Over the past years, the term »adult« has been exposed to signs of disintegration – in this context, the author critically reflects upon the disciplinary view of adult education on adults, which held on too tightly to concepts of autonomy following the physical characteristics of adulthood. The scientific adult educational debate was disconnected from the goals of maturing the human soul. Within a psychologically broadened and deepened view, »grown up« may imply »grown over«, which requires not…
Geld kann es für Bildung nie genug geben. Darüber sind sich alle Akteure – von den Betrieben über die Einrichtungen und Anbieter der Weiterbildung bis hin zu den Teilnehmenden – einig. Dennoch bestimmen Rationalisierung, Effizienzsteigerung und die Abwägung von Kosten-Nutzen-Relationen auch die Diskussion um die Finanzierung von Weiterbildung. Die Bildungspolitik versucht ihrerseits, die Kosten der Erwachsenenbildung auf verschiedene „Schultern“ zu verteilen und Förderungen gezielter einzuset…
Recent empirical data show that 7.5 million adults in Germany do not reach a minimum level of reading and writing skills and, therefore, are classified as functional illiterates. However, the social and educational background of this part of the population differs considerably from wide-spread perceptions of the target group as it is represented in courses for illiterates in adult education. While the latter normally showed heavy learning problems at school, the wider group normally passed scho…
Cooperative education arrangements are confronted with manifold anticipations which can be subsumed as ‘synergy’. This article which presents qualitative-empirical partial results of a current research project, is dealing with the question how Volkshochschulen (folk high schools) which are part of an integrated cooperation, are broaching the issue of synergy and how they describe their handling with this demand of cooperation. There are five strained dimensions of synergy and a broad spectrum o…
The focus of this article is on a historical-didactical theory which aims at establishing skills in historical thinking, broken down into skills in historical knowledge, questions, methodology and orientation. The approach, its potential and challenges facing it are explored using the example of the Berlin Wall Monument, a particularly useful example with Germany commemorating the 50th anniversary of the construction of the wall in 2011.
In the future it should be possible for educationally qualified applicants to be able to attend a university without university-entrance certificates acquired in a secondary school. This is meant to help ease the looming shortage of skilled labour in Germany. Facilities in the area of adult education are also to help facilitate the transition to a school of higher learning. The authors of this article report on a promising approach along these lines – the Lower Saxony model project »Open Univer…
