Lifelong learning comprises the ability to absorb, access, and categorize new knowledge as well as newly made experiences in order to integrate these into one´s own thinking and to then act according to these new insights (cf. Tippelt 2007). In the course of the increasing institutionalization of lifelong learning, cooperations which function across different institutions and educational sectors, in particular, are essential to the development and expansion of lifelong learning (cf., inter alia, DIE 2009). The crucial objective of cooperations is to create synergies. This presupposes at least two autonomous partners and a common objective (cf. Nuissl 2010). In the educational field, we can differentiate between vertical and horizontal forms of cooperation. Whereas vertical forms of cooperation are characterized by that an educational institution cooperates with institutions from outside its own educational field (e.g. cooperations between institutions of further education and firms), horizontal forms of cooperation are characterized by that only similar educational institutions cooperate with one another (e.g. cooperations between different kindergartens or schools).

 The project, sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG), was designed as a cooperation between the universities of Frankfort (Prof. Dr. Dieter Nittel) and of Munich (Prof. Dr. Rudolf Tippelt). It focusses on different aspects of pedagogical work within the system of lifelong learning. In addition to issues concerning aspects of working conditions and assessments of pedagogues´ self-perceptions as well as their perception by others, the project examines in how far society´s demand for lifelong learning manifests itself in the professional awareness of the occupational groups within the pedagogical field, which cooperations transcending educational sectors are already being realized, and by what these cooperations are motivated. In this context, we, for the first time, compared different pedagogical occupational groups (e.g., teachers working in nursery schools, in elementary and secondary schools, or in further education). The contribution focusses on the anchoring of lifelong learning in the professional awareness of selected occupational groups in the field of pedagogy; is asks which forms and relations of cooperation exist between the different occupational groups and institutions outside the field of pedagogical work, how these cooperations are perceived and in which areas there still is a need for cooperation. Against this background, the focus is on a common maxim for occupational groups in education.

Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (ed.) (2009): 12. DIE-Forum Weiterbildung: Weiterbildungseinrichtungen zwischen Kooperation und Konkurrenz – Perspektiven für das Lebenslange Lernen. DIE. Mayring, P. (eds.) (2008): Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Weinheim: Beltz. Nittel, D./Fuchs, S./Schütz, J./Tippelt, R. (2011): Die Orientierungskraft des Lebenslangen Lernens bei Weiterbildnern und Grundschullehrern. Erste Befunde aus dem Forschungsprojekt PAELL. In: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, pp. 167-183. Nuissl, E. (2010): Stichwort: „Strategische Kooperationen“. In: DIE-Zeitschrift für Erwachsenenbildung, pp. 20-21. Tippelt, R. (2007): Lebenslanges Lernen. In: Tenorth, H.-E./Tippelt, R. (Hrsg.): Lexikon Pädagogik. Weinheim: Beltz, S. 444-447.