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PIAAC reveals the deficits of basic competences within the adult population. To master this problem, which also applies to the labour market, the author calls for establishing a Federal Office for the protection of basic education. This office may be an opportunity for people with and without a migrational background, persons seeking employment as well as precariously employed people to attend vocational education and training programmes, which are funded by the government.
Similar to the literary cafés there is the model of “philosophical cafés”. It first came into being in France in 1992 by M. Sautet. By now it is also recited by adult education. It is based on the statement “All people are philosophers“ and it animates a daily routine of philosophical discussions. With the example of the theme “joy“, the author sketches his experiences as a manager of such a café.
Within the field of adult education/continuing education the topic counselling occupies a central role. This concerns the theoretical discourses as well as the different types of offers. This study book situates the topic counselling in its pedagogical reference framework and provides central lines of development and differentiation. These include questions about the interaction, the forms of action and the conditions of good consultation. Moreover different forms of educational guidance are ou…
During the last two decades widening adult participation in higher education has become a central issue in international and especially European lifelong learning policy debates. At European level this is reflected in the Europe 2020 strategy set out by the European Commission. One headline target is to boost the share of the population aged 30–34 that has completed tertiary or equivalent education to 40 per cent by 2020. In the face of general trends such as the intensive use of ICT, the evolu…
Searching for the third way. A statistical look at the practice of winning third-party funds over for further education institutions. The article provides empirical backgrounds for winning third-party funds over for further education institutions through the database of the German Institute of Adult Education. According to the database 17 % of the total financial backing for the Community Adult Education Centres came from third-party funds in 2005, after a maximum of 20 % in 2002. As a comparis…
The pretentions on professionalization of further education in the area of tension between managerism, evidence based practice and obligation of participants The transformation of the welfare state also leads to a change in professional profiles in further education. This shows among others in the tendencies of de-professionalization, such as in the form of a (re-) subordination of adult pedagogical professional roles and activities under the logics of administration, market and law or other…
Teachers‘ professionalism in adult and continuing education is often requested but practically implemented in only a few countries. In Austria and Switzerland, over the past years systems were established with the support of relevant stakeholders, which advance this required professionalism. Based on the exchange of experts in both systems as well as analyses of materials and literature, the following article identifies the key factors, which contributed to the successful establishment of the i…
The author covers definitions and dissemination of »Open Educational Resources (OER)« marked by Web 2.0, particularly issues of copyright and licensing law as well as the problems of financing free material. At the same time, the potential adult education surplus value of OER is pointed out and the prerequisites of high-quality learning and teaching processes are discussed. The article concludes with an agenda for teachers aimed at the sustainability of the OER.
279 participants in a survey on elearning applications for foreign language learning in Volkshochschulen (German adult education schools) had little prior knowledge. While they do indeed have interest in such applications, they still keep to formats known from their previous learning experience. The participants in the survey estimate the potential of e-learning applications for foreign language learning as positive, but only in combination with traditional non-virtual classes. The…
The paper raises the question of how inclusion, in the sense of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is operationalized in institutional learning settings for adults. It presents findings of a qualitative pilot study. Based on a relational theory of space, the findings elicit a conceptual model of the architecture of inclusion at public places of learning for adults. The model illuminates the way social space is constituted in and by the actions of professionals, and th…
