Literacy as specified in the recent PIAAC survey (OECD 2013) is separated into competence levels. This allows a comparison of adults performing on literacy Level I and below versus those performing on Level IV and above. The PIAAC survey also contains variables on participation in adult education. Core findings confirm the Matthew effect for participation rates, but not for training hours.
Representative surveys on participation in continuing education are the basis for analyses of lifelong learning as well as a description of the continuing education sector within the educational system. The information which is made available should be sufficiently differentiated in order to be able to distinguish different types of learning activities. One of the most important distinctions is the one between general and continuing vocational education. This article examines how and with what …
Im Hinblick auf die für 2009/2010 geplante OECD-Studie PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) analysiert Dieter Gnahs die Ergebnisse der letzten Erhebung (1996/1998), aus der repräsentative Daten zur Lesefähigkeit der Deutschen vorliegen. Damals hatte Deutschland am International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) zusammen mit insgesamt 21 weiteren Staaten bzw. Regionen teilgenommen. Die Ergebnisse dieser OECD-Studie haben nicht annähernd eine so große Resonanz gefun…
Within the process of socio-political transition adult education is an important tool for Eastern Europeans to orientate themselves in their rapidly changing social environment and to find new professional perspectives. Nevertheless, there are many obstacles blocking the way to the participation of all ethnic groups of the former Soviet Union in adult education courses. The article intends to show that besides various objective reasons, e.g. the disastrous economical situation, there are sever…
The research project KLASSIK examines the question of whether it is possible to increase competencies for information processing skills of older people. To this end, training courses that serve as experimental groups, performed a special, metacognitive thinking training. In the project also included comparison groups received no training. Before the treatment a performance test and an intelligence test ensure that both groups come from the same starting conditions. After the final test an appro…
Voluntary Commitment and Learning. Results of a Survey on Volunteers by the Federal Government The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth’s (BMFSFJ) survey on volunteers, carried out in 1999 and 2004, shows that voluntary work is on the rise, especially in the area of work with young people and adult education. Learning motives play a major role in voluntary commitments. Technical expertise is also considered to be important, but more so by men than by women. O…
The article presents experiences gained in educational work in (post) crisis areas based on the work conducted by the DVV in Mali. According to the findings, adult education centres can be successful providers of holistic education programmes. In addition, conditions and factors for success are presented.
Press and public relations work in continuing education is gaining importance through digitization and social media. Here the current guideline for strategic communication in public spaces provides a solid and systematic presentation of the basic structures of press and public relations work. The focus is on different communication strategies for large and small institutions, communication with adult and continuing education target groups, the classic tasks of press and public relations, the We…
This article explores „biography“ as a separate field of research within adult education. It focuses on analysing the outcome of alphabetization and basic education courses on biographies and coping mechanisms of functional illiterates. At the same time, the importance of biography research for practical work with illiterates is highlighted. The article also discusses a list of requirements that need to be met for an innovative adjustment of such practical work, and thus making better use of it…
