Betriebliche-berufliche Weiterbildung in differenten Arbeits- und Lebenskontexten
Professional Lifelong Learning in Work Places in Diverse Work and Life Contexts

Summary/Abstract: What are the conditions for learning throughout life, or lifelong learning (Weiterbildung)from the professional and personal aspects? What are the relations between opportunities for employment and lifelong learning? What are the employers’ attitudes toward the participation or the lack of participation of the employees in professional lifelong learning? These are the main issues discussed by the author, who compares professional lifelong learning in work places in Poland and Germany. The comparison serves to put forward certain suppositions concerning future changes, developmental processes and challenges facing adult education in both countries. In the Summary and Conclusions sections the author formulates three fundamental postulates or directives: relevant institutional structures should be created and appropriate legal regulations should be implemented; lifelong learning should not come down to useful professional training; and also, adults should have the best possible education conditions. The starting point for the discussion is questioning Ralf Dahrendorf’s proposition from twenty years ago about “the end of the work society” and the birth of “the knowledge society” and also stating the need to reformulate the work-knowledge relation. The author deals with the attitudes to lifelong learning and the reality, referring mainly to the postulates put forward in 2003 at the European Conference on Professional Lifelong Learning, of which the most important is: “vocational education has a specific role [...] of encouraging and supporting the motivation to learn throughout life”. Representative questionnaire research results ordered by the European Commission prove that professional lifelong learning in work places is highly valued both in Germany and in Poland, though the scope and forms of participation leave a lot to be desired. There are also significant differences in this matter as far as age, gender and form of employment are concerned, both countries, however, similarly to all Europe, present a clear dependence: the lower the education, the higher the danger of unemployment. The final part of the article discusses the results of the representative questionnaire research carried out in 2004 in Germany. Its purpose was to find an answer to the question: who and why does not participate in professional lifelong learning. It turns out that the most vital role is played by three factors: education aspirations and previous experience, family status and the conviction that lifelong learning is a must. Key words: knowledge society, professional lifelong learning, workplace, work society, adult education, professional training, employment, unemployment.

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