100 years of Volkshochschule in Germany – 50 years of DVV International: Signposts for local and global comparative perspectives on adult learning and education

Abstract

In 2019, German folk high schools – Volkshochschulen (vhs) – celebrated the centenary of their inclusion in the Constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919, an era when they founded local centres in many parts of the country. Ever since, they have played an important part in the adult learning and education (ALE) sub-sector of the German education system, meanwhile reaching a participation level of almost 9 million learners per year. Under the umbrella of its national association Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband (DVV), founded in 1953, the vhs offers courses in a variety of subjects and different forms through roughly 900 adult learning centres and almost 3,000 local branches. In 1969, DVV expanded its operations with the establishment of its own institute for international cooperation. DVV International, whose 50th anniversary coincided with the vhs centenary, has institutionalised the diversity and ever-growing scale of cross-border and global cooperation activities of the national association. Marking both anniversaries generated a kind of collective cultural memory which located the vhs in the institutional foundations of a democratic society, and paved the way to advance policy dialogue. At the same time, these anniversaries also fed into a marketing strategy to mobilise higher levels of support and participation. DVV International used the example of the evolution of the vhs system to demonstrate the importance of interventions for better policy, legislation and financing at local, national, regional and global levels. Activities throughout the anniversary year included high-level events, conferences and workshops, publications and studies. Based on these activities and outputs, the authors consider and compare commonalities and differences of ALE milestones in other countries and regions of the world, and their potential for learning from the past for the future.

Adult education and social justice: International perspectives

“…Actually the exchange in this letter was about comparing the UK 100th year celebrations for the Adult Education Report of 1919 by the Ministry of Reconstruction, and the Volkshochschulen (vhs), community learning centers in Ger-many that became a constitutional matter in 1919, when the Weimar Republic replaced the ousted emperor system (Field and Jenner 2019). Both had supported the anniversaries in their countries, she as a patron of the campaign in the UK speaking at many events, and while in Germany we had to combine it with the 50th anniversary of DVV International (Hinzen and Meilhammer 2022).…”

“…Adult educators who had to emigrate during the Nazi-Regime came back after Second World War had ended. Dutch and Swedish folk high schools hosted the new gen-eration of adult educators in Germany, and the Allies from the UK and US were engaged in intensive re-education programs, including for members of the vhs (Hinzen and Meilhammer 2022). Integration into an emerging European adult education was important.…”

“…The World Bank was trying to find convincing arguments for their country poverty reduction strategies, and their Human Development Department was looking at adult education as a potential area as discussed in "Engaging with Adults -The Case for Increased Support to Basic Adult Education in Sub-Saharan Africa" (Lauglo 2001). DVV International published a number of case studies on "Adult Education and Combating Poverty -Experiences from Development Cooperation" (Hinzen and Pollinger 2003) and co-organized a theme-related workshop during the CONFINTEA Mid-term Review in Bangkok in 2003. In 2004 the University of Botswana convened the conference on Adult Education and Poverty Reduction -A Global Priority in Gaborone in which more than 200 participants from some 45 countries debated the potentials of adult education and whether there is any evidence and proof of a causal relationship between adult education and poverty reduction (Duke 2004).…”

Andragogika v Evropi

“…Vse od takrat dalje so imele pomembno vlogo v podsistemu izobraževanja odraslih v nemškem izobraževalnem sistemu. Prav tako v Nemčiji je bil leta 1969 ustanovljen DVV International, ki je torej leta 2019 obeležil svojo 50-letnico delovanja (Hinzen in Meilhammer, 2022). Tudi v Veliki Britaniji so leta 2019 zaznamovali stoto obletnico znamenitega zaključnega poročila komisije za izobraževanje odraslih v okviru takratnega ministrstva za obnovo ter ob tej priložnosti izdali vizijo in usmeritve za izobraževanje odraslih in vseživljenjsko učenje v 21. stoletju (Centenary Commission on Adult Education, 2019;Field, 2019).…”

Reimagining adult education and lifelong learning for all: Historical and critical perspectives

“…Despite further disruption (and misappropriation) during the Second World War, it was this constitutional anchoring of ALE in policy, legislation and financing which enabled the German adult education system to flourish for more than a century. The parallel with the evolution of the international adult education movement is striking (Hinzen and Meilhammer 2022 ).…”