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We explore how adult education can be made inclusive, digital and effective.
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The mature adult who participates voluntarily in free educational programmes is a basic assumption, which equally often supports theories and practices of adult education as it is empirically challenged. Neither supply nor demand is consistently characterized by voluntariness. Up to a certain degree, programmes and participation are mandatory. The assumption that responsible adults do not want to, should not and cannot be taught is also considered to be problematic. The article reveals good rea…
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…
For 30 years, the author has been director of the communal adult education institute “Volkshochschule” at a middle-size town in Southern Germany. In 1998, the costs of 3 million DM were financed jointly by the town (50%), the participants of the courses (40%) and the Land Baden-Württemberg (10%). In the next three years, the "Volkshochschule" has to reduce the communal subsidy by 12%. The article deals with the financial challenges the institute faces in its new situation of competition at the …
Subjects move and act in spatial contexts and through their actions, they create spaces. This also applies to adult learning and to the professional practice of adult education, yet the systematic incorporation of spatial aspects into adult education research to date has remained marginal. This publication takes the category of space as a focal point, with the various chapters defining and honing its meaning for adult education. It brings together the relevant theoretical discourses, summarizes…
The Gutenberg era is coming to an end. Caused by the expansion of digital media and progressing networking opportunities, another technical revolution after the invention of the printing press is forthcoming – "the secondary orality". The author points out the effects on both publishers and the entire academic and learning culture.
Continuing digitalisation is a macrosocial phenomenon – dealing with it is a macrosocial task. For the educational field, it does not only concern a change of teaching-learning situations due to digital media but also the issue of contributing to the changing situation - without excluding certain groups. According to the author, the issue of digitalisation does not allow federal disputes and segment-specific separation of educational areas.
The results from the PISA study and the future of adult education The results of the PISA study have made it clear how urgent the individual as well as the society as a whole depends on a secure system for after school learning and a secure system for lifelong learning. In the contribution perspectives of the development of the qualification demand on behalf of the employment system are scetched with a view to globalization tendencies. In front of this background it is necessary to filter th…
In this report, three different methods to approach Howard Gardner‘s »Five Minds for the Future« are revealed, which are each a connecting factor to adult education. As a popular scientific article to psychology and education in the context of a general educational debate, »Five Minds« indicates that the concept of independent adult education is not generally acknowledged. As educational theory, it serves as a useful tool for determining educational objectives. As a scientific creation, which c…
The aspect of relations in the relationship between teacher and learner as resource and determinant for lifelong learning In addition to the work with the subject being studied there also exists a personal relationship between the learners and their trainers. The communication science has shown the relevance of relationships in every type of interaction. Therefore, it has to be assumed that the quality of relationships has impacts on learning success. This means for the idea of lifelong lear…
Bereitet die Teilnahme an Veranstaltungen der Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung Freude? Die Autorin präsentiert Ergebnisse aus leitfadengestützten Interviews, die auf unterschiedliche Dimensionen von Freude als »wider benefit« der Grundbildung hinweisen.
