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…
Continuing Education for the teaching Staff in adult Education in Europe – Situation, Strategies, Systems This article reviews the results of the efforts for establishing a frame for the measuring of competencies and skills for the teaching staff in adult education which has been implemented on the European level (EQF). It is shown that, due to the situation in various European countries, a rather open understanding of the term “adult education” is in use, including vocational training and n…
This contribution summarizes the most important trends in further education in Germany as they were elaborated in a secondary analytic research project of the DIE (Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenbildung – German Institute for Adult Education) in 2007. According to the study, participation in adult education in Germany is increasing after long years of decrease, even though, overall, financing of adult education has been further reduced. Cooperation as well as competition between adult educatio…
