Citizens’ involvement increasingly gains appreciation in the public perception. Also in the adult pedagogical discourse the attention is raised in the context of lifelong learning. In this contribution the author discusses how learning processes in adult education, that take place in a societal action context, can be supported, guided or even initiated. On the basis of own empirical inquiries the author examines citizens’ involvement as an action- and learning field and asks for learning experi…
Care of the elderly in Germany can nowadays be guaranteed only thanks to the immigration of foreign domestic help and of foreign staff who do, however, not conform to the German job description of „Altenpfleger/in“ (specialist for old persons’ care). This tends to endanger high-quality standards in care. Further education courses directed towards an intercultural opening of old persons’ care could show a way from this dilemma: a team that consists of people from different origins can, with appr…
Continuing higher education: International comparison of organisation and business areas While the relevance of lifefelong learning is growing internationally and is reflected in a changing and growing range of programme and course structures, German continuing higher education (CHE) institutions are unable to use this increased relevance to strengthen their own positions. An international comparison of CHE in six countries shows that types of organisation, responsibilities and the range of…
Challenges of the Bologna process. New graduations (B.A./M.A.) and the traditional university The contribution enquires for the relation between new B.A./M.A. graduations and the system of traditional universities, which in Germany is closely connected with the name Wilhelm von Humboldt. Because the university has always been having an education function, today’s reform could by all means be legitimised by the classic idea of university. After a brief outline of the Bologna process and under c…
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…
The study Competencies in Later Life (CiLL) provides for the first time representative data regarding the competencies of older people between the age of 66 to 80 years in three different domains: literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. It is shown that there are significant differences between people with different qualification, but also between people of different birth cohorts. Despite major qualification differences between men and women, there are no signi…
Due to the increasing blur of learning boundaries, the need arises for re-defining the concept of learning space. Based on an understanding of learning space, which refers to the local circumstances within organized education programs, the article initially aspires to include the debate on learning space in the discussion of informal learning, before it then focuses on the relation between time and location and the significance of virtual learning spaces. The article itself does not re-define t…
The article aims at providing guidelines for a clear theoretical differentiation between various areas of tension in the planning of programs by outlining Structures and contradictory constellations have an impact on the contouring of antinomies and, thus, on program planning. A professional approach to program planning manifests itself in how such professional antinomies are dealt with, in particular. In addition to being of great value to the scientific analysis, this differentiation is also …
Theories of Adult Education On the basis of three selected contributions, the adult pedagogical theory discussion which began in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s will be explored. The issues handled here concern the subject-matter relatedness and conceptuality used, the empirical binding and historical localisation, as well as the influence through the so called sister disciplines. The stages of the theory discussion which are addressed convey an ambivalent picture which moves between confidence, …
Going on from the report year 1 (http://www.die-bonn.de/esprid/dokumente/doc-2000/gnahs00_01.pdf) which offered a compilation of data accessible in internet, a discussion of case studies Finland and Switzerland and a suggestion of a ‘minimal’ data collection plan, in the report year 2 an overview of official (governmental) and institutional (providers) surveys on adult education is given. The design of a survey on experts from the national statistical offices is explained and the unexpected sma…
