Gestaltpädagogische Konzepte und Praxen von Beratung und Förderung sozialer und personaler Kompetenzen in der Aus- und Fortbildung von Erwachsenenbildnern und -bildnerinnen

The article describes pedagogical Gestalt concepts of consultancy and professional development of adult educators. The focus change of the adult educators from teachers to consultants is outlined at the beginning. The changed role demands concepts of consultancy and professional development that can reflect and strengthen the self and social competence of the actors. It is shown that the design pedagogical concepts are particularly suitable because the promotion of the conscious perception of one owns’ body, needs, feelings and imagination and their integration into the self image of the learning person (client) are in the center of such approach. The concept and practice of ‘role-playing’ as part of the course instructors’ further professional training related to the design pedagogical concepts are documented in details using case-studies. It is furthermore detailed where the learning opportunities lie, related to the perception, self reflection and enhancement of one owns’ action potential for teaching and consultancy activities. The summary emphasizes one of the most important axioms of the design approach: It is not about a somehow newly defined nice person but about the paradox of change through precise perception of the actual situation.     

Teamarbeit und Gesundheit – Der Einfluss von Teammerkmalen auf Stressbewältigung und Gesundheit bei Un- und Angelernten

To date, research on teamwork and health is sparse. This accounts for teams with low-qualified workers in particular. In this paper a work psychological model for resource and stress management in teams and a study with teams of low-qualified workers are presented (N?=?265 in 33 teams). Results of multi-level analyses show, that team resources in the social work system and understaffing in teams as a team stressor have significant influence on collective coping and explain team differences. Further, team resources in the technical work system, i.e. the quality of teamwork design have significant influence on psychosomatic complaints. These influences go beyond the influences of socio-demographic variables and individual job stressors and job resources.     

Verbindliche und unverbindliche Grundschulempfehlungen und soziale Ungleichheiten am ersten Bildungs��bergang

While the influence of numerous individual and family characteristics on social disparities in educational achievement is examined in several studies, the relevance of institutional conditions on the attainment of different social groups is comparatively unclear. The present study adds to this debate and analyses the effect of mandatory and non-mandatory teacher recommendations on social disparities in educational participation after primary school. This is done by using unique data from North Rhine-Westphalia, where the degree of obligation of the teacher recommendation varied in terms of a natural experiment. Two transition cohorts are considered, one before and one after the change of a non-mandatory to a mandatory setting of the teacher recommendation in 2006. The results reveal that a mandatory teacher recommendation reduces the influence of social origin on the transition from primary to secondary school. This effect is especially apparent when families choose between the medium and the highest track in the German educational system, the Realschule and the Gymnasium.     

Deutsch-polnisches Training: Persönliche und professionelle Erfahrungen mit Bikulturalität und Interkulturalität – Anspruch und Wirklichkeit

This report contains several experiences and authentic examples taken from highly professional German-Polish and Polish-German coaching groups. Accordingly, ideas are in part presented from a very personal point of view. Running “Intercultural activities” is very much praised in a world that becomes more and more globalized. But how do these activities work out in practice? The author’s goal is to explain the cultural differences in order for managers to be able to work effectively in international projects. The author illustrates her method and her goals by giving characteristic examples. She talks about demands as far as the personality of the coach is concerned, as well as about interferences within the coaching situation. A prevailing common culture in Europe does not (yet) exist which makes it even more important to talk about differences openly so that they can be understood and be overcome. Useful experiences are shared which shall help to build a ‘working’ trust level between representatives of different cultures. Cultural factors of power usage are described which show how power can be applied in different ways. The influence of language problems is also analyzed in detail. Finally, this paper shows that the most important is to keep an atmosphere based on cooperation: only when such an atmosphere is accepted as a natural daily routine can contacts among participants of different cultures be established as among equals and it is then possible to overcome the challenges related to differences of cultures.     

Fehlermultiplikation und Pfadabhängigkeit

Secondary analyses, i.e. analyses of data which were not collected for this purpose and/or not by these people, are widely used due to their outstanding advantages. However, their methodological implications are seldom discussed. The widespread secondary use of few data sets has implications for the published knowledge base of the discipline. Known and unknown biases and random error in a particular data set are multiplied in published knowledge. The realm of undetected errors increases if data producer and data user are separated. Furthermore available data sets limit the possibility of introducing new concepts resulting in a path dependency of scientific progress. Consequently, primary data should be valued; using only partly appropriate data sets can improve and validate our knowledge; data sets have to be considered in literature reviews; and indirect measurement or additional macro variables may be used to integrate unconventional concepts. User conferences help closing the gap between data producers and users.     

Fordern und f?rdern

The group manager, who has close contact with his employees, is especially adequate to support these according to their interests and abilities. In this study we identified 12 leadership behaviors that enhance employees?? competencies and career advancement by analyzing 36 interviews with (potential) managers from companies operating in the fields of science and technology. These behaviors contain both ways of supporting through direct contact (feedback, training measures, promotion, trust, instrumental and informational support, management by objectives, emotional support and appraisal, recognizing potential, role model behavior) as well as ways of supporting by providing a competence and career enhancing job design (delegation of challenging tasks, job control, person-job-fit). The outcome shows that that job design is a key factor. In addition, the company??s role turned out to be another major factor influencing the employee??s professional progress. Practical recommendations for enhancing employee??s motivation and empowerment are given. These can also be the base for future related additional research.     

Internationale Mobilit?t und soziale Selektivit?t: Ausma?, Mechanismen und Entwicklung herkunftsspezifischer Unterschiede zwischen 1990 und 2005

In the course of educational expansion social inequalities in access to upper secondary education declined, while the differences in transition to tertiary education increased. In the light of these changes the assumption arises, that the patterns of social selectivity in access to higher education have changed. While in the past status maintenance was mainly due to differences in access to higher education, today it is to a greater extent a question of kind and place of study. Because of the growing importance of international experience for labour market success, students of privileged classes might increasingly opt to study abroad in order to preserve their privileged position. Drawing on a series of panel-datasets of upper secondary graduates in Germany, we estimate the extent and development of social differences in international mobility behaviour between 1990 and 2005, and apply a decomposition method in order to single out the underlying processes and mechanisms. We find remarkable social differences in the intention as well as in the decision to study at a foreign university. Students from privileged classes more often decide to study abroad, while students from underprivileged classes stay close to their hometown. These differences can partly be explained by school performance, language skills, social costs and institutional differences. Furthermore we find that these differences have rather increased than decreased.     

Mitarbeiterintegration und Mitarbeiterbindung von Organisationen – Wie integrieren und binden Organisationen ihr Personal?

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO)” provides a brief overview of a semantic integration mechanism how organizations can succeed in integrating and attach their employees. Every organization has basic assumptions about human behavior. These assumptions or images about people, whether implicitly present or explicitly reflected, essentially determine the behavior of the organization and its personnel management. In terms of research theory, the work is based on the system theoretical considerations of Niklas Luhmann. Organizations are fictitious units that are constructed in communication. The employees of organizations belong to the environment of the organization and are structurally linked to it through their employee role. Structurally coupled means the members of an organization are able to influence the structure of the organization. The central result of this article is the identification of a semantic integration mechanism that functions as a membrane that generates resonance both in the social system of organizations and in the psychological system of structurally coupled employees. In the current changing world of work, this mechanism can help organizations to attach their employees to the organization. The empirical data come from a research project on the identity and functional logic of training organizations.     

Wie beeinflussen Geschlecht und Bildungsherkunft den Übergang in individuelle und strukturierte Promotionsformen?

The recent expansion of structured doctoral programs in Germany aims on reducing social selectivity in access to doctoral studies. Therefore, this article firstly explores if gender and educational background differences differ on the transition to individual and structured doctorates. Secondly, it examines the underlying mechanisms that may account for these differences. Analyses are based on data from the DZHW graduate panel studies. Findings confirm that the effects of educational background on entering a structured doctoral program or grant program are lower than those found on transition to individual doctorates, where doctorates are pursued within a research assistant position or as an external doctoral candidate. Gender only influences the transition into a PhD within a research assistant position. Mediator analyses show that this gender difference can largely be explained by subject choices, student assistant jobs and parenthood. For educational background differences, performance differences also explain a big part of the effects. To what extend these mechanisms contribute to unequal entry chances, however, varies between different formal PhD contexts.     

Beliebt und immer beliebter? Fernsehen und Freizeit in Deutschland 1987�C2007

The hypothesis that Germans devote an ever bigger share of their increasing leisure time to television is justified by a comparison with further leisure activities: Television exceeds all these??except the internet??by its increasing supply and increasing differentiation. This hypothesis is examined using the so-called Media-Analysen 1987?C2007. It is confirmed by regression analyses of the absolute and relative television viewing time on time points or on the extent and the differentiation of television supply, controlling for opportunities and preferences as well as cohort membership, region and gender. Thus, television does not lose leisure shares to new media, but crowds out old leisure pastimes.     

Einkommen, Gesundheit und Mortalität in Deutschland, Grossbritannien und den USA

The paper examines the effect of income on mortality with respect to different health statuses and institutional characteristics of the health care system in the USA, Great Britain and West Germany. It is hypothesized that the nature of the theoretical contribution of income in explaining mortality risks changes on whether good or poor health is considered. Taking into account that the health care systems of the countries in question vary by their degree of household out-of-pocket expenditure, we expect an association between income and mortality that differs by country. The analysis is based on the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP), the British Household Panel Study (BHPS), and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The effect of income on mortality is found to be weakest when medical services are sought in the presence of poor health within the framework of a national health insurance that renders free primary health care (Great Britain, Germany). The effect is strongest when the provision of primary health care depends strongly on private expenditures (USA).     

Arbeitsteilung,Berufsorientierung und Partnerschaftsstabilität – Ehen und nichteheliche Lebensgemeinschaften im Vergleich*

The central finding of this paper is that the link between the division of labour and the risk of separation differs depending on the type of relationship. Marriages tend to be destabilised by the wife’s participation in the labour force and stabilised by the traditional division of labour. Empirical evidence of this is manifest in a positive effect of the wife’s income and a negative effect of the husband’s relative income on the likelihood of separation. In contrast to this, unmarried long-term relationships are stabilised by egalitarian division of labour. This is evident from the absence of negative effects of an employment of the female cohabiter on stability of relationship. Furthermore, in unmarried cohabitations the relative income of the man increases the risk of a separation. In addition to the income ratio, homogamous attitudes have explanatory value. Cohabitations are stable when both partners are career-oriented. This finding points to an egalitarian gender-role-orientation among unmarried men. It also implies that an egalitarian orientation has an impact on the living arrangement which needs to be accepted by both partners – for instance when family planning and timing of marriage are concerned.     

Familienpolitik, Bildung und Berufskarrieren von M��ttern in Deutschland, USA und Schweden

This article compares the duration of and consequences for employment interruptions for mothers with distinct educational qualifications in cross-national perspective. We analyze the duration of mothers?? employment interruption and the relative quality of the job after childbirth, for high and low qualified mothers in Germany, Sweden, and the United States. Analyses are based on harmonized national longitudinal data sets (GLHS-West, NLSY, LNU), which allow us to study mothers?? careers over the past 30?C35 years. We apply event-history analysis to study how long mothers with distinct educational levels interrupt employment after childbirth, and how the patterns of return to work differ with respect to mothers?? educational level. In all three countries the highly educated display a greater labor market attachment. In the US, almost half of the mothers with some college background, compared to only a quarter of high-school dropouts stay employed continuously after childbirth. In Sweden, basically all mothers take time-out for at least half a year. In Germany, 25% of mothers with university entrance qualification do not claim parental leave. In Germany and Sweden consequences of leave extensions seem to operate independent of mothers?? educational levels. In the U.S. medium and highly educated mothers tend to return more slowly after the enactment of the FMLA.     

Brasilianität und emotionelle Handlungstheorie

The contribution describes the particular conditions that accompanied the development of the Brasilian national identity. ?Brasilianism“ is not only the basis for the dominating self-perception of the Brasilian people. In addition, the national myth forms a dominating foil to the social sciences. The criticism expressed here is mainly directed against the spiritus rector of the Brasilian collective identity, namely Gilberto Freyre and Buarque de Holanda, as well as against their responsibility for the consolidation of the myth of ?Brasilianism“ and the development of an emotional theory of action with the image of the ?affectionate“, ?sensuous“ and ?optimistic“ Brasilian in its center. Following this criticism a rational access is formulated to understand the national myth that is so very constitutive for Brasilia.     

Heirat und Familiengründung bei Deutschen und türkischstämmigen Personen in Deutschland

Turkish migrants differ in their fertility and marriage behavior from native Germans. These differences, especially those concerning the link between the two events birth of the first child and first marriage, will be examined in this article by using event history analysis with data of the Generations and Gender Survey from 2005 (main survey) and 2006 (additional survey of Turkish nationals). We address the question to what extent the link between first marriage and starting a family differs between these two groups and if the differences are accounted for by religious or educational differences. The key findings are: Germans often marry between getting pregnant and getting their first child. Turks, however, predominantly get pregnant within marriage. Turkish women who get pregnant before marriage have subsequently worse prospects on the marriage market. These differences are not accounted for by religious and educational differences. It can be assumed, however, that differences between Islam and Christianity are relevant.     

Religiös-konfessionelle Kultur und individuelle Religiosität: Ein Vergleich zwischen West- und Ostdeutschland

In religious terms, East and West Germany are still two separate societies more than 20 years after reunification. While the large majority of the population in West Germany belongs to one of the two main Christian churches, the proportion of those without a denomination in East Germany is now more than 70 %. Moreover, as far as church involvement, confidence in the church and individual religiosity are concerned, the West Germans have a much stronger religious affiliation to the church than their East German counterparts. The main reason for this difference is the influence of different political systems and legal cultures in East and West during the period when the two parts of Germany were divided. The fact, though, that the process of secularization has continued unabated in East Germany since 1989, and that the religious and ecclesiastical discrepancies between the two parts of the country have, if anything, become stronger rather than weaker since then, would suggest that there are other factors at work here, too. In this contribution, we argue that one of the factors that needs to be considered is the dominant denominational culture that exists in each of the two parts of the country, a culture which is highly persistent, can easily reproduce itself, puts pressure on the respective minority cultures, and is able to diffuse into them. While the dominant denominational culture in West Germany is able to slow down the current processes of secularization, the secular, non-denominational majority culture in the East tends rather to produce effects which accelerate these processes. In this essay, we use a variety of empirical indicators (effectiveness of religious socialization, denominational affiliation, churchly affiliation, faith in God) to demonstrate these effects.     

Netzwerkintervention und soziale Unterstützungsförderung — konzeptioneller Stand und Anforderungen an die Praxis

A short reconstruction of the social network and social support research history is a starting point for a critical reflection of the state of the art of network and support intervention. Target levels of social network intervention are systematically discussed. The urgent need for an evaluation of more network and support intervention programs is expressed. Important conditions of effective interventions are drawn from network and support theory, research and practical experiences.