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The historiography of adult education has painted an almost entirely optimistic picture of enlightenment until today. The actors are defined as people who are willing to learn and capable of being educated. Thanks to the advances in the enlightenment process they mature into responsible citizens. Sources based on individual history, like the ones presented in the “Magazin zur Erfahrungsseelenkunde” (1783-1793), are not taken into consideration. In his role as editor of the periodical magazine, …
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…
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…
This contribution focuses on the significance of analyzing learning processes in case-based learning in continuing education. These analyses play a crucial role in finding explanations for the lack of effective instructional interventions. Furthermore, they allow for the immediate review of assumptions on learning mechanisms. After a brief overview of data collection techniques and of the typical data structure underlying such analyses, the procedure for conducting the analysis is described. Af…
Working in small groups can be regarded as constitutive for learning with cases. Using the example of case-based “train the trainer courses”, this contribution focuses on cooperative learning processes in small groups regarding the contents of the conversation and discussion structure as well as the effects on the competence development of individual adult learners. The presented results provide an insight of the processes of situated, problem-based learning in small groups which are common in …
Based on considerations of the signaling theory and the reputation approach this study examines whether a relationship between employer-provided continuing vocational training and the success of establishments to recruit external qualified staff, can be demonstrated. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of establishments in Germany carried out in 2011. The results of a multivariate analysis show that establishments with continuing vocational training are more successful in recruiting qua…
First results from the PIAAC survey, which was conducted in 25 countries, will be published in October 2013 by OECD. PIAAC collected information about adult competencies through representative data from a background questionnaire and from assessments of three competence domains. In Germany exists an additional study called "Competencies in Later Life" (CiLL), which is designed for people (aged) between 66 and 80 years. This article presents the context of the study, the process of data collecti…
The Financing of vocational adult education has changed a lot over the last decade. Demand-led funding instruments were introduced at federal as well as state level, aiming to support various (target) groups. The paper reviews, whether these funding instruments addressed special gaps in the funding system and tries to provide first and preliminary impressions whether and to what extent these instruments might have contributed to increasing participation rates in Germany. The analysis suggests t…
