Adult education and continuing education policy: science in between society and politics
Adult education and continuing education policy: science in between society and politics

Summary/Abstract: Across the history of institutionalized and organized adult education, relations have fluctuated considerably both nationally and internationally between adult education and the State and vice versa. This is already evident from the language of public discourse. The concept of 'national education' (Nationalerziehung) at the beginning of the 19th century, for instance, was understood as a collective and emotional consciousness-building process in the service of the State. In Germany during the Wilhelmine era at the turn of the 20th century, 'People’s Education" (Volksbildung) was the State's notion. And in Weimar Germany during the 1920s and early 1930s, when adult educators spoke of a "New Direction" in Adult Education, education tended to be viewed as subject oriented, and therefore individualistic, defining itself in a human-centred approach as departing from "Man". During the Weimar Republic, the relationship between the State and adult education underwent a change. Adult education was elevated to constitutional status, with a financial obligation on the part of the State. It was disputed at the time, however, whether a State-recognized commitment could be clearly deduced from the constitution (Walter Lande). Even so, during the 1920s, the function of adult education was regarded as twofold, serving the individual and his subjective need for learning on the one hand, while fulfilling an objective educational mandate by preparing citizens to contribute to the development of a democratic community through citizenship training for adults on the other (Adolf Grimme).

• Details
• Contents