REPORT

Does law governing continuing education distinguish between general and vocational education?

This article examines the question as to whether and in what manner applicable law governing continuing education in Germany distinguishes between general and continuing vocational education. The analysis of the historical line of development shows that this was definitely the case especially during the phase of the so-called ”qualification campaign” in the 1970s and 1980s. In the present, on the other hand, law governing continuing education has largely lost its structuring effect through the considerable cut-backs in resources ordained by law and the loss of control through the shift of resources from funding of continuing education to other fields of policy. The main conclusion drawn in the article is that ”it is not the legal situation of continuing education which is the main problem, but rather its successful support or, as it were, lack of support through policy.”

Representative surveys on participation in continuing education are the basis for analyses of lifelong learning as well as a description of the continuing education sector within the educational system. The information which is made available should be sufficiently differentiated in order to be able to distinguish different types of learning activities. One of the most important distinctions is the one between general and continuing vocational education. This article examines how and with what results this distinction is to be made in continuous surveys on participation in continuing education in Germany and what possibilities there will be to demarcate general and continuing vocational education within the framework of the new Adult Education Survey (AES).

The rising importance of continuing education in the knowledge-based society is undisputed, but the broad organisational and legal area of continuing education has not been surveyed adequately to date in statistical terms. This article provides an overview of the heterogeneous landscape of providers and explains the existing data situation. Following this, the problems associated with a separation between providers of vocational from general education are discussed. Finally, the current changes taking place in institutional structures are examined and a current research project on the topic is discussed involving an initial survey of all continuing education providers in Germany, including a survey of less important structural aspects of providers of vocational and non-vocational education.

Didactic transition between education and working life

This article examines the orientation of vocational training towards ”learning areas” in the context of the larger thematic topic of ”occupation and education”. The pivotal question around which the whole topic revolves is whether and in what ways the concept of ”learning areas” can contribute to a constructive change in the dialectic between education and occupation. It is with this in mind that the relationship between education and profession is first of all addressed. Secondly, the current discourse over adult education didactics is discussed in the context of the dynamic tension explored earlier in the article. Finally, the concept of ”learning areas” is developed as an option in the reform of educational theory in the area of occupational didactics. The fourth and final step in the analysis sums up to what extent the ”learning areas” approach constitutes a didactic transition between education and occupation.

Competence and education, emotions and virtues
The ambivalence of competence in the portfolio experience of volunteers

A portfolio setting in which volunteers identify, evaluate and document their competencies acquired through voluntary work is at the same time a location of special experience with education and competence: competencies expected by the labour market and acquired in voluntary work converge with predominating notions of education. This article looks at the antagonisms and interdependencies between an orientation between education and competencies in the area of adult education using the example of a competence portfolio for volunteers working at the Ring Austrian Educational Centre (Ring Österreichischer Bildungswerke). There appears to be an ”ambivalence of competence” which is explored in two directions: in the direction of a critique of market-oriented functionalism of feelings and in the direction of the discourse on competence in an expanded educational theory of virtues.

The need for counselling and counselling processes among students in the humanities and social sciences

In the area of adult education, learning counselling assumes the role of a support function for self-guided learning. University students must also structure and plan their learning process, even though many of these students are unable to develop sufficient learning skills due to their previously limited learning experience. Learning counselling as a tool in the learning process could fill a gap in the support which is currently on offer. This article reports on the author's experience as a freelance learning counsellor and forwards two questions: First, what kind of counselling demands do students have? And second, what kind of counselling processes are involved? In order to answer these questions 30 learning counselling cases were assigned to learning counselling groups, while various counselling processes were identified.