In consideration of the omnipresent commitment to the significance of lifelong learning, the article analyses the role of continuing education within public education funding. Over the past 20 years, public continuing education funding has been reduced by 41 %. The low participation rate in continuing education, particularly among the less qualified and atypically employed, encourage an increase in public investments. Funds should enhance staff counselling, qualification and professionalism as …
Japan’s population is aging and shrinking at unprecedented speed. One central issue that emerges in the ongoing discourse on how to meet the manifold demographic challenges Japan faces deals with the central role the nation’s senior citizens can take on when it comes to providing and fostering social capital. The concept of lifelong learning in this context has been established as a central means of being engaged in actively shaping the future of Japan.
Research on humans and animals gives evidence for the fact that older beings learn more slowly than younger ones, yet for this very reason they are able to build up internal representations of the true values to be learned in an increasingly more precise manner. Through frequent repetition general structures of experiences are learned. Thus, a decreasing rate of learning that comes with old age is just one side of the coin.
Online communities have been praised as utopian realms of free, equal and unrestricted communication by some; others have condemned them as anti-social pseudo-communities. Both attitudes, however, focus on the technical framework and do not take the actual quality of the interaction into account. The author describes types of interaction in virtual communities in general, then looks at four types of communities dedicated specifically to learning, and explores their potential.
The author covers definitions and dissemination of »Open Educational Resources (OER)« marked by Web 2.0, particularly issues of copyright and licensing law as well as the problems of financing free material. At the same time, the potential adult education surplus value of OER is pointed out and the prerequisites of high-quality learning and teaching processes are discussed. The article concludes with an agenda for teachers aimed at the sustainability of the OER.
This article describes the “Dorfbildungstage” ("Village Education Days” as a specific instructional format widely used in the valleys of the autonomous Italian province of South Tyrol. The format's regional importance comes from the fact that it integrates an inter-ethnic factor. In these largely rural communities, where differences between ethnic groups are always in the foreground, the village education days form a culture whereby German and Italian ethnic groups shape village learning togeth…
Going out from the »UN ECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development« of March 2005 the author describes which challenges have arisen from the establishment of the perspective of sustainability. In an overview of the different areas of adult education it becomes obvious, how variable the concept of ESD finds acceptance (adult evening classes, environmental education, global learning, academies). Eventually the contribution encourages to comprehend ESD as a chance for adult education an…
Case-reconstructive quality circles have hardly ever been tried out in adult education. Under the direction of trainers, course teachers reflect the quality of their work in a mutual process. Their own teaching/learning situation serves as illustrative material. It is self-evident that this method relies on mutuality and must be voluntary. The method, which is explained with the aid of a practice example from the KVHS Northeim, has its origins in health care.
Kompetenzrahmen arrangieren Kompetenzen systematisch als komplexen Zusammenklang von Wissen, Fertigkeiten und Einstellungen/Haltungen. Als Instrument können Kompetenzmodelle verschiedenen Zwecken und unterschiedlichen Adressat*innen bei der Konzeption, der konkreten Planung und Umsetzung von Lernen sowie bei der Anerkennung dienen. Die Vielfalt an Nutzungsmöglichkeiten macht sie auch für die außerschulische Bildung interessant.
Welche demokratiebildenden Kräfte kann Erwachsenenbildung außerhalb von Formaten dezidiert politischer Bildung freisetzen und welche Voraussetzungen braucht sie dafür? Die Autorin plädiert für Freiräume in der Erwachsenenbildungspraxis die Begegnungen schaffen und Zugehörigkeitserfahrungen ermöglichen können.
