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.
The DIE publishes recent research findings from empirical studies on the continuing education system and its educational institutions under the label "DIE Survey. Data and reports on continuing education". The publications are directed at stakeholders in education policy, practical continuing education, as well as national and international research. The volumes are published in loose sequence and provide transparency in the complex field of continuing education. Thus they provide an academical…
In the last years the issue of adult literacy has gained international and national importance – not least due to the comparative surveys IALS, ALL, and PIAAC, conducted by the OECD. The result was a series of developments in education policy, in particular regarding the promotion and financing of adult literacy programmes. Based on country reports, the present article provides internationally comparative insight into the discussion regarding the promotion and financing of adult literacy progra…
In the future it should be possible for educationally qualified applicants to be able to attend a university without university-entrance certificates acquired in a secondary school. This is meant to help ease the looming shortage of skilled labour in Germany. Facilities in the area of adult education are also to help facilitate the transition to a school of higher learning. The authors of this article report on a promising approach along these lines – the Lower Saxony model project »Open Univer…
This report from England is part of a research project entitled Literacy/Basic Education – State of the Art from a historical and systematic Perspective in terms of Transferability. It focuses on the way adult (il)literacy has been approached, dealt with, discussed and analysed both politically and scientifically in England. It provides a historical overview on government strategy papers and outlines central ideas in theoretical discussions regarding literacy and literacy practices. However, in…
The contribution reports central thoughts of the American psychologist Csikszentmihalyi from the book “FLOW“, and it sharpens the statements on the reality of learners and teachers. “Flow“ stands for the “optimum experience“. Therewith Csikszentmihalyi indicates a feeling of high spirits, of deeply felt joy that lasts long and that occurs when body and soul of a person is strained to limits in the voluntary endeavour to achieve something difficult and something valuable. In this condition, orde…
Bildungsberatung gilt seit Langem als Eckpfeiler eines funktionierenden Systems lebenslangen Lernens. Die Frage nach den Wirkungen von Beratung ist indes noch nicht gut erforscht. So rücken Fragen der Nutzenstiftung von Beratung in den Mittelpunkt: Welche Wirkungen hat Weiterbildungsberatung auf die Weiterbildungsbeteiligung? Nutzen Bildungsanbieter Erkenntnisse aus der Beratung zur Entwicklung ihrer Programmplanung? Welche Zufriedenheit generieren Beratungsstellen bei den Ratsuchenden?
One aim of the European Commission is to improve the number of graduates between 30 and 34 years to 40?% for 2020. This requirement provides the university with new material for the promotion of this target group. Current university didactic concepts, such as mentoring programs, can be used to address these challenges. The following article gives an overview of mentoring in higher education and reports on first experiences of participants in the mentoring program “MEwiSA” at the University of D…
Vocational continuing education is becoming more significant in modern employment biographies. A growing range of work-based study programmes and the recent opening tendency for persons holding vocational qualifications attracts attention to universities as providers of continuing education. Still, academic formats play a comparatively small role in the market of continuing education. The report explores the reasons for the low acceptance of academic continuing education. For this purpose, 72 p…
In a representative survey in 2012 the German edition of the Adult Education Survey (AES) collected data relating to the professional development behaviour and the structure of the professional development market in Germany. This final report analyses and comments on the collated data under the consideration of key questions: Who participates why, how often and how long in professional development and who does not? Which professional development provisions are popular? How is the target group o…