This article presents the results of a recent online survey of graduates of the Austrian Academy of Continuing Education. Methodically, the survey’s results on benefit items are interpreted and answers to open questions are analyzed by qualitative content analyses. Empirical findings are subject to an interpretation using concepts of professionalization and the political agenda of validation of informal and non-formal learning. An important finding is, that WBA enhances individual professionali…
In adult education as well as in social work voluntariness is regarded as a desirable – if not paramount – characteristic in the process of counselling. Therefore it should also be a fundamental part in the planning, performing and reflection of consultation. Thus professional counsellors need appropriate reflection templates and models in this regard. However, the discussion lacks a precise concept of voluntariness in the process of counselling. While it is often demanded, there rarely exist c…
Lerntheorien sind eine wichtige Grundlage für alle, die sich professionell mit Lehren auseinandersetzen. In jüngerer Vergangenheit entstanden viele Theorien, die über den Behaviorismus und Kognitivismus hinausweisen und Lernen als menschliche Aktivität in einem sozialen Zusammenhang begreifen. Dadurch eröffnen sich lerntheoretische Bezüge zu Interessen, Gemeinschaften, Gefühlen, Arbeitsplätzen u.a. Auch wird die Vorstellung überwunden, Lernen sei primär für Kinder und Jugendliche bedeutsam. So …
Little is known about the qualifications of trainers in further vocational education. Some hold a degree in educational sciences. At the same time prospective trainers seem to be part of the target group of programs that specialize in adult education. The study focuses on which contents are intended in these programs and whether they could qualify for a later occupational activity as a training professional. For this purpose the course descriptions of 32 programs were analyzed and 10 responsibl…
Als „DIE spezial“ werden in lockerer Folge – durchschnittlich ein Band jährlich –Veröffentlichungen profiliert, die für die Weiterbildungslandschaft grundlegend und nachhaltig sind. Die hier publizierten Inhalte sind für alle Akteure der Weiterbildungslandschaft wichtig, entspringen oft empirischen und renommierten Forschungsvorhaben und lassen besondere handlungsleitende oder steuerungsrelevante Wirkungen erwarten.
This article proposes two interpretational approaches which sociological transformation research offers to reflect on east German transformation processes after reunification. (1) Taking the concept of transformation as modernisation catching up, a picture is painted of a society going through inevitable modernisation processes with a time delay. (2) From the theoretical perspective of contextualisation, transformation is seen as an objectless, complex, conflict-prone process during which easte…
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…
The notion of lifelong learning is reshaping the structural principle according to which learning is organised in the time structures of society. Long periods of time spent in schools are becoming more flexible, with shorter sections of ordered learning times being distributed throughout people’s lives and more flexible transitions taking place between work and learning. The three-phase scheme for working life – training, work and retirement – is becoming more flexible. The LLL concept can be s…
