The process of regulation in the heterogeneous field of education and examination necessarily creates encounters and collaboration of persons, who are standing for different positions and have variable styles of action. In a research project, initiated and financed by the German Ministry of Education and Research, the transfer of formal regulations for examination in certain fields of further education into the reality of the examination has been analyzed. The project utilized three regulated e…
Both interest in and understanding of narrative analysis has developed rapidly in recent years and is now a mainstream element of research across many disciplines. In this book, the author illustrates as many facets as possible of the stories people tell about their lives. She demonstrates the interconnectedness between engagements in narrative research and shows that the theoretical understanding of the nature of narrative is bound up with the methods for biographical narrative research. Throu…
The development of interest in adult education This article presents results of a project funded by the DFG on the development of interest in continuing and further education. We connect our work to most recent research on biographical genesis of interest and focus occuring during an individual’s participation in adult education. As theoretical approach we refer to the Munich theory of interest and the pragmatist approach. We empirically investigate the opportunities and limitations of a qua…
Vocational continuing education by gainfully employed persons – the explanatory power of activity-related features for continuing education behaviour Socio-demographic, company and employment data is often used to explain continuing education behaviour of individuals. Even though continuing education needs arise directly in the job context, job-related aspects are less frequently taken into account – not least due to the availability of data. This has been made possible, however, by a repres…
Interest and Learning This article presents an overview of the so-called educational-psychological theory of interest and demonstrates its relevance for the processes and results of learning. Following this theoretical approach, interest behaviour can be described as a relation between person and object. It is accompanied by self-determination, positive emotions and a strong personal relation to certain objects or actions. Advantages of interest-motivated learning appear in improving cogniti…
Despite a relatively similar education system, the way how people can get a qualification for adult and continuing education is different in Germany and Switzerland. Germany has established an academic track within educational sciences with the focus on planning and management. Switzerland follows a vocational track with a basic qualification for teaching adults that could be extended by qualifications within the vocational system for positions in planning and management. This paper analyses th…
Program analyses are considered as genuine methods of research in further education. The basic understanding is that innovation is not only an invention of new methods, but also an implementation of existing methods in new ways. The most important approaches of program analysis will be presented and discussed concerning their alteration. This is also relevant for qualitative research in further education in general.
Theoretical references in professional adult education and vocational training To the extent that social sciences are dependent on the terms with which they are formulated also adult education underlies the impacts of terminological decisions, that can be encountered this way or another way. The usage of the term intervention is such a decision, it stands in the centre of this contribution. By interpreting the empirical results of research on self-learning competences as well as by theoretic…
