The increasing functional illiteratism among young adults is the background for the project „Gilgamesch“ – a cooperation of the university and the adult education centre in Munich. The learners are organized in small groups, the emphasis of the courses is on verbal improvement, cognitive ordering and handling of knowledge and on the development of individual strategies to overcome writing problems. The project’s theoretical and practical results will be transmitted to various institutions deali…
The article deals with the concept of self-competence, the importance of which has been growing in andragogy in the course of the individualization of professional life. Thereby the theoretical and empirical analysis focuses on the ´explanation´ of the term and its effects on the individuum. After the description of fundamental developments which cause the emergence of the topica theorectical and empirical modelling of (self-)competences follows. As a conclusion, consequences for the theory and…
Striking the Balance between Competences – Backgrounds, Methods, Development Necessities The term competence entered the pedagogical/educational discussions of the German Education Council in the 1970s. However, it has recently become, once again, the objective of an intensive debate. It is always about the potential of the individuals which exceeds the certified level of knowledge and skills. This article introduces and analyses three different methodological approaches to the evaluation an…
People constitute learning places themselves when a relational room perspective is the starting point of their action. Room in the learning place company can be relationally structured by further education processes. Spacings, syntheses and the consequently following dynamisation of learning places open up possibilities which contribute to a reinforced exchange of experiences. Participants of further education positively evaluate this exchange of experiences because it takes place near the wor…
Starting from constructivist, neurophysiologic and learning psychological deliberations the actual learning place should be described as the human being because only within him is where the learning takes place. Unanimously though, learning is always carried out in interaction with contextual factors. The outer environment – and therewith also local conditions – influence the processing of information. Hereunto three examples are named: (1) The Loci method links memory contents with places. (2)…
A video-study of language courses in adult education analyses the transformation of a learning side into a pedagogical space. The definition of pedagogical space is linked to the theory of social space. Space is thus viewed as an arrangement and perception between human beings and social goods. This recasting of social space as a pedagogical space specifies social space to include two additional elements: the representation of knowledge and pedagogical media. For this study, the transformation …
Computer aided data analysis in the qualitative adult education research Experiences with the software MAXqda 2 and Atlas.ti The qualitative social research has various different programmes to choose from when evaluating data which can make the systemization and organization of data easier. In the contribution two works from research in adult education and respective usage of software for qualitative data analysis are exemplarily discussed. Thereby especially the process of the (network) …
This article proposes two interpretational approaches which sociological transformation research offers to reflect on east German transformation processes after reunification. (1) Taking the concept of transformation as modernisation catching up, a picture is painted of a society going through inevitable modernisation processes with a time delay. (2) From the theoretical perspective of contextualisation, transformation is seen as an objectless, complex, conflict-prone process during which easte…
People with low literacy skills are often experiencing difficulties to manage their everyday life. For example, filling out forms, correspondence or banking may pose huge challenges. But what about the political participation of functional illiterates in a society which is dominated by the use of literacy? The following article focuses on how participants of literacy classes use their possibilities of contribution. These assumptions are based on first results of the qualitative research project…
Since Francis Bacon, the concept of knowledge has been related to the question of power. In the beginning, this interrelation was applied to scientific knowledge, nature and its controllability. Since the era of enlightenment this problem has been applied to questions of social power. Marxist theoreticians then exposed the emergence and distributions of and the access to knowledge as related to the class struggle. Finally, it was Foucault who opens up for a new and experimental perspective.
