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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 report unfolds »biography« and »body« as categories for explaining holistic health education theoretically. At the same time, these terms open up adult educational opportunities, which can be defined by health educational didactics. Dimensions of knowledge and experience meet on an educational level in »biography« and »body«.
The concept of competencies has expansive effects for the definition of goals, contents and methods in teaching. The orientation on competencies therefore is more than a didactic principle like active-learning or learner-centered instruction. Coming from a concept of competencies as a didactical category as well as an aim of teaching, we will argue, that a comprehensive theoretical approach is needed, which delivers a theoretical founded orientation for both the decisions on contents and the me…
The article discusses whether it is necessary and possible to deduce the didactics of adult education from the particularities of the adult age. The authors make the case for understanding didactics of adult education in the continuity of the lifespan and as a modification of general didactics. It should be related to the characteristics of the social situation of adults. Such “didactics for adults” should be complemented by specific “didactics of further education” which focus on specific inst…
This contribution suggests a reconstruction of didactic behavior in the context of adult education. Didactics is perceived as a specific kind of practice that can be analyzed with respect to its immanent significances. Thus, criteria of adult education didactics can be identified. These criteria are not only empirically found aspects concerning the conditions of success. Incorporated challenges concerning disciplining, impositions of teaching and authority matter as well. Notwithstanding adult …
The mature adult who participates voluntarily in free educational programmes is a basic assumption, which equally often supports theories and practices of adult education as it is empirically challenged. Neither supply nor demand is consistently characterized by voluntariness. Up to a certain degree, programmes and participation are mandatory. The assumption that responsible adults do not want to, should not and cannot be taught is also considered to be problematic. The article reveals good rea…
Over the past years, the term »adult« has been exposed to signs of disintegration – in this context, the author critically reflects upon the disciplinary view of adult education on adults, which held on too tightly to concepts of autonomy following the physical characteristics of adulthood. The scientific adult educational debate was disconnected from the goals of maturing the human soul. Within a psychologically broadened and deepened view, »grown up« may imply »grown over«, which requires not…
