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Between prestigious office and everyday support. Voluntary commitment in continuing education When people engage in voluntary work in the field of continuing education on behalf of an institution, this is often because organisations believe they can obtain social capital in this manner. These persons then operate as organisers or in development associations. The focus of the author, however, is on those people who voluntarily provide support but often remain invisible – referred to in the li…
How to relate Natural Sciences to Adult Education Drawing on an intensive debate on the improvement of scientific literacy going on in Germany for more than ten years, this article deals with possible contributions of adult education. Starting with the marginal supply of science courses for adults, I focus on typical didactical arrangements and concepts. Based on an empirical study, exemplary didactical concepts are analysed regarding aims, topics, course type, and audience. The results are…
In the usually clearly word- and text-oriented research field of adult education, for a while now, approaches have been observed, which understand visual presentations as data to be analyzed in a methodically controlled way. These data are used in order to generate and substantiate knowledge about adult education, whereby intensity, contexts, theoretical background and methods or methodology are different. This article presents these approaches in the research fields focusing on students, progr…
More lower rungs for the ladder. A proposal for new literacy levels This article asks whether international models can be applied as a means of finding well-differentiated literacy levels to map skills acquired during the literacy process. To this effect, the article examines the American “component approach”, the English “entry levels” and the “lower rungs approach”. One result is that the article leans towards the means of educational diagnosis known as “formative assessment”. Based on thi…
A gloss on the panel discussions as a mostly joyless part of congresses and conferences. Due to nonprofessional moderation, an oversized need for harmony and the participants’ gift for languages, the format of perception of the author releases its claims, which goes as following: To stage a »fascinating« dialogue, bringing opponents together, making differences transparent or bringing about consensus
