Education or competence – a pseudo alternative? It is a platitude that the structural change of society also leads to structural problems of further education. Therefore this is discusses intensively for some time past and the practical transpositions are gross. The impression of the authors is that it is argued, latently or explicitly, dichothomic even though that in fact is not necessary. In this contribution the authors want to expand on two such contradiction theorems with the intention …
For 30 years, the author has been director of the communal adult education institute “Volkshochschule” at a middle-size town in Southern Germany. In 1998, the costs of 3 million DM were financed jointly by the town (50%), the participants of the courses (40%) and the Land Baden-Württemberg (10%). In the next three years, the "Volkshochschule" has to reduce the communal subsidy by 12%. The article deals with the financial challenges the institute faces in its new situation of competition at the …
The phenomenon of disordered learning and the resistance against education are reconstructed as a result of purposeful educational determination. Both are collateral costs of institutionalized learning arrangements, at which can be worked anew with educational means on a higher level. Compared with informal and implicit learning, in contexts of formal learning there is a fair chance for resistance against exacting learning demands. So the competence of refusing education might be seen as a base…
Program analyses are considered as genuine methods of research in further education. The basic understanding is that innovation is not only an invention of new methods, but also an implementation of existing methods in new ways. The most important approaches of program analysis will be presented and discussed concerning their alteration. This is also relevant for qualitative research in further education in general.
Already Max Scheler developed a functional definition of education. With Scheler, education is not only not opposed to usefulness, but even prerequisite for reaching certain aims at all. In terms of the postmodernist media and mass society the relationship between education and usefulness has to be reformulated. With reference to Lyotard, the author develops a concept of education as a regulative idea. Under these conditions, individuals are not expected to integrate themselves culturally into…
Awareness must be raised with respect to financial literacy. The publication provides information on the topic of financial literacy, explains the importance of raising awareness, outlines the function and role of multipliers as prime movers at the various interfaces and highlights the potential of cooperation and networking. In three steps – recognising, responding and taking action – it presents theoretical principles and case studies from a variety of vocational (everyday) situations for sel…
Educational focus group surveys. Practical experiences from the Wesermarsch district When planning educational measures, education providers in structurally weak areas need to take into account regional peculiarities and potential course participants. For this reason, in a project in the district of Wesermarsch, the instrument of a focus group survey was used to determine people’s educational needs. This article describes the method used and experiences gained, and how the results were impl…
This assumption does not seem plausible at first glance, but rather absurd instead. The regular manifestation of modern age as a knowledge-based society on the one hand as well as the consensual acceptance of the appeal for lifelong learning on the other hand, create the opposite of an image in which the pedagogical aspect of continuing education has been lost. The author argues that learners are increasingly left unsupported, lifelong learning has become more fiction than reality and continui…
Thriller series with top class actors of the German television occasionally play teachers and learners in adult education settings. And they use the cliche of the organised adult education as a place for problematic customized services. The author watched several different thriller series and advises to take note of the transported image in a sober way: teachers and learners of adult education will have to live with being portrayed in television thrillers as fogy or suspect figures. At the same…
Research activities in adult education are currently only partially visible and dispersed across numerous data sources. This report examines existing information resources and identifies limitations in terms of completeness, accessibility and technical interoperability. To improve the long-term visibility of research and provide a reliable basis for research on the discipline itself, existing infrastructures should be more closely interconnected, persistent identifiers such as ORCID systematica…
