‘You have to run it like a company’

Borut Mikulec,Tadej Košmerl

doi:10.3384/rela.2000-7426.ojs3466

Abstract

This paper identifies some of the key characteristics of the marketisation of adult learning and education (ALE) and analyses the effects in the contexts of Germany (focusing on Bavaria) and Slovenia. ALE policies and institutional practices are analysed through the method of document analysis and interviews. Policy models of ALE proposed by Lima and Guimarães—the democratic–emancipatory model, the modernisation and state control model, and the human resources management model—are used as an analytical framework. Our findings indicate that the latter model prevails in the analysed policies, while the market forces are introduced on the organisational level of ALE from ‘below’ through the increased influence of the market demand coming from the learners/customers, and from ‘above’ through calls for tenders that shape the ‘quasi-market’ in which the ALE organisations compete for funding. However, signs of resistance to the marketisation of ALE practices are also identified.

Highlights

The marketisation of adult learning and education (ALE) that represents a kind of ‘new common-sense about education’, in which the economic effects substantially influence the educational aims and educational policymaking, has been growing over the last three decades (Holford, 2016, p. 180)
The main aim of this paper is to identify some of the key characteristics of the marketisation of ALE, and to examine to what extent these are reflected in the national ALE policies and chosen public institutions in two different contexts—in Germany (Bavaria) and Slovenia
Our results indicate that: human resources management model (HRM) dominates ALE policies in Slovenia and Germany, flexible provision and competitiveness between organisations has increased in ALE institutions, participants’ fees and project funding are current realities, while care for the education of vulnerable groups remains present

Summary

Introduction

The marketisation of adult learning and education (ALE) that represents a kind of ‘new common-sense about education’, in which the economic effects substantially influence the educational aims and educational policymaking, has been growing over the last three decades (Holford, 2016, p. 180). The marketisation of adult learning and education (ALE) that represents a kind of ‘new common-sense about education’, in which the economic effects substantially influence the educational aims and educational policymaking, has been growing over the last three decades The main aim of this paper is to identify some of the key characteristics of the marketisation of ALE, and to examine to what extent these are reflected (or not) in the national (regional) ALE policies and chosen public institutions in two different contexts—in Germany (Bavaria) and Slovenia. As in Germany, where the governance of ALE is divided between the federal and state (Länder) levels, we acknowledge a regional focus as well by concentrating on the state of Bavaria, which we considered as a statelike unit of analysis due to the role of Länder in shaping ALE policies and provision

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion