During the past few years, "quality" has become a central topic and the guiding concept of the educational debate in politics, science and practice. Not only the quality of organisational structures but also the quality of teaching and learning as well as the pedagogical work of the teacher has come to the fore as central aspects of evidencing quality (e.g., Research voor Beleid 2008, Kraft et al., 2009, Borkowsky, 2013). The professionalism of teachers has become a central success factor for adult education and is intensively discussed in their prerequisites and facilitation possibilities. The question is not only how to collect and define existing and necessary teaching competences, but also how to systematically facilitate professional teaching trades by taking the heterogeneous knowledge and previous experience as well as the working reality of teachers into account. We call this the individual "professional development" - in contrast to the concept of "professionalisation", which is based on formal processes of the professionalization of a collective.

According to the latest data of the wb-personalmonitor, a representative survey of the German Institute for Adult Education in cooperation with BIBB and the University of Duisburg-Essen on the professional and social situation of the teachers in the adult and further education, we find circa 530,000 teaching persons in Germany in approximately 942,000 employment relationships (see Martin et al., 2016, in prep.). Two groups of teachers can be distinguished. A small group of teachers has has a fundus of (adult) pedagogical knowledge for the valorisation of the field of action due to a course of study or a comparable pedagogical trainin.

The majority of the teachers access a teaching activity as a "career change" and therefore this is mainly based on their professional expertise or professional experience. Their teaching usually takes place without explicit recourse on pedagogical, didactic-methodical knowledge (see WSF, 2005 , Martin & Langemeyer, 2014, Schöb et al., 2015). The difficult working situation pushes many teachers to an "autodidactic" qualification and individual professional development (Nittel, 2006). The lack of integration into professional communities ("individual teacherism") makes it difficult for professional and social exchanges. Participating in advanced training is often in direct competition to conducting a course and therefore with ones income. This is why there is usually little demand for traingings that take place with high demands on attendance times (see Scherer 1987, Kosubek et al., 2009, Martin & Langemeyer, 2014) .

There is a lack of knowledge about the professional competence of the teachers. Individual studies on teaching behavior and knowledge and skills of course leaders (cf., for example, Kade 1989, Bastian 1997, Hof 2001) provide a heterogeneous picture of the conceptions of teachers about adult education but teaching-related activities and needed basic competences are not systematically investigated yet. It remains an open question how teachers can be encouraged in such a way that they can improve their teaching activities by improving their knowledge and skills as practically as possible.

Kurzlink zu dieser Seite:
die-bonn.de/li/1327