The Power and Joy of Learning

Dear Sir/Madam,

Visions are often belittled or mocked. “Those who have visions should go to the doctor,” recommended Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt referring to the election campaign of his predecessor Willy Brandt.
Do we need visions in the sense of “inner ideas of a better future” for politics, for society, for our lives, or for the work of an adult education centre?

I would answer the question with yes if visions represent thoughts on how we want to deal with the challenges of the future.

The European Association for Adult Education identifies seven pressing challenges to which adult education centres must provide answers for the future:

• Active citizenship, democracy and participation
• Individual life skills of citizens
• Social cohesion, justice and equality
• Employment and digitisation
• Migration and demographic change
• Sustainability
• European politics

And it is precisely in these fields that our adult education centre is active.

Research tells us, for example, that participation in adult education courses can improve social interaction, general well-being and satisfaction with one’s own life. Through adult education courses, people can tap into new areas of employment or discover or rediscover cultural and artistic passions or find the way to healthier behaviour.

And because the Volkshochschule Berlin Mitte was founded 100 years ago based on an emancipatory movement, social cohesion, justice, equality and participation are integral parts of its self-image.

In the “European Manifesto for Adult Education in the 21st Century” entitled “The Power and Joy of Learning” it says: adult education is a human right and adult education can improve people’s lives and the overall state of society.

Such a vision does not mean that people should go to the doctor.
But perhaps they should go to an adult education centre.

We hope you enjoy your learning experience,

Sabine Weißler

Dear Sir/Madam,

Why do the 730 teachers at the Volkshochschule Berlin Mitte actually work as freelancers and are not permanently employed?

One reason for this may be that historically much less has been invested in adult education than in other areas of education. The main reason, however, is certainly that the great variety of programmes at an adult education centre can only be achieved by a large number of freelance and part-time lecturers*. This diversity gives an adult education centre its profile and anchors it in the centre of society, because the freelance and part-time teachers bring the experience and competences from their main profession into the adult education centre. This is the only way to keep an adult education centre up-to-date.

It would certainly be conceivable; however, that in some parts of the programme, permanent teachers would also teach at an adult education centre. Especially since many of the freelancers work a large number of hours for the adult education centre and thus work as independent contractors with the same status as employees. Similar to the employees*, they receive subsidies for their health and pension insurance, holiday pay and a cancellation fee in the event of illness. The fee has in the meantime also been raised very significantly by the State of Berlin. The state of Berlin thus plays a pioneering role compared to the other federal states.

Despite all the material improvements; however, the teachers at the adult education centre would like to see more job security. This is why in a recent survey at our adult education centre, 39% of the questioned teachers answered that they would prefer to be employed as permanent employees.

All the more reason to facilitate a reasonable and fair cooperation between the Volkshochschule Institution and the freelance teachers. The majority of lecturers* – according to the aforementioned survey – consider the working atmosphere for freelancers to be good and appreciate how we handle conflicts. Only 20% see it differently. They are less satisfied and think that we can do better.

We embrace this as our mission. After all, good work and good working conditions belong together.

Welcome to the Volkshochschule

Yours,
Michael Weiß

What's behind all this?

only available in German

• Manifest für Erwachsenenbildung im 21. Jahrhundert des Europäischen Verbandes für Erwachsenenbildung (EAEA)

• Ergebnisse des Feedbacklinks für Kursleitende der Volkshochschule Berlin Mitte

• Vorworte auf Deutsch