The present discourse in further education is recurringly concerned with cultures, systems and networks. Karin Dollhausen aims at furthering this discussion by drawing a neat line of definition between these crucial terms under the aspect of the sociology of organisations. She goes on to explain what each of the terms does or should mean for public institutions of further education: »culture« – seen as the system of relationships within an organisation – sharpens the view of internal communicat…
Keeping an eye on the practice of management in further education institutions, the observer will encounter a rich variety of changing management strategies. Johannes Hartkemeyer, himself director of a Volkshochschule, scrutinizes past crazes and sets up guidelines for dealing with ever-changing fashions on the one hand, and organisational development on the other hand. His advice is to be a »learning organisation«, watch out for »mental models« of the organisation in a permanent process of ref…
At first sight, Ortfried Schäffter’s thesis looks trivial: a »pedagogical« organisation is an organisation that concentrates on focussing the interplay of all its energies on the success of its specific – namely, pedagogical – work. Examined more carefully, however, this means that a pedagogical organisation is one that furthers learning. Its success cannot be measured in terms of numbers of charges taken care of, duration of care, or hours spent in caregiving or counselling, nor i…
Looking at persons and at those active in organisations has forever been in the focus of psychological research on organisations. Monika Kil draws attention to the fact that pedagogical psychology, cognitive psychology and social psychology can also contribute towards a structuring of further education institutions that is conducive to learning. Developing a »learning culture « is one aspect of this. A review of further developments and findings opens up new dimensions for a discourse on organi…
Federal law as envisaged in the socalled Hartz paper provides for the introduction of education vouchers. Is political education concerned? Against this background, the author explores funding structures of political education on the federal as well as on the Länder plane, of municipalities and foundations. Her verdict is disenchanting: many institutions of political education, especially the very small ones, are facing their end. This is corroborated by two statements of experts from the field…
Recently, the acceptance of statistics in the education sector has grown. As a consequence of the publication of international comparative studies like TIMSS and PISA, more attention is paid to statistical surveys, as they have brought to light quite a number of hitherto unknown facts. Alexandra Ioannidou describes the present state of statistical activities in the further education sector and outlines what possible gains there are for institutions employing statistics.
The Greek educational system replicates the historical-cultural and regional segmentation of Greek society. In the past there was a gap between west-oriented Greeks with a high level of education on the one hand and uneducated natives on the other hand; nowadays we find well-off Greek students at western universities on the one hand and, on the other hand, the larger part of the national youth in the backward universities of their own country. In adult education, the traditional gap is perpetua…
Ein historischer Längsschnitt zum Thema Organisation in der Erwachsenenbildung vom 18. Jahrhundert bis heute.
Course teachers who cooperate in quality assurance programmes of their institutions tend to find this work gratifying in various ways: they improve their professional background, they get to look at their institutions from a new and interesting angle, and they profit from organisational improvements arising from quality projects. If, however, excessive expectations are addressed to them in the course of the quality discussion, these may readily be reflected back onto the institution and its inf…
