Contradictions in adult education structures and policies in Austria
their interrelation with the professional development of educators
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/rela.2000-7426.rela0028Keywords:
Lifelong learning, Austria, adult education, teachers and trainers, professionalsAbstract
This article analyses the structural influences on the professional development of adult educators and their relation to education policy using Austria as a fairly average example of the diversity in European adult education. The position of adult education is first analysed in the course of the development of a lifelong learning strategy, showing a set of basic contradictions that are institutionally embedded in educational practices and policies. The consequences of these constellations for professional development in adult education are then examined, and a policy analysis undertaken based on institutional theory and using literature, documents and secondary data. This analysis shows that the contradictions in the institutional structures and policies inhibit both the development of a lifelong learning strategy as well as the professional development of adult educators. The competence development and quality assurance approaches adopted in Europe contribute only very modestly to the development of adult education in Austria.
Metrics
References
ALPINE. (2008). Adult Learning Professions in Europé. A study of the current situation, trends and issues. Final report financed by the EC. Zoetermeer: Research voor Beleid. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://ec.europa.eu/education/more-information/doc/adultprofreport_en.pdf
Bassanini, A., Booth, A., Brunello, G., De Paola, M. & Leuven, E. (2005). Workplace Training in Europé. IZA Discussion Paper No. 1640. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://ftp.iza.org/dp1640.pdf
Bauer, F. (2009). Individual learner accounts in Upper Austria. In CEDEFOP (Ed.), Individual learning accounts. Cedefop Panorama series 163 (pp. 25-33). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/etv/Upload/Information_resources/Bookshop/527/5192_en.pdf
BMBWK (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur). (2001). Konsultationsprozess zum Memorandum über lebenslanges Lernen der Europäischen Kommission. Dokumentation der Expert/innentagung am 20. Juni 2001. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://erwachsenenbildung.at/downloads/service/materialien-eb_2001-7_6351_PDFzuPubID97.pdf
BMUKK (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur). (2010). Startschuss für österreichische Strategie zum lebensbegleitenden Lernen mit MinisterInnen Schmied, Karl, Mitterlehner und Hundstorfer. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www.bmukk.gv.at/ministerium/vp/pm/20100420b.xml
BMUKK (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur). (2011a). Konferenz der Erwachsenenbildung Österreichs (KEBÖ). Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://erwachsenenbildung.at/themen/eb_in_oesterreich/organisation/keboe.php
BMUKK (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur). (2011b). Magazin erwachsenenbildung.at. Aktuelle Ausgabe. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://erwachsenenbildung.at/magazin/index.php
Burchell, G., Gordon, C. & Miller, P. (Eds.). (1999). The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality with Two Lectures by and an Interview with Michel Foucault. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Chance Bildung. (2007). Beirat für Wirtschafts- und Sozialfragen: Chance Bildung. Konzepte der österreichischen Sozialpartner zum lebensbegleitenden Lernen als Beitrag zur Lissabon-Strategie. Bad Ischl. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.sozialpartner.at/sozialpartner/ChanceBildung_20071003.pdf
Delannoy, F., McKenzie, P., Wolter, S. & van der Ree1, B. (2004). Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. OECD Country Note: Austria. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/21/33919144.pdf.
Evans, L. (2008). Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals. British Journal of Educational Studies, 56(1), 20-38. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8527.2007.00392.x
Friesenbichler, B. & Hackl, W. (2010). Kollektivvertrag für private Bildungseinrichtungen jetzt verpflichtend. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://erwachsenenbildung.at/aktuell/nachrichten_details.php?nid=3968
Glatter, R. (2002). Governance, autonomy and accountability in education. In M. Preedy, R. Glatter & C. Wise (Eds.), Strategic leadership and educational improvement. Leading and managing for effective education (pp. 44-59). London: Sage.
Glazer, J.L. (2008). Educational professionalism: an inside-out view. American Joumal of Education, 114, 169-189.
Graf, L., Lassnigg, L. & Powell, J.J.W. (forthc. 2011). Austrian Corporatism and Gradual Institutional Change in the Relationship between Apprenticeship Training and School-based VET. In M.R.
Busemeyer & C. Trampusch (Eds.), The Comparative Political Economy of Collective Skill Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gruber, E. (2004). Professionalisierung in der Erwachsenenbildung: Zwei Schritte vorwärts, einer zurück? In W. Lenz & A. Sprung (Eds.), Kritische Bildung? Zugänge und Vorgänge (pp. 213-225). Münster: Lit.
Hall, P.A. & Taylor, R.C.R. (2006). Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms. Political Studies, 44(5), 936-957.
Hwang, H. & Powell, W.W. (2009). The Rationalization of Charity: The Influences of Professionalism in the Nonprofit Sector. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54, 268-298. doi: 10.2189/asqu.2009.54.2.268
KBE (Knowledge Base Erwachsenenbildung). (2011). Austrian Network for Research and Development in Adult Education and Continuing Training. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www.adulteducation.at/en/forschungsnetzwerk/
KEBÖ (Konferenz der Erwachsenenbildung Österreichs). (2008). 22. KEBÖ-Statistik (Arbeitsjahr 2007). Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://files.adulteducation.at/voev_content/95-keboe22.pdf
Lenz, W. (2005). Porträt Weiterbildung Österreich (2nd ed.). Länderporträts Weiterbildung, Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.
Lenz, W. (Ed.). (2006). Weiterbildung als Beruf. ‚Wir schaffen unseren Arbeitsplatz selbst!‘. Münster: Lit.
Lassnigg, L. (2002). Professionalism as a path for the reform of VET systems. In W.J. Nijhof, A. Heikkinen & L.F.M. Nieuwenhuis, (Eds.), Shaping flexibility in vocational education and training (pp. 183-205). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Lassnigg, L. (2006). Approaches for the anticipation of skill needs in the ‘Transitional Labour Market’ perspective - the Austrian experience. WZB-Discussion paper SP I 2006-105. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://skylla.wz-berlin.de/pdf/2006/i06-105.pdf
Lassnigg, L. (2009a). Contradictions in adult education policy – Findings and reflections from Austria. InA. Papastamatis , E. Valkanos, G. K. Zarifis & E. Panitsidou, (Eds.), Educating the Adult Educator: Quality Provision and Assessment in Europé. Conference Proceedings (pp. 475-493). University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, 6-8 November 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED508475.pdf.
Lassnigg, L. (2009b). Policy Learning and Outcome Orientation in Austrian VET – Theoretical and Empirical Explorations. In F.K. Oser, U. Renold, E.G. John, E. Winther & S. Weber (Eds.), VET Boost: Towards a Theory of Professional Competencies. Essays in Honor of Frank Achtenhagen (pp. 385-408). Rotterdam/Taipeh: Sense Publishers.
Lassnigg, L., Felderer, B., Paterson, I., Kuschej., H. & Graf, N. (2007). Ökonomische Bewertung der Struktur und Effizienz des österreichischen Bildungswesens und seiner Verwaltung. Research report by the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) commissioned by the Ministry of Education. Vienna: IHS. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from http://www.equi.at/dateien/ihs_oekbew.pdf.
Lassnigg, L., Vogtenhuber, S. & Steiner, P.M. (2007). Finanzierung und Förderung von lebensbegleitendem Lernen in Österreich. In Arbeiterkammer Wien (Ed.), Weiterbildung und Lebensbegleitendes Lernen. Vergleichende Analysen und Strategievorschläge für Österreich, Materialien für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Nr. 102 (pp. 44-69). Vienna. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://wien.arbeiterkammer.at/bilder/d60/MaterialienWuG1021.pdf
LNW (Ländernetzwerk Weiter.Bildung). (2006). Arbeitsprogramm für die Jahre 2006 bis 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www.pfiffikus.at/lnw/doc/Papier%20L%C3%A4nder-Netzwerk%2020.3.2006.pdf
LNW (Ländernetzwerk Weiter.Bildung). (2007). Ländernetzwerk Weiter.Bildung. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www.pfiffikus.at/lnw/
Milana, M. & Skrypnyk, O. (2009). Professionals vs. Role professionals: Conceptualizing professionalism among teachers of adults. Contribution to ‘Pathways towards Professionalisation. Teachers and Trainers in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Professional Development in Asia and Europé’ 29-30 June 2009 in Bergisch Gladbach/Germany. Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung/German Institute for Adult Education. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.die-bonn.de/asem/asem0922.pdf
MAGAZIN erwachsenenbildung.at. (2008). Qualifiziert für die Erwachsenenbildung? Professionalität in der Diskussion No.4 (June). Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://erwachsenenbildung.at/magazin/archiv.php?mid=411
Mosberger, B., Kreiml, T. & Steiner, K. (2007). Zwischen Lifelong Learning, Training und Professionalisierungsdiskurs. Bestandsaufnahmen und Analysen zum arbeitsmarktpolitisch
organisierten Trainingsbereich vor dem Hintergrund der geforderten Umsetzung von Lifelong Learning. AMS report 56. Vienna: AMS. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.forschungsnetzwerk.at/downloadpub/AMSreport56.pdf
Nuissl, E. & Lattke, S. (Eds.). (2008). Qualifying adult learning professionals in Europé. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.
O’Connell, P.J. (2007). Who generally trains? In L. Lassnigg, H. Burzlaff, M.A. Davia Rodriguez & M. Lassen (Eds.), Lifelong learning. Building bridges through transitional labour market (pp. 87-103). Apeldoorn: Het Spinhuis.
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). (2004). Thematic review on adult learning. Country note Austria. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/31/19/32303060.pdf
Ozga, J. (1995). Deskilling a profession: professionalism, deprofessionalisation and the new managerialism. In H. Busher & R. Saran (Eds), Managing Teachers as Professionals in Schools (pp. 21-37). London: Kogan Page.
Scharpf, F.W. (1997). Games Real Actors Play: Actor-Centered Institutionalism in Policy Research. Publisher: Boulder, CO: Westview Press [read online: http://www.questia.com/read/66075746; retrieved November 21, 2010].
Schmidt, A. (2008). Prekäre Arbeit in der Weiterbildung – Beispiel Österreich. In GEW (Ed.), Prekäre Arbeit in der Weiterbildung. Dokumentation der Herbstakademie 14.-15.November, Weimar (pp.16-20). Frankfurt/Main. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www.gew-nds.de/erwachsenenbildung/loads/GEW_Herbstakademie_Weimar_2008.pdf
Steiner, M., Steiner, P.M., Lassnigg, L. & Prenner, P. (2002). Grundlagen für die Entwicklung eines Systems des Lebenslangen Lernens in Wien. Analysen, Prognosen und strategische Ansätze. IHS-research report. Vienna: IHS. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.equi.at/dateien/lll-wien.pdf
Thelen, K. (1999). Historical institutionalism in comparative politics. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., 2, 369-404. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.2.1.369
Thompson, G., Frances, J., Levacic, R. & Mitchell, J. (Eds.). (1991). Markets, hierarchies and networks. The coordination of social life. London: Sage & Open University Press.
Wagner, E. & Lassnigg, L. (2006). Alternative Approaches to Individual Training Leave to Combine Work with Personal and Professional Development. IHS research report. Vienna: IHS. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.equi.at/dateien/foerderung_von_weiterbildung.pdf
Wilensky, H. L. (1964). The professionalization of everyone? American Journal of Sociology, 70, 137-158.
Zilian, H.-G., Lassnigg, L. & Wroblewski, A. (1999). Arbeitslosenschulung in der flexibilisierten Wirtschaft: Am Beispiel der Evaluierung und der Analyse eines Schulungssystems. München: Hampp.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2011 The author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
As RELA is an open access journal, this means that anyone who can access the Internet can freely download and read the journal. There are no commercial interests for Linköping University Electronic Press or the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA) in publishing the journal. There are no charges for publishing authors.
The core idea of open access is that copyright remains with the author(s). However, we publish with the agreement of the author that if she or he decides later to publish the article elsewhere, that the publisher will be notified, prior to any acceptance, that the article has already been published by RELA.
When publishing with RELA, it is with the agreement of the author that if they make their article available elsewhere on the internet (for example, on their own website or an institutional website), that they will do so by making a link to the article as published in RELA using the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number of the article and acknowledge in the text of the site that the article has been previously published in RELA.
