Scientific Education This issue combines empirical and conceptual access points to research of an area of education which has been for the most part neglected by continuing education: What role does natural science knowledge play in the context of informal and non-formal learning processes of adults? And what impetus can be derived for the structure and design of teaching-learning arrangements in other areas? This issue provides insight into specific issues, providing a contribution to inter…
Das Planungshandeln in der Erwachsenenbildung/Weiterbildung hat sich in den letzten Jahren stark ausdifferenziert. Planungsvorgänge bewegen sich heute in hybriden, intermediären Strukturen. Sie haben sich einerseits an Qualitätsmanagementsystemen und erweiterten Marketingkonzepten, andererseits an den Erfordernissen eines bildungsbereichsübergreifenden lebenslangen Lernens zu orientieren. Angebotsplanung verlangt also differenziertes Können und begründetes Handeln mit theoretischer und empirisc…
How to relate Natural Sciences to Adult Education Drawing on an intensive debate on the improvement of scientific literacy going on in Germany for more than ten years, this article deals with possible contributions of adult education. Starting with the marginal supply of science courses for adults, I focus on typical didactical arrangements and concepts. Based on an empirical study, exemplary didactical concepts are analysed regarding aims, topics, course type, and audience. The results are…
Reshaping the Relationship between Natural Sciences and Society – The implicite Learning in Contemporary Society How much does an average citizen need to know in the field of natural sciences in order to cope with the challenges of contemporary society? This question is being asked from various points of view. We will reconstruct current debates related to this question along three different lines: on the European level, within academia, and by means of a concrete case study. By relating the…
Non-Participation in Work-based Training in Europe. Results of a Field Study CVTS3 After a review of theories and empirical results concerning enterprise-based continuing training, results of the enterprise survey CVTS3 are discussed with a focus on training abstinence. It is shown that most non-training enterprises do not see a need for training. Public financing measures for the promotion of continuing training are likely to be less efficient for these enterprises, while awareness campaign…
Natural Sciences as a Constitutive Element of Modern Adult Education Imparting natural scientific knowledge to a socially broad audience was already quite common in manifold forms before adult education as such was really constituted in the last third of the 19th century. Some of the questions raised when natural science spread in the 18th and 19th centuries are still or again relevant in the 21st century. This paper tries to demonstrate that notion in a summarized form on the basis of an ex…
Changing the focus on Natural Sciences At present, public debates postulate more attention to natural sciences in the education sector. First, we will examine the precarious status of natural sciences in adult education and than argue that the traditional focus on natural sciences need to be readjusted. This change of focus aims at a general understanding of scientific developments by which both the individual and the society as a whole will gain and maintain its capacity to judge and act on…
Die statistische Datenlage zur Weiterbildung ist fragmentarisch und heterogen. Vorhandene Datenquellen beziehen sich auf unterschiedliche Teilbereiche, sie sind nur in Teilen miteinander kompatibel und liefern keinen Gesamtüberblick. Die Fernunterrichtstatistik versteht sich als ein Beitrag, einen Teil dieser Datenlücken zu schließen. Die erhobenen Merkmale lehnen sich an die Daten der Verbundstatistik an, um dadurch mehr Kompatibilität in der Weiterbildungsstatistik zu erreichen. Erfasst werde…
