In many regions, professionalisation in adult and continuing education
is brought into the focus of educational policy. The professionalisation
approaches and strategies are diverse and vary due to the corresponding key
actors and cooperations, national cultures and historical particularities and
there are many controversial elements to the approaches.
We want to focus on the historical development and current trends in the
various regions from an international (and comparative) perspective thus
revealing common factors as well as differences in the context of the
individual social development, including the growing concerns around external
control of culturally specific systems. What some may see as new opportunities others
will consider as hazards and contradictions in terms of professional
development. In particular, we welcome research activities that focus on one of
the three topical fields and the following research questions as well as
critiques of current approaches within these fields, which include:
1) Actors, stakeholder and their cooperation culture & their impact on professionalisation methods.
Professionalisation methods are created e.g. based on the interaction of
the key actors. Issues of cooperation and competition, power and trust are
significant aspects. Several questions arise: Who are the key actors in the
professionalisation system? Who determines the debate on professionalisation?
How can access be created and regulated? What roles can universities and the
scientific community fulfil? What is the role of the regional and international
organisation?
2) Didactic-methodological approaches and curricula, & their contribution to professional
development.
Courses of study and continuing education contribute to the
professionalisation. We need to differentiate between the universitarian
science-oriented strategies for professionalisation and the pragmatic approach
of professional associations and continuing educational institutions. At the
same time, many European countries pursue new certifications systems and
competence assessment. This forum covers issues of professional learning, the
effects of professionalisation on various didactic-methodological approaches
and the development of curricula.
3) Globalisation processes, strategies of internationalisation and
transnationalisation & new tasks and fields of activity.
The assumption
that we should no longer live in what some call a “national container“ is being
strongly criticised. How justified are these criticisms? Whereas some consider
global processes and the transnationalisation of living environments to be the
origin of new tasks and activities for adult educators, which range from the
involvement of expatriates in companies, to the creation of learning cultures
across borders as well as to the inclusion of migrants, others see a creeping
control and destruction of identity. At the same time, there are serious
challenges to cultural and political diversity. Additional questions arise:
What are the institutional strategies of the internationalisation? To what
extent do the new media support the overcoming of spatial boundaries? How are
learning experiences gained in international respectively EU projects taken up?
What importance is attributed to international competence? Are there dangers
associated with wholesale acceptance of these changes and their impact on adult
education?
