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In the view of cultural history, andragogy precedes pedagogy. The task of the andragogy is the social distribution of cultural innovations. The passing on of such innovation to the following generation is the task of pedagogy. Andragogy and pedagogy have been carried out over thousands of years in the mode of informal learning. With the dawn of literacy, formal learning emerges which then institutionalizes forms of schooling for the young generations. Institutions for andragogical formal learni…
Didactic transition between education and working life This article examines the orientation of vocational training towards “learning areas” in the context of the larger thematic topic of “occupation and education”. The pivotal question around which the whole topic revolves is whether and in what ways the concept of “learning areas” can contribute to a constructive change in the dialectic between education and occupation. It is with this in mind that the relationship between education and p…
Interest and Learning This article presents an overview of the so-called educational-psychological theory of interest and demonstrates its relevance for the processes and results of learning. Following this theoretical approach, interest behaviour can be described as a relation between person and object. It is accompanied by self-determination, positive emotions and a strong personal relation to certain objects or actions. Advantages of interest-motivated learning appear in improving cogniti…
Several paradoxes of a constructivistical didactics The problem of the transfer of constructivistical insights into didactical action models – theoretical and practical reflections In the following, four central theses of the radical constructivism insight are worked out, which show gains as well as contradictions from this perspective of adult didactical action. A concluding bottom line goes into the matter of the question of how viable constructivism is for didactical action.
After the federal elections, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research has taken on a new organisational structure. For the first time, its activities in further education are now bundled together in a seperate department (»Lifelong Learning, Further Education«), thus enabling the ministry to »speak with one voice«. On top of this, the superior department is »University, Further Education«, which shows that the two are considered as equivalent from the organisationalpolitical viewpoint.
Learning and acting - theses from the subject-orientated perspective It is sketched, by means of a few basic language-philosophical deliberations on the understanding and term of the acting subject, that the pre-assumption of a narrow connection of learning and application of the learnt in acting of the participants is not appropriate.
North-west passages between body, emotion and cognition in pedagogy On the unity and difference of perceiving, feeling, thinking and imagination powers in learning- and educational processes Setting out from the point of different newly theory approaches, especially in the integrative therapy, the contribution makes the holistic way of learning- and educational processes a subject of discussion.
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 …
