| National statistics on continuing education moving towards Europe. Initial German experience with the “Adult Education Survey“(AES) | | Print | |
| Peter Brandt | 26.02.2008 | Science - Articles [en] [de] | ||||
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European educational statistics are often presented in such an abstract way that insufficient attention is paid to the specific characteristics of the national educational systems. The “Adult Education Survey“ (AES) should in future help to overcome this dilemma. The German test run with its data published in mid-February shows that national and international interests can be reconciled.
To what extent is the population involved in continuing education? On the basis of educational research the answer to this question varies considerably – depending on the approach of the underlying research model. Because European statistics have to work with a certain degree of abstraction, specific national characteristics can often be obscured. The “Adult Education Survey“(AES), a reporting tool for European educational statistics which is expected to be binding for all EU Member States by 2011, should help overcome this dilemma. This concept is in line with the Lisbon Process, in which the EU has ultimately focussed more clearly on adult education with a “Communication“ from the Commission and an Action Plan. The survey tool is currently under trial in a number of countries and the initial results from Germany are now available. As data was collected using the traditional German survey model at the same time, it is a simple matter to measure the compatibility of the national and international consultation. Subject to appropriate translation, the results are gratifyingly similar, which is also the finding of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which commissioned the representativity survey in both forms. On 19th February the Ministry and the commissioned organisation, TNS Infratest Sozialforschung and associates, including the German Institute for Adult Education, presented the results to a specialist audience. The researchers have come up with participation rates for continuing education in 2007 of 43% (national model) and 44% (international basis). “Weiterbildung“ is to be understood as “non-formal education“ – as distinct from “formal education“ and “informal learning“. Specifically, non-formal education covers private lessons or courses (classroom instruction, lecture or a theoretical and practical course), courses conducted through open and distance education or guided on-the-job training. The concept of informal learning on the basis of AES is geared to intentional learning and is closer in meaning to the German word “Selbstlernen“ (self-study). Within informal learning the results of the national and international surveys diverge widely (participation rates of 39% and 53% respectively), which can be explained by the fact that the international survey also includes self-study during working time and not just in leisure time. As a central indicator for country comparisons the participation rates are considered over all types of learning activity (formal, non-formal, informal). The results in this respect are again very close. They indicate that 70% of the population aged 19-64 in Germany are actively studying (69% AES, 72% national study). In one point the national way of reporting has to bow to the pressure of international compatibility, at least that’s the way those responsible for the survey described here see it: the traditional German distinction between vocational and general continuing education cannot be applied in the European context. So Bernhard von Rosenbladt and his team from TNS Infratest propose that a distinction should be made on the basis of the subjective purpose of continuing education – “mainly for vocational reasons“ or “more out of personal interest“. According to this logic, a good 80% of continuing education recorded is work-related. The “work-related“ continuing education as shown in the AES is in turn divided into company and individual education. This produces a different set of types “three types of continuing education“, ranked in the following order on the basis of course attendance: company education has 60%, individual work-related education another 24%, the remaining 16% goes to non-work-related education. Company-based continuing education is therefore more significant than is often thought. |
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