Reischmann Essential Readings in International and Comparative Adult Education

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-3-96557-094-8
Verlag: ZIEL
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 321 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 450 g

Reihe: Grundlagen der Weiterbildung

Often in international comparative studies, it is difficult to refer to older basic texts because they are hidden in old publications, difficult to locate. This book makes a selection of such old but ‘essential’ texts available and wants to docu-ment the long history of the international/ comparative perspective. ‘Standing on the shoulder of giants’ allows not only a grounded look back but hopefully also a reliable and experience-based look in the future.

The editor of this book, Jost Reischmann, Prof. em., Bamberg University, Germany, has a long history in international and comparative adult education. He presented papers on conferences around the world, from San Diego (USA) to Soul (Korea). When the International Society for Comparative Adult Education (ISCAE) was founded in 1992, he became the first president and developed this society over many years.

We hope this new book will help old-timers and new-comers to contribute to the enriching world of international comparative adult education.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Reischmann, Jost

Leseproben

Jost Reischmann1 (2000) 1. The Meaning of ‘International Comparative’, Problems, and Perspectives2
Knowledge about the education of adults in other countries can be gained from various sources: A first source, mostly evaluated as ‘pre-scientific’, comprises ‘traveler’s tales’, the reports we get from international travelers. Such reports are mainly delivered by traveling writers or vacation-makers, but also by scholars who attend a conference abroad and have to report to their funding agency - and publish this report at the same time in a journal. If these descriptions are more systematic, they are labeled ‘traveler’s reports’, or - if they are less systematic, ‘traveler’s tales’. These types of international documents are mostly characterized as ‘subjective-impressionistic’. Their value is evaluated ambivalent: Critically it is argued that, because of the random observation and the subjective description, it is not clear how reliable and how representative the descriptions are. On the other hand, the plea is made that especially in this subjective focus of eye-witnesses there might be strength from this type of reports. In the framework of a new appreciation of qualitative research, these reports may find a new interest. At the scientific level, six different types of international-comparative research are identified: 1.During the 1970s and 1980s mainly country-reports were presented. ‘Adult Education in the Republic of …’ is a typical title of this type of report. These papers tried to describe the system of adult and continuing education in one particular country. They could be written by an author of this country or by a person from outside. Some of these reports were, and are, rather impressionistic. Others followed a well-developed outline and structure. 2.During and after the 1980s we find an increasing number of program-reports. These describe foreign adult education programs, institutions, and organizations. Examples of this type can be found in the publications of Charters/Hilton (1989) or the case studies collected by Knox (1989). Included in this type (sometimes presented in a separate category) are the topic-oriented studies or the problem approach: a certain topic or problem is discussed in the context of a nation. Country reports as well as topic-oriented studies and the problem approach focus more on ‘international’, less on ‘comparative’. Because when only one country or program is presented, nothing to compare is available. When a number of country-reports or program-reports are collected in a textbook, the readers must draw the comparative conclusions themselves. Especially when an author presents his own country or program it is difficult to refer to another national system. If, for example, a German author describes a German program for a publication in English: should parallels be drawn to the English, Scottish, US-American, Canadian, or Australian systems? 3.A third type is juxtaposition. Data from two or more countries are presented. These reports show: In country A we can observe a, in country B we find b. A series of statistical reports represent this type. But no explicit comparison - where are the similarities, what are the differences? - is given. An example of this type in Germany is the international volume of the Handbuch der Erwachsenenbildung (Handbook of Adult Education, 1978), edited by Franz Pöggeler, or Peter Jarvis’ ‘Perspectives on Adult Education and Training in Europe’ (1992). This juxtaposition can also be topic- or problem-oriented when a topic is presented in a series of contributions from various countries: In Pöggeler’s ‘The State and Adult Education’ (1990) a series of articles deal with the role of the state in individual countries. 4.The comparison goes one step further: It reports from two or more countries, and an explicit comparison is offered which attempts to make the similarities and differences understandable. ISCAE (International Society for Comparative Adult Education) uses here mostly the definition of its founding father: A study in comparative international adult education … must include one or more aspects of adult education in two or more countries or regions. Comparative study is not the mere placing side by side of data … such juxtaposition is only the prerequisite for comparison. At the next stage, one attempts to identify the similarities and differences between the aspects under study … The real value of comparative study emerges only from … the attempt to understand why the differences and similarities occur and what their significance is for adult education in the countries under examination …” (Charters/ Hilton 1989, p. 3). An example can be found in the final chapter of Charters/Hilton (1989). 5.Finally, field- and method-reflections are seen as part of international comparative adult education: reflections about the methods, strategies, and concepts of international comparison, and summarizing reports about developments in the international comparative field on a material or meta-level. 6.A bit outside of this system, but still counted as part of the international tradition, are reports from the adult educational work of international and transnational organizations such as UNESCO, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank. […] A difficult chapter: International research and volunteering in an international society It certainly is challenging to get a wider view of our world through an international orientation. But many handicaps make this work difficult. Just to name three of them: The first handicap is language: international communication takes place in English. For the majority of the world this is a foreign language. Communicating, even more, publishing in this foreign language takes many times more effort than researching in the native context: In discussions, the native English speakers are always faster; in publishing the secretaries are often not trained to write English. For publication always a native speaker must be found for proofreading. Institutions, laws, political or cultural backgrounds are often so different that it is difficult to find an appropriate translation. The English literature often is not available, and it makes no sense to refer to the knowledge and experience of non-English research literature because it does not exist for the international readership. That means that people from non-English countries lose their whole theory, methodology, and content research background when working in the international context. Another handicap is the reliable attendance at central international meetings. Person-to-person-contacts are absolutely necessary for this field. To enter this field and to stay in its network is nearly impossible without traveling and being visible. This means a high investment of time, energy, and money. And this investment has to be made also in times when no comparative project is carried out and no extra project money is available. This makes it difficult especially for young scholars to come into the field of international comparative adult education or to stay in it when a comparative project is finished. Of course, international comparative projects have much higher costs and a lot more problems than research done in one country (see the vivid description in the contribution of Blais and Henschke in this book p. 285ff). A foreign partner must be found and has to be convinced to join a project. Many details have to be clarified before and during the research process and at the end for the publication, needing continuing exchange. In most cases, one partner has an extra load of translation, when the other partner does not speak his language. It is difficult to find foundations that are willing to support international projects. National foundations are often not interested in paying the costs of the foreign partner. Even when one researcher is able to travel to two or more countries and thus avoids the handicap of co-authorship, comparative research means a high money-, time-, and effort-investment. Regarding the outcome of these investments for the career of a scholar, it is often more beneficial to work at the national level. Funding and supporting agencies should do more not only to assist international comparative research projects but also to encourage the possibility of bringing young scholars into this field. Also, ways should be found to support volunteering in international societies. Perspectives International-comparative adult education is basically justified on the grounds of two central arguments (for a more differentiated portrayal see Kidd (1975 – in this book p. 71) or Knoll (in Reischmann, Bron & Jelenc, 1999): On a practical level ‘borrowing’ is expected - that we learn from foreign experiences to adapt successful experiences for our own practical work and to avoid mistakes. On a theoretical level, it is expected that the international-comparative perspective helps to overcome ethnocentric blindness - that we learn, irritated by observations in a foreign context, to better perceive and understand our own field and system. Certainly, cultural differences limit the transfer from one country to another. Comparative research - by helping to understand the differences/similarities and their significance for...

Über Autor(innen)

Reischmann, Jost
Jost Reischmann (www.jost.reischmannfam.de), Prof. Dr., born 1943, studied Pedagogy, Psychology, and Sociology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. He was chair of Andragogy at Bamberg University, Germany, until his retirement. He has a long history in international and comparative adult education: He was part of the legendary AAACE (American Association for Adult and Comparative Adult Education) - DVV (Deutscher Volkshochschulverband) exchange in the early 1980th. He served as “Country Coordinator” in Alan Knox’s collaborative study “World Perspective on Adult Education” in 1987. In 1988 he published the first English-language book about Adult Education in Germany. In 1992 he became the first president of the International Society for Comparative Adult Education (ISCAE). In 1999 he was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame and received the “Outstanding Service Award” from AAACE in 2006. He presented papers at conferences around the world.