CfP - english version

Society without a Middle Class? Adult Education Out of Bounds?

Members of the middle class have numbered among the losers over the last few years. For a long time, they provided the support for the social welfare state and at the same time benefited from its services. Today they are caught in the tension between the borderless pursuit of profit in the globalised economy and the restructuring and dismantling of the social welfare state. This development can be seen clearly in the area of education.

The majority of participants in adult education come from the middle class, whose financial capacity to invest in education is increasingly disappearing. At the same time, an adequate amount of public funding is no longer being provided. As a result, adult education can no longer fulfil its teaching mission. Is a society without a middle class leading adult education out of bounds?

• What does this diagnosis mean for the future of lifelong learning?
• How do adult education institutions contribute to social cohesion?
• How will the society of the future be structured? What will the target groups of the future look like?
• What kind of personal competences will adult education require in the
  future?
  
  

Call for Papers (CfP)

Panels will take place on 10 July 2012 as part of the Future Forum. We invite you to submit (best practice) reports and inputs (e.g. reflections) pertaining to the topic. Presentations should last no longer than 20 minutes! The conference organisers will select the papers and make the assignments to the panels! Submissions will be accepted until 4 May 2012!

Please indicate the topic, a brief abstract and the kind of presentation on the application form. You will receive notice of acceptance from the conference organisers!

For more information: stefan.vater@vhs.or.at

WORKING LANGUAGES GERMAN, ENGLISH!