Competence profiles for adult educators - European perspectives on the occasion of the EQF discussion One important piece of groundwork for the EQF debate in the adult education profession is to explore relevant competence profiles. In the run-up to a European conference, as part of an EU-funded project, profiles of this type in the countries of Europe were studied, compared and checked to discover whether they could be linked in to the Qualifications Framework. The article, originally publi…
From the principle of the regulated occupation to the supremacy of certification: fields of conflict en route to the German qualifications framework (DQR) This article addresses the central difficulties observed in the search for consensus during the current development of a national German qualifications framework (Deutscher Qualifikationsrahmen, DQR). As well as the difficulty in blending in the German national “dual system” of vocational training with the EQF, the main difficulties identi…
Working at companies in old age – problem or opportunity? Company strategies for dealing with demographic change Demographic change usually confronts companies with a double challenge. Enterprises have to work with ageing staffs, while a veritable “war for talent” is underway to attract young skilled staff. This article explores the different strategies German enterprises are adopting to meet this challenge. At the same time, it distinguishes between tried-and-proven staff strategies whic…
Effects of continuing education tests Continuing education tests aim at improving transparency of the quality of programmes on offer and initiating processes to improve quality at providers of continuing education. But what has the impact of continuing education tests been to date? The authors present selected results of an evaluation study. From a demand perspective, continuing education has not been transparent since the introduction of educational testing in 2002, either. 54% of the popul…
New responsibility for older people. “Senior citizen trainers“ in the EFI Programme: training concept and fields of activity This article presents a continuing education strategy with which older people are prepared for voluntary work as senior citizen trainers. The six-week course was developed in the model programme “experiential knowledge for initiatives” (briefly: EFI), which was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth over a five-year period,…
The paratext of biographical interviews This article profiles everything which the biography researcher intentionally prompts or unintentionally receives during field work from his interview partners in the way of “paratext” which contributes to the design of the subject of research. Thus a notion which is usually used in the field of literature science is in this manner adopted in biographical research.
Voluntary work 2.0? Media-related conditions for voluntary work in the Internet A participation culture has developed in the Internet which is broadly discussed under the rubric of “Web 2.0” and which is explored in this article to determine the principles of voluntary work operating here. To this end the author first forwards a definition of voluntary work in “offline” reality before examining the communications-related conditions prevailing in the Internet upon which a conception of volun…
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…
