Continuing education must be a priority agenda item at the Summit
Germany needs a national continuing education agreement
Seizing the opportunities of the Summit
The German Adult Education Association (DVV) expressly welcomes the Education
Summit Qualification Initiative for Germany – Advancement through Education that the
Chancellor convened with the Minister Presidents of the Federal States on October 22, 2008,
in Dresden. The meeting was held to reach agreement on a common package of measures that
should give a boost to the education system.
The DVV sees the meeting as a positive signal that the Federal Government and the Laender
intend to coordinate their overall national responsibility for education within the framework
of Federalism Reform I. This process, however, will also require support at the local level
considering the many roles played by communities the education sector. Local governments,
represented by their central associations, should therefore be a part of Education Summits.
The Education Summit is a tremendous opportunity for the participants to set the pace for
financial, programmatic, and regulatory policies needed to continue building Germany into an
Education Republic.
Continuing education and learning throughout life must play a key role in this process.
Citizens can only adapt to advancing globalization and rapid technological change if their
chances to obtain employment and participate in society are continuously renewed so that
they can realize the potential that exists in a new concept for parental and family education.
This is precisely the purpose of continuing education with its short-term and long-term
programmes and activities. The fundamental importance of continuing education for
individual advancement as well as for the economic and social development of Germany has
long been scientifically established beyond dispute.
The Volkshochschulen (VHS) and their accomplishments
The German community adult education centres (Volkshochschulen) bear a large share of the
responsibility for securing the future of Germany through education. This is evidenced by
statistics for 2007:
•
Approximately 9 million people took part VHS programmes.
•
967 adult education centres and their 3,500 branches offered open, affordable, and
local access to lifelong learning for the entire population and for harder-to-reach or
disadvantaged groups in particular.
•
562,000 VHS courses provided lifelong learning opportunities in every subject area:
vocational training, foreign language instruction, orientation for personality
development, health education, political and cultural education, as well as basic
education.
•
The Volkshochschulen are spaces of integration and intercultural communication in
their communities. This is already evident from the fact that since 2005 close to
200,000 immigrants have participated in VHS integration courses. Moreover, in
autumn 2008, the Federal and Laender Governments charged the Volkshochschulen
with the responsibility of administering citizenship tests.
•
The international dimension in the activities of the German Volkshochschulen is
reflected in the work of the DVV's Institute for International Cooperation, dvv
international. With a staff of more than 100 professionals, dvv international
cooperates in 60 locations throughout the world in international development and
education projects.
Urgent tasks
So far, the Federal Government has not sufficiently followed up on its announced goal of
making continuing education the fourth pillar of the education system. To move closer to this
target of recognizing the equal value and priority of continuing education will require the
following urgent action:
1. "Second chance" through continuing education
In Germany in particular, the outlook for work and life is strongly determined by
social origin. It must be made bindingly possible for every adult - independent of
income - to access literacy measures and attend programmes leading to primary,
secondary, tertiary and vocational level certification.
2. More education support for people over 30
Despite new or expanded financing instruments for continuing education (training
vouchers, education loans, further development of a government aid scheme for
students in non-academic apprenticeships and technical vocations, the so-called
"Meister-BAFoeG" programme), too little federal funding and too few education
incentives are available for people over 30 to help them maintain or further develop
their knowledge and qualifications. This especially applies when seen against the
background of demographic challenges. Germany needs a transparent, goal-oriented
and consistent financing system for continuing education that addresses in particular
the needs and capacities of educationally disadvantaged groups and men and women
in the second half of their working lives.
3. Learning on location
The success of education is also determined at the local level. The many different
forms of education sponsored by providers have to be better coordinated and designed
so as to permit a higher degree of permeability within the various educational streams.
Of crucial importance in this context is the quality of local education management
which bases pedagogical action on the entire education background of the population.
As experienced organizers and coordinators of regional education, the VHS will play a
special role in the "Learning on Location" (Lernen vor Ort) initiative.
4. Access for all
The concept of lifelong learning for everyone can only be realized if the Federal,
Laender and local governments acknowledge a public responsibility to ensure a
comprehensive system of education that provides open and universal access to
affordable opportunities for general, political, cultural and vocational continuing
education. The desire to continue learning should not be thwarted by financial
considerations in any sector of the population. Through its Volkshochschulen Germany
possesses an infrastructure for lifelong learning that is held in the highest regard both
at home and abroad. The trend in recent years to reduce institutional funding for the
VHS must be reversed.
5. Six percent of the education budget for adult education
Within the framework of EU policy on the promotion of lifelong learning (from the
Memorandum on Lifelong Learning, 2000 to Action Plan, 2007) the European Union
recognizes continuing education as an invaluable field of education in its own right.
The future funding of continuing education in Germany must be oriented to European
developments and international benchmarks. The target is to appropriate 6% of the
entire national education budget for continuing education - including literacy and basic
education programmes (GCE Standard, Global Campaign for Education). Such an
investment might even make it possible to reach the target set by the United Nations
Literacy Decade and to halve the number of (functional) illiterates by the year 2015.
6. Raising the profile of general continuing education
Federal funding of continuing education (cf. training vouchers) has long concentrated
on measures designed to promote employability. Left out of the equation completely is
the fact that general, political, and cultural continuing education play an equally
important role by fostering individual development and strengthening social cohesion.
The funding of these areas must do justice to the function they serve.
7. Creation of a reliable framework for continuing education
In the interest of the quality and attractiveness of continuing education, it will be
necessary for the Federal, Laender and local governments to agree on standards and a
binding framework analogous to the education standards set for the formal school
system. Among the factors requiring regulation are guaranteed access, quality
assurance and development, certification (also of informally acquired skills) as well as
the time requirements of learning. In this connection, educational counselling is
especially relevant as a structural prerequisite for successful lifelong learning. The
Volkshochschulen will lend their experience and resources to this end (cf. training
vouchers).
A national continuing education agreement
In view of the problems outlined above, and also with particular reference to the shortage of
skilled labour that is becoming more and more noticeable, there is an urgent need for action in
the continuing education sector. Broad social and political consensus combined with an
investment and structural programme which builds on that consensus will be necessary to
enable short-term development of the tremendous potential that continuing education holds
for the country's future. It would be a trail-blazing success for the Education Summit if it were
to lay the foundations for a national continuing education agreement between and among the
Federal, Laender and local governments in close cooperation with the business community,
religious institutions and continuing education providers. Such an agreement would serve as a
basis for launching an early process of reform designed to address the problems of continuing
education. The final report of the Expert Commission on Financing Lifelong Learning and the
Recommendations recently issued by the Innovationskreis Weiterbildung (Innovation Circle
on Continuing Education) convened by Federal Minister of Education Dr. Annette Schavan,
are further instruments that can be cited in the interest of shaping policy that is necessary to
raise the profile of continuing education.
Bonn, October 2008