The staff position for Education at a Higher Age examines education trajectories, processes, and transitions beyond the initial path of general schooling, focusing first on the highly diverse transitions – typical in Germany – from schooling to initial occupational preparations, vocational training, and academic education, as well as the transitions from these stages of education to the labor market itself. There is also a focus on the later acquistion of general certifications, retraining, and new occupational qualifications in later life. Further educational processes in later life are, unlike these formative points and phases in the life course, no longer so strongly institutionalized and temporalized; instead, they can – at least theoretically – take place at any time, in any life situation, and at any age. They usually occur in the form of short-term participation in further education courses, via self-learning, or incidentally and unintentionally in everyday working life or during other activities.
This staff position has an associative and communicative function, acting as an interface between the leadership of the Department of Educational Decisions and Processes, Migration, Returns To Education, on the one hand, and the educational stages of NEPS for the relevant age groups, on the other, which are supervised by external cooperation partners.
The work area includes the educational stages listed below, which are accompanied within the framework of the NEPS. In addition, cross-stage survey content is further developed and independent research is conducted on the basis of this content and data.