Germany

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview on research and practice in the field of learning and education of older adults in Germany. A review on the short history of research in this field indicates changing topics and an increasingly differentiated view on older learners. On one side, older learners have been recognized by research and practice as a heterogeneous target group with very different needs and interests. On the other side, different forms and fields of learning in later life are explored by research studies, whereby informal learning, learning of older workers, and education for the very old are some of the most central topics. From a more didactical point of view, intergenerational learning and its impact on the aging image, has become an important field of research in recent years. While older learners have been recognised, by adult education practice since the 1960s, political initiatives to promote lifelong learning, even in old age, are quite new and still focus primarily on older workers. When it comes to learning, in the phase of life after employment, self-help initiatives and organisations of older citizens become meaningful actors in the field. However, besides a growing participation of older adults in education, different social disparities become clearly visible. The level of initial education, the social capital, as well as gender and lifestyle are all important predictors for participation in learning and education in later life, and point to different chances of education for different groups of older adults. There are still a lot of open questions to be researched in the field. Knowledge on educational needs of older migrants and people working beyond the legal retirement age, is still marginal. Further on, research on competency development over the lifespan, and especially in later life is at its very beginning and could be one central challenge for the coming years.