Publications

Benefits of Lifelong Learning

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Prof. Dr. Josef Schrader
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Benefits of Lifelong Learning
DIE Zeitschrift für Erwachsenenbildung
1/2013
Bielefeld

Abstract

Bildung ist wertvoll! Wer wollte dies ernsthaft bestreiten? Dennoch – und vielleicht gerade weil man die Benefits von Bildung für Individuum und Gesellschaft einfach als selbstverständlich gegeben ansieht, kann sich die Forschung in Deutschland bislang auf wenig empirische Evidenz berufen: Welche monetären und nicht-monetären Erträge kann die Weiterbildung eigentlich nachweislich erzielen? Worin bzw. woraus bestehen die sog. »wider benefits of lifelong learning«? Last but not least: Sind die Effekte von Bildung ausschließlich positiv? Die aktuelle Ausgabe der DIE Zeitschrift geht diesen und anderen Fragen nach, indem sie internationale Leitstudien zum Thema vorstellt. Damit sollen weitere Forschungsimpulse gesetzt und für die Lehr-/Lernpraxis wissenschaftlich fundierte Legitimationsstrategien bereit gestellt werden.

Content

Tom Schuller; Dr. Thomas Vollmer

Tom Schuller; Dr. Thomas Vollmer

Jyri Manninen presents empirical data on the »wider benefits of lifelong learning« collected in Finish adult education institutions (adult education centres, folk high schools, university summer schools, study and sport centres) in 2007. To present the results, a model concept on the wider benefits of learning was developed, which includes a quintuple classification of the term »benefits«: 1. »relevant benefits for the learning process «, 2. »direct benefits«, 3. »skills and competences«, 4. »additional benefits« and 5. »other benefits«.

The article describes how community learning, a special form of adult education in Ireland, generates benefits for both the individual and the society. The authors’ elaborations are empirically based on the reports »At the Forefront«, »Community Education: More than just a Course« and »Sowing the Seeds of Social Change«, conducted by the Irish National Adult Learning Organization (AONTAS).
Brigitte Bosche; Berni Brady

The report includes a slightly revised version of a lecture held during the opening ceremony of the German Continuing Education Day in Berlin in 2012. The author focuses on the day’s central idea: surplus value of continuing education and pleads for the use of the benefit concept, which includes the individual’s perspective, as well as the concept of profit with regard to the social and organizational perspective.

The Author presents a shortened version of the report »The Social and Personal Benefits of Learning: A Summary of Key Research Findings« by the »Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning (WBL)«. The wider benefits of early childhood education as well as school, university and adult education are examined. The wide range of positive educational benefits contains crime prevention as well as a reduced nicotine consumption or increased tolerance.

Based on data collected in the OECD project »Social Outcomes of Learning (SOL)«, empirical research findings and resulting policy recommendations were generated in the report »Improving Health and Social Cohesion through Education«, which are presented in this shortened and translated version. Due to the overall sparse empirical evidence of benefit research, future research forms and necessary methodological approaches are outlined.
Koji Miyamoto; Ricardo Sabates

Within the federal programme »On-Site Learning«, the General Bureau of Education in Aachen is responsible for the municipal coordination of educational counselling in ten communities. The presented three-pillar model includes the qualification of educational counsellors, training for educational guides for and the compass training guidance as an associated information medium. The concept aims at improving the transparency of publicly accessible educational counselling as well as approaching educationally deprived target groups. Here, guides play a key role.

The DIE (German Centre for Adult Education) programme “Learning in Social Spaces”, the social quarter approach is a key element of the inclusion matter. Focused on the social environment, continuing education can include the local community and the resulting participation and networking potentials. The article discusses extracts of interviews conducted with representatives of adult education centres in Berlin and Hamburg, revealing the extent of social space orientation work in the context of inclusion.
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