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It is widely acknowledged that adult education is a moral enterprise in many respects. There is a demand for empirical research on which groups of actors are dealing with professional ethical issues and which specific ethical problems arise in adult education practice. The authors analyze ethical standards and policies of adult education associations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Based on the outcomes of this analysis, they present a proposal on how a discourse on ethical standards in ad…
Hattie‘s study »Visible Learning« is no reason to call for didactic changes in adult education - this is this article’s conclusion of the New Zealander’s meta-study from a continuing educational perspective. Nontheless, Hattie provides significant suggestions for the didactic debate. These suggestions include guidelines for suitable teaching activities as well as his rather provocative findings on the positive effects of actively guided lessons, which do not contradict adult educational conside…
This article acknowledges Hattie’s Meta-Study »Visible Learning« from a practical perspective, particularly from the continuing educational perspective of adult educators. The author regards Hattie’s findings on the learning effectiveness of instructors as particularly compatible. »Excellent instructors« are aware of their educational activities and adjust their actions to the logic of learning. Two examples are taken to point out which approaches are particularly effective for learning and how…
A variety of investigations are concerned with examining competencies of professionals in fields of adult education, neglecting the question what characterizes the activities they perform in order to organize learning situations. By analyzing an opening sequence of two different adult education lessons, the author shows, how microethnographic approaches of analyzing videotaped face-to-face interaction offer new insights in how participants ordinarily deal with challenges of establishing and sus…
Das Handeln und Entscheiden von Praktiker/innen/n der Erwachsenenbildung kann (und muss) nicht nur im Blick auf die Qualität ihrer Dienstleistungen, sondern auch unter ethischen Gesichtspunkten betrachtet werden. Folgt man John Erpenbeck (2010), so sind ethische Fragen in mehrfacher Hinsicht bedeutsam für die Erwachsenenbildung. Sie betreffen u.a. den moralischen Gehalt des in der Erwachsenenbildung vermittelten und erworbenen Wissens und Könnens, das moralische Verhalten der Lehrenden und Lern…
Competence Assessment in Working with the Disabled. Experiences Gathered in Franz Sales House in Essen The report focuses on the challenges of implementing a system for competence assessment in the Franz Sales House in Essen – a social institution for the disabled. The authors point out methods for the competence assessment of employees in a social institution to adjust them to future requirements and use them as a base for an effective management of educational processes. Experiences gathered…
Caught between Two Stools. Adult Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities The report analyses connecting factors for the manifestation of an inclusive approach in adult education for people with mental disabilities. It presents existing organisational forms and qualification paths. The core challenge is seen in the development of an inclusive professionalism which combines the expertise and competences existing in both general adult education and help for the disabled. The develop…
Der Aufschwung des Themas „Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung“ hält ungebrochen an. So gibt es zahlreiche Veröffentlichungen von Forschungsergebnissen aus dem Förderschwerpunkt „Forschung und Entwicklung zur Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung Erwachsener“ des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). In diesem Förderschwerpunkt, der in diesem Jahr ausläuft (2007–2012), konnte intensive Grundlagenforschung geleistet werden, deren jüngste Ergebnisse in dieser Ausgabe des REPORT vorgestel…
Educational research is often focused on biographies. Literacy and basic education frequently use knowledge about biographies as a means for educational support within the scope of catch-up education (“second chance”). The article discusses how biographically generated knowledge can be transferred into pedagogical practice. The authors give up on the idea of a direct “utilization” of biographical insights into practical work – the yield is rather to indirectly stimulate and irritate professiona…
This article addresses learning, educational and activity-related prospects upon entering into retirement age and the search for meaning in one's career associated with this. The topic is explored at various levels: first of all autobiographically taking the example of a new, self-employed orientation. At the second level, the case example can be interpreted as part of a societal trend towards activities crossing the age border. Finally prospects for the topic in the context of adult education …
