Seminar State and Market in Adult Education in international Contexts MA EAE Modul 5a

To position and discuss adult education between state and markt, we must first define what we mean by ‚adult education’. Clearly, adult education is an umbrella term which covers several differnt types of education and learning by adults and which needs to be clarified. What might seem at first glance a purely ‚academic’ question has, however, very concrete repercussions for the question of who should provide adult education, who should control ist contents and boundaries, and finally who should pay for it. For example in Germany, general adult education (allgemeine Weiterbildung) is a matter for the municipalities and the Länder to regulate, yet courses and programs are offered by a mix of public, private and non-profit providers. By contrast, job relaed adult education (berufsbezogene Weiterbildung) is mainly the regulatory responsibility of the federal government with the social partners (for example through tariff agreements) and especially the employers playing an important role. The upshot of this variety of regimes, providers and parties involved in adult education is that the boundaries between state and market are not very clearly defined. Moreover, they are changing depending on global tends and the political stripe of the respective government in charge. They also vary significantly between different countries. We shall look into different country settings to better understand the way markets and the state interact. From this overview three or four models emerge which characterize different philosophies and approaches to adult education and learning. Please send an e-mail to adulteducation@uni-due.de in order to register for this course. Bildungswissenschaften Universität Duisburg-Essen SS 2009 Bildungswissenschaften