The realization of lifelong learning presupposes competences pertinent to adult education among teachers in further education. Inservice training for those working in further education can be considered part of a strategy for the promotion of competences among teachers in further education and, thus, part of the process of lifelong learning among adults (cf. Commission of the European Communities 2007, p. 9). Since the 1990s, following a qualification offensive for teachers in further education during the 1980s and a second one during the 1990s taking place in the new German Laender (cf. Emminger/Giesecke/Nuissl 2001, p. 192), the focus in further education has been on quality maintenance, development and quality management (cf. Meisel 2002). Professionalization, too, is mostly discussed as part of quality development. Many of the concepts debated aim at the quality conceptions of staff. Only recently has there been a shift towards quality concepts referring to the participants in further education and to course tutors (cf. Loibl 2003). Besides its rather objective aspects, quality also has subjective aspects; in this case, one could speak of “appropriate quality”, the appropriateness of which is determined by the learner (cf. Ehses/Zech 2002, p. 118), and which refers to addressee- and participant-orientation. The pedagogical staff (not only the full-time regular members of staff, but also and above all the many freelance extra personnel [course tutors and coaches]) in the institutions of further education plays a crucial role in the construction of quality – also with regard to profile formation and successful participant linking – because they consitute a direct interface with addressees and participants (cf. Tippelt et al. 2008). A high quality of the educational programs and courses offered in further education is needed to both reduce social inequality and promote excellence (cf. Tippelt et al. 2006). In order to strengthen “equity and good learning outcomes” (EU Memorandum 2006) likewise, the promotion of lifelong learning among all groups of individuals is not only a moral question related to equal and just opportunities, but also an economic question. A central implication of the results concerning participation in further education in Germany (cf. BMBF 2006, p. 13) – which, on an international scale, finds itself merely in mid-field (cf. OECD 2002) – ought to be a significantly stronger orientation towards addressees and target groups. Further education can only be of compensating and equalizing effect if instructors work addressee- and participant-oriented by taking into account pluralistic desiderata and expectations of different social groups (e.g. age groups, educational groups, migrant groups, social groups, different living situations and life phases) in planning and designing different pedagogical fields of action (cf. Tippelt/von Hippel 2007). A more pluralistic group of addressees and participants (cf. Barz/Tippelt 2004; Tippelt/von Hippel 2005) as well as target groups altered by demographic change can only be reached through an improved demand-oriented planning of further education. Therefore, on the institutional level of further education, addressee-oriented quality is the central starting point for a possible increase in enrollment. In the last few years, inservice training for planners and lecturers in adult education has been neglected (cf. Gieseke 2005; Kraft 2006). The contribution envisaged analyzes the need for inservice training from the perspective of both course tutors and fulltime pedagogical staff as well as experts of the associations for further education. The aim is to identify important topics with regard to the promotion of competences among teachers in further education from the perspective of different agents. Furthermore, the question is raised in how far teachers working in this sector think that addressee-oriented quality and the promotion of competences among teachers in further education might contribute to an increase in enrollment in further education.

The research project “Increase in Enrollment in Further Education and Improvement of Equal and Just Opportunities Through the Promotion of Competences Among Teachers in Further Education” (www.komweit.de) (duration: May 2007 – April 2009), sponsored by the BMBF, analyzes the issue of the promotion of competences among teachers in further education from the point of view of the pedagogical staff and of lecturers in adult education as well as the need for action as seen by the institutions and by those in charge. Thus, the project achieves a comparison on three levels: the micro-level (course tutors), the meso-level (pedagogical staff; administrative personnel) and the macro-level (insitutions and organizations in charge). A total of 30 interviews with experts has already been carried out on the macro-level. On the micro- and meso-level, group discussions and individual interviews are taking place. Furthermore, the research project includes the process of an experts delphi. The research project is based on the use of method triangulation (cf. Flick 2004). All group discussions and qualitative interviews are transcribed verbatim and then encoded and evaluated with the program MAXqda (a program for computer-supported analysis of qualitative data). Thus, intersubjective comprehensibility is increased and the analysis can be documented, therefore better meeting the quality criteria of qualitative research, such as procedure documentation and regulated evaluation, in particular (cf. Mayring 2002).

The contribution planned for the convention focusses on the perspective of the experts working for the associations and the organizations in charge as well as on the perspective of the pedagogical staff and course tutors, since they are considered the central agents in the process of the promotion of lifelong learning among adults. Due to the integration of these different levels, a systematic comparison of the diverse perspectives is made possible. The identification of relevant topical perspectives from the point of view of micro-, meso-, and macro-levels yields clues about a possible increase in enrollment in further education and about the improvement of equal and just opportunities through the promotion of competences among teachers in further education. The research project points to the most recent challenges in the field of professionalization, quality development, and competence promotion for teachers in adult education. A differentiated view on diverse agents in the promotion of competences among teachers in adult education could also be of interest within the European dialogue and comparison. Germany, for instance, is debating an overall framework of qualifications and competences applying to all organizations in charge, basing its considerations on a comparison with Austria and Switzerland, countries in which this sytsem has already been employed in further education. The importance of a promotion of quality in further education by focussing on the quality of the staff is also underlined by the “Action Plan Adult Education” published by the EU Committee (cf. Committee of the European Communities 2007, p. 9).