In this article the theory and practice of adult education are described as a system which sustains itself using certain rules of play. The author starts out with an introduction to the term »play/game« placing particular emphasis on the fact that this game sets off further acts of communication: further moves are made. Next, four dimensions are identified in which ways of playing games can be observed: the personal, the social, the organisational and the community dimension. Adult education is…
Local responses to local challenges Marketing strategies of adult education centres during times of demographic change As a result of their course offerings and their target groups, adult education centres offer excellent prerequisites for structuring and shaping demographic change at the local level. These centres thus fulfil a necessary social function while at the same time strengthening their own position. Target-group oriented marketing by the same token plays a major role in order to …
This study starts from a dilemma which has been observed in adult basic education. On the one hand the use of assessments is regarded as supportive in order to determine in detail the learning needs of adults. On the other hand it is to be expected that persons with experiences of performing inadequately show justified anxieties or resistances in connection with test situations. I have chosen a research approach, which follows Holzkamp’s concept of a subject-scientific learning theory (1995), b…
Working in small groups can be regarded as constitutive for learning with cases. Using the example of case-based “train the trainer courses”, this contribution focuses on cooperative learning processes in small groups regarding the contents of the conversation and discussion structure as well as the effects on the competence development of individual adult learners. The presented results provide an insight of the processes of situated, problem-based learning in small groups which are common in …
The increasing functional illiteratism among young adults is the background for the project „Gilgamesch“ – a cooperation of the university and the adult education centre in Munich. The learners are organized in small groups, the emphasis of the courses is on verbal improvement, cognitive ordering and handling of knowledge and on the development of individual strategies to overcome writing problems. The project’s theoretical and practical results will be transmitted to various institutions deali…
Unity, difference, transitions On the way to a meta theory of the communication formats adult education, consultancy and therapy In theoretical substantiations of adult education the reconstruction perspective is too narrow arranged and adult education is forwardly regarded separately from structurally similar intervention forms. Similarities and transitions between adult education, consultancy and therapy are being neglected with negative consequences for the theoretical subject constituti…
Dohmen berichtet über neue Entwicklungstrends und Zukunftsperspektiven der Erwachsenenbildung in der USA.
Didactical shift of epoch? Needs for clarification for the further development of didactical thinking, with regard to a DFG-supported research This contribution deals with the question, what science should clarify, explore and do in order to tackle a possible stagnation of didactical thinking (and therewith also its practical possibilities of impact). In spite of the fruitful provocation with which the didactical discussion has been revived in the last decade, especially from sides of cons…
This paper draws on three data sources – a national survey from Germany of adult literacy and numeracy skills (leo. – Level-One Study), the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC), and case studies of workplaces in England – to argue for a greater focus by policymakers and researchers on the literacy demand experienced by adults. We consider the heterogeneity of the population of adults deemed functionally illiterate by large-scale national and internatio…
This report reflects potentials and dangers for adult education resulting from the process of Europeanizing educational politics. The report indicates the associated structural mechanisms of action in the area of tension of cooperation and competition with the example of the European Qualification Frame (EQF). While intending to achieve a better comparability of educational systems and educational programmes the EQF in fact injects fresh impetus for more national and international competition. …
