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The paper is based upon a qualitative-empirical study in the field of basic education for adults (literacy, numeracy, language, and computer skills). The study is located in the andragogical research on teaching and learning. A constitutive characteristic of the examined basic skills courses is the variety of the participants. The variety is both, didactical challenge and potential, for it enables teaching and learning interactions. With interpreting some data examples the paper aims to show ho…
New service for programme research. The DIE online archive of further education programmes The German Institute for Adult Education (Deutsche Institut für Erwachsenenbildung, DIE) has an archive of Volkshochschule programme plans from 1957 to 2004. Now, a new stage of development has commenced, in the form of its online archive of further education programmes: a smaller-scale digitalised continuation which also forms a picture of the structure of the Volkshochschule situation. This article p…
The DIE Journal on Adult Education (DIE Zeitschrift für Erwachsenenbildung) was renamed "weiter bilden" in 2018. The quarterly DIE Journal focuses on a specific topic to inform about current developments in adult education. It is mostly directed at full-time employees and planners in continuing education as well as authorities in education policy and administration. It is scientifically sound as well as practice oriented - magazine as well as reflection instrument.
Nach der Veröffentlichung eines Entwurfs für den Deutschen Qualifikationsrahmen (DQR) im November 2010 befindet sich die Diskussion in einer kritischen Phase. Die Weiterbildung findet zunehmend Interesse am Thema und hat Einflussmöglichkeiten erschlossen. Aber ihr bleibt nicht viel Zeit, in der DQR-Diskussion Position zu beziehen. Ihre Optionen im bildungspolitischen Machtspiel müssen offengelegt und reflektiert werden. Hierzu leistet das Heft einen wichtigen Beitrag. Im Rahmen einer Umfrage b…
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…
The article focuses on guidance in adult education as a type of institutional talk. Multiple data sources were collected through a comparative case study of two providers to examine how the institutional contexts influenced the guidance. On the one hand the providers define the subjects of their guidance service and their selection of consultants is based on the content knowledge. Also the providers pursue institutional goals with their guidances. On the other hand the guidance-seekers have the…
Movement and experience as the breeding ground of learning From the perspective of experiential pedagogic the two authors develop an outline for experience and action-oriented practice in adult education. They examine in detail the hypotheses confirmed by brain research that the body is the actual site of human learning. This allows them to create the basis for a didactical setting conducive to learning which is heavily based on physical body-related experience in nature and in the communit…
The study Competencies in Later Life (CiLL) provides, for the first time, information about central basic competencies of older adults. In doing so, two research approaches are combined. First, CiLL extends the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) to the age group 66 to 80 and analyses correlations between socio-demographic factors and basic competencies assessed with the PIAAC instrument. Second, a qualitative research part shows subjective opinions of …
The German Adult Education Centres (VHS) consider themselves as further learning institutions for all whose aim it is to address the population at large. However, the data basis on the extent to which socially disadvantaged groups are reached is restricted. The present contribution investigates to which extent persons with a low level of school education are represented among the participants of the Adult Education Centres in Berlin. The investigation is linked to previous results of the resear…
The book provides an overview of the current situation in Adult and Continuing Education in Austria. At the beginning stands an introduction into the Austrian education system together with a delineation of the historical evolution of Adult and Continuing Education. The portrait thoroughly informs about the legal foundations, governance approaches as well as institutions, quality assurance, financing, provision and participation. Moreover, the occupational field and strategies for professionali…
