Event Documentation

Stakeholder meeting: "Professionalisation of Educational Personnel for Digital Education of Older People in Germany and Europe" (08.05.2023 | Bonn/online)

For the implementation of the European Agenda for Adult Education, the National Coordination Office European Agenda for Adult Education together with the Federal Association of Senior Citizens' Organisations (BAGSO) held an expert discussion with more than 40 experts from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on 8 May 2023.

The event focused on the situation with regard to the professionalisation and qualification of those carrying out offers for technology and media competence development of older people. Against this background, the experts from politics, practice and science discussed steps which have already been taken nationally and in other European countries to professionalise this field of activity, which have been successful and which are necessary in the future.

Dr. Janina Stiel from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth first gave an overview of the groups of people and institutions in Germany that teach digital skills to older people and outlined the models that exist to qualify these groups of people accordingly.

Jana Eckert from ISIS Institut für Soziale Infrastruktur gGmbH discussed comparatively the different needs and offers regarding the professionalisation of educational staff for digital education of older people in Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania.

The focus of the presentation by Edith Simöl from the service point DigitaleSenior:Innen at the Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications was on the numerous offers of her service point with regard to the qualification of those carrying out offers for the development of technology and media skills of older people.

Finally, Elisabeth Weinberger-Eckart from SeniorWeb in the Netherlands showed how volunteering by older people is successfully organised in the Netherlands within the framework of the association SeniorWeb in the Netherlands.

The event showed that enabling digital participation for older people goes hand in hand with an obligation to provide (further) education on digital technologies. There are many different models in Germany that offer these services. These are necessary across the board in order to reach different groups of older adults with their respective concerns. For high-quality services, it is essential that the people who contribute to the digital competence development of older people are professionally qualified or at least have access to suitable support structures, both full-time staff and volunteers. This support and professionalisation takes place unsystematically throughout Germany. In the full-time as well as in the voluntary sector, qualification offers on geragogical principles in particular are not sufficiently available. This is also becoming an increasingly important issue in other European countries, and it is becoming apparent as a cross-national problem that the qualification needs of volunteers and full-time staff exceed the offers for support and professionalisation.

Based on the need for action and structural challenges that currently exist in Germany, various demands and recommendations for action for education policy, training and further education and science were discussed during the event. These go hand in hand with a corresponding attitude on the part of education policy that the teaching of digital skills to older people and the qualification required for this is understood as a task in its own right, which must be provided with emphasis and resources.