Modern society has widely been characterized as an information society, in that the possession of information (or rather knowledge) is seen as the predominant factor for success. But information is volatile: the need to replace or update obsolete information becomes ever more pressing, as technological and scientific development moves on. This, however, happens in the context of a compartmentalization of society into a sector of successful, flexible individuals on the one hand and a sector of t…
Development of personality competence and central further education barriers in social milieus Presented are partial results of a current Germany-wide empirical qualitative analysis in which the social and regional differentiation of adult education interests and adult education behaviour in the tradition of milieu research are ascertains and interpreted. On the basis of three social ambiences the development of personality competence and typical further education barriers are introduced.
Competence and education, emotions and virtues The ambivalence of competence in the portfolio experience of volunteers A portfolio setting in which volunteers identify, evaluate and document their competencies acquired through voluntary work is at the same time a location of special experience with education and competence: competencies expected by the labour market and acquired in voluntary work converge with predominating notions of education. This article looks at the antagonisms and int…
Der REPORT vermittelt einen Überblick zur wissenschaftlichen Forschung und Theoriebildung in der Erwachsenenbildung. Jedes Heft behandelt ein Schwerpunktthema und enthält einen umfangreichen Rezensionsteil.
Habit, social milieus and the quality of life, learning and teaching The contribution highlights the topic quality in adult education from the perspective of Bourdieu’s theory of the habit and the on this building concept of social milieus. Thereby attention is drawn to some aspects neglected in the discussion that are of special interest to the social actors and the ”theory of practice” which derives from them: the learners, the practical processes on the organisational level and the que…
Diversity management is a popular management approach. It promises to allow diversity in organisations and thus to appreciate people for what they are. It undertakes to recognise different points of view, ideas, abilities and potentials; not to standardise cultural variety but to reinforce it. For adult education, this concept seems highly promising. After all, one claim of educational management is to promote personality development and personal progress in a business context. However, critica…
“Validpack” – new tool to validate the skills of adult educators The article describes how, as part of a European project, a validation tool has been developed to validate skills in adult education teaching. Validating adult educators' skills may be one step in the discussion concerning the professionalisation of adult education. There is a description of the aims of the tool, the competence framework it is based on, and the individual steps in the process. So that it can also be of advanta…
Strata, Class, Milieu. Reference strategies in research on continuing education 1957-2007 The author provides a longitudinal look at 50 years of research on participation in continuing education. After presenting some important publications from 1957 (Schelsky, Dahrendorf), he presents sociological reference strategies which were used in the respective time periods to explain the social structure: first strata and class, and then later – due to the influence of Bourdieus – the social milieu: H…
Times for (re)interpretation Transitions and their adaptation from the perspective of biographical research The contribution asks for the meaning of transitions in the educational system from a perspective of pedagogical biography research. Transitions effectuate initially mainly insecurities, clearing of one’s own basis, development of new perspectives, accepting or changing of the new situation, release of energy and activities for mastery of changes. In the example of an interview passage …
In Switzerland, experienced teachers can validate their competencies which they have achieved in the field of adult education. By submitting a self-assessment which is oriented along a competency profile, to the Swiss Association for Continuing Education (SVEB), the teachers demonstrate in a comprehensible way that they possess the necessary competences to teach in adult education. Experts examine the submitted self-assessments and use the competency profile as a reference standard. The experts…
