Lebenslanges Lernen zwischen Konfliktaustragung und Institutionalisierung – Das Beispiel des Zweiten Bildungswegs

The examinations of the division of tasks between the state and private individuals active in continuing education suffer from general statements and false oppositions. Generalizations do not do justice to the particularities of different areas of continuing education. Assumptions of how the state, the market or civil society allegedly act, do not agree with the wealth of facets of social reality. While such debates threaten to bear no fruit, they indicate a perspective that has been suppressed in the discourse on lifelong learning: that of conflict. A subproject of the research project ENLIVEN (Encouraging Lifelong Learning for an Inclusive and Vibrant Europe), which is funded by the European Commission (running from 2016 to 2019) as part of the Horizon-2020 programme, is concerned with second chance education course offerings. On the level of analysis of the organizational field, it is investigated what role market mechanisms and public regulation play in the institutionalization of second chance education. In this article, the authors present the initial findings of this subproject using the example of the university entrance exam and the gymnasiums/secondary schools for people who are employed. The main findings: second chance education in Austria is disintegrating into individual subfields, which is why blanket statements are not possible and the development of common institutional principles is complicated. The institutional principles must be reconstructed subfield by subfield. (Ed.)