussed. While issues of transferring knowledge appear to…
"Adult education students" as subject of the participation research After a short introduction into the questions and methods of a research project of participation research at the further education Danube University Krems, a partial result for motivation structure is sketched.
This article explores the inherent normative nature of what on the surface appears to be neutral empirical research. Direct and indirect normative influences exercised by empirical research are demonstrated using the example of the PISA studies: (1) their desire to provide knowledge which can help steer policy, (2) the normative nature of their didactical concepts and educational theory, (3) the idea derived from the sequence of studies of adapting classroom instruction to conform with the conc…
The report focuses on empirical data of cultural life from a cultural political perspective. Despite the common experience of growth, a significant increase of cultural life participation cannot be empirically verified with regard to the time budgets applied – at least not of provisions attributed to the narrower definition of culture. There are more visits (especially of large cultural institutions and popular cultural events) but not necessarily more visitors. While the prerequisites for cult…
Kopf oder Zahl – was zählt? Die Bildungspolitik verlangt nach quantitativ-empirischen Grundlagen. In den Erziehungswissenschaften hat die quantitativ-empirische Forschung an Bedeutung gewonnen. In der Praxis spielen quantitative Daten und Benchmarks eine immer wichtigere Rolle bei der Positionierung und Steuerung von Einrichtungen und Angeboten. Wie weit trägt diese sog. Evidenzbasierung? Es geht schließlich um die „Köpfe“, welche die Zahlen abbilden sollen. Die Beiträge des Themenschwerpunkts …
The following report focuses on the issue of recording the impact of learning in adult and continuing education. It depicts the complexity of empirical-analytical impact and sensitizes for a differentiated access of adult educational research, based on the demand for evidence-based practice and education policy, which increases the pressure to conduct research on valid data on the impact of educational activities. This is substantiated, inter alia, due to the complex topic and the particulariti…