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This issue of REPORT focuses on current trends in adult and continuing education in various European countries, with a particular emphasis on the situation in Spain, Romania, Finland, Great Britain and Germany. Documenting the results of an international lecture series held at the University of Essen-Duisburg, the essays, for the first time, are presented in English. The articles gathered in this REPORT may serve as a point of departure for further studies in this area of research and contribut…
This contribution summarizes the most important trends in further education in Germany as they were elaborated in a secondary analytic research project of the DIE (Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenbildung – German Institute for Adult Education) in 2007. According to the study, participation in adult education in Germany is increasing after long years of decrease, even though, overall, financing of adult education has been further reduced. Cooperation as well as competition between adult educatio…
Recent international trends in Adult Education (AE) mirror the diverse realities this field is experiencing around the world. This article discusses the trend towards democratization through a revision of existing knowledge in three main domains: theory, research and practice. First, a theoretical framework of democratization as applied in AE will be outlined. Second, recent research developments will be reviewed as they inform the process of democratization through Adult Education which is occ…
The rising importance of continuing education in the knowledge-based society is undisputed, but the broad organisational and legal area of continuing education has not been surveyed adequately to date in statistical terms. This article provides an overview of the heterogeneous landscape of providers and explains the existing data situation. Following this, the problems associated with a separation between providers of vocational from general education are discussed. Finally, the current changes…
Education for elderly people has continuously increased in significance against the background of demographic developments. Primarily the group of the “young old“ has been in the centre of scientific exploration and practical educational work. For a long time the theme old age has been shielded. The author shows development lines and blind spots of old age research and old age education and pleads for a re-orientation of the educational approach in the context of relatives care. Thereby she foc…
Participation in adult education and learning motivation In this introductory contribution firstly the history of the educational sociology of research in adult in Germany is reconstructed in keywords. The current discussion on social exclusion/inclusion is scetched here and further deepened in the following contributions of this book. In the final chapter of this contribution the results of an educational biographical study are presented. Here nine types of participation in adult education …
In dem Beitrag werden zwei mündlich erzählte Lebensgeschichten von Protagonisten der hessischen Erwachsenenbildung nach 1945 auf dem Hintergrund von zwei erkenntnisleitenden Fragestellungen vorgestellt: 1) wie aus der Sicht der qualitativen Bildungsforschung demokratisch-staatsbürgerliches Handeln von Erwachsenenpädagogen identifiziert werden kann, und 2) wie mit Hilfe biographischer Quellen die aktive Seite dieses Tuns besser in den Blick kommt. Zum Abschluss ¤werden die beiden Lebensgesc…
In diesem Essay wird die Konjunktur der Evaluation als zentrales Mass von Bildungsmanagement und Qualitätssicherung kritisch hinterfragt und verschiedene Evaluationstypen unterschieden. Danach gibt es: "Systemevaluation zum Zweck von Spar-, Abbau oder Umbaumassnahmen; immanenten Evaluation und Forschung zum Zwecke der Steuerung pädagogischen Handelns: Evaluation zu Legitimationszwecken, Evaluation in betrieblichen Transferprozessen zur Begleitung und Sicherung von Bildungsverwertung." Gege…
Consequences from subject-orientated research: questions to a media- and adult didactical requirement Based on empirical results that are currently available on subject-scientific basis on e-learning, the author wants to pose questions to media- and adult didactical set-ups. He asks these questions pointedly by bringing the “burning glass-thesis” up for discussion. Thereby it needs to be clarified, which characteristics justify a specific media-didactical discussion. Because these specific r…
