Kooperative Bildungsarrangements

This paper deals with the relation between the "effort" produced by institutions of further education for successfully realizing inter-organizational participation in networks and the "significance" of participation for the performing of the services of the institutions. A polythetic classification based on the qualitative data material is presented that allows for the differentiation between three different groups of organizations based on the relation between effort and significance. The results of the classification not only show that there is a development-impairing imbalance for one group of institutions, but also allows for reference to be made towards overlapping challenges that are relevant for creating performance-promoting network participation for institutions of further education.

Cooperative education arrangements are confronted with manifold anticipations which can be subsumed as ‘synergy’. This article which presents qualitative-empirical partial results of a current research project, is dealing with the question how Volkshochschulen (folk high schools) which are part of an integrated cooperation, are broaching the issue of synergy and how they describe their handling with this demand of cooperation. There are five strained dimensions of synergy and a broad spectrum of handling practices which can be disclosed. It shows on the one hand indications of the difficulty to realize this demand of cooperation. However on the other hand synergy can be understood as a functional element of cooperation.

As means of state regulation of adult education, cooperation and networking have increasingly gained importance in recent years. Yet, deficits of such regulation have come to light. A possible response to such deficits may be found in structures which support network in their coordinating actions. This article focuses on such supportive structures, systemizes different forms of support and outlines a theoretical approach for the analysis of inter-organizational network consultation.

Within vocational training, small and medium-sized enterprises are confronted with various problems and challenges. Such enterprises began to initiate and organize specific continuation education programs within networks and other forms of cooperation in order to overcome these problems. This article evaluates such business networks on the basis of an empirical qualitative study focusing on the requirements and preconditions for effective cooperations.

Corporate case work offers the opportunity to interconnect expertise in both adult and tertiary further education, to commonly solve work related tasks with companies and their employees and to make use of the attained experiences and knowledge through the development of authentic learning material in the form of specific case studies.

The research project KLASSIK examines the question of whether it is possible to increase competencies for information processing skills of older people. To this end, training courses that serve as experimental groups, performed a special, metacognitive thinking training. In the project also included comparison groups received no training. Before the treatment a performance test and an intelligence test ensure that both groups come from the same starting conditions. After the final test an appropriately modeled path analysis shows that in the comparison group performance is determined by intelligence, which disabled learners have to accept as 'fate'. In the experimental groups, however, intelligence loses its determining force. There also optimizing problem-solving, metacognitive competencies are shown to their fullest advantage. They also open up participants with lower intelligence levels new perspective.