Bildungshäuser of the Future – Perspectives brochure published

Project partners from Germany and Austria on board

As "lead partner" and initiator, ARGE Bildungshäuser Österreich was mainly responsible for the project. Thanks to the networking spirit of ARGE BHÖ, motivated partners were quickly found: The Katholische LandvolkHochschule Oesede (D), the Landvolkshochschule Freckenhorst (D), the Schwäbische Bauernschule Bad Waldsee (D) and the SPES Zukunftsakademie (A) offered their active support. The Federal Institute for Adult Education (bifeb) also provided staff resources. 

Broadening horizons thanks to excursions and research

In four project meetings, innovative projects that have already been realised were researched, analysed and ideas were developed on how to transfer them to educational institutions and to adult education. During excursions, organisations and places were visited that are not always associated with classical adult education: The spectrum ranged from coworking spaces to industrial enterprises; from universities of applied sciences to makerspaces. The project group quickly realised: "Even our institutions offer many good examples of new learning space concepts!" These should also be taken into account in the perspectives brochure. 

Of course, the theoretical aspect of the topic could not be neglected: In order to record the current situation in Bildungshäuser with regard to the framework conditions and challenges of new learning space concepts, a target group survey among 15 Bildungshaus managers in Austria and Germany was carried out. 

Highlight of the project: A somewhat different multiplier event

Inspired, impressed, enthused, surprised and motivated by the many impressions of the excursions and research, the project team gradually realised that they could not preach water and drink wine. The classic presentation format originally planned for the multiplier event, with speakers on the one hand and listeners on the other, was thrown overboard without further ado. In order to make even a fraction of the collected experiences tangible for outsiders, worlds of experience were needed. These were finally created on 6th and 7th July 2022 in the form of an innovation workshop at the Bildungshaus St. Hippolyt in St. Pölten. Almost 50 people from German and Austrian Bildungshäuser took part in the 2-day hybrid event. In a very open format, they thought about the future of Bildungshäuser. The first day was designed as a bar camp (= an open discussion format). In six sessions, essential questions were raised and mostly answered. Experiences were exchanged and initial ideas rolled out. The second day was dedicated to trying things out and creating pilot projects together. Five areas had previously emerged as the main topics: The Bildungshaus of the future, the future educational programme, the learning spaces of the future, the reception area and the catering (kitchen and service). To this end, the participants worked in groups to build prototypes of future-oriented ideas: Lego, play figures, paper, stickers, building blocks, furniture - anything that was not nailed down was allowed to be used in order to immediately put the creative solutions into practice in miniature. Experts from the fields of architecture, PR, design thinking, e-learning, cardboard furniture design and innovative learning were available to provide impulses and be sparring partners. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, the results were not only recorded in writing in the perspective brochure, but also summarised in a video documentary. 

Publication on the project: the Perspectives Brochure

From the presentation of best practices, the results of the target group survey, the success factors of the excursion goals, the innovation workshop, diverse impressions to theory and history, the perspective brochure spans a broad but clear arc over the topic of new learning space concepts. It is intended to serve as an impulse. The project team does not only want to point out ideas, but to encourage adult education institutions to go in search of "other" learning spaces and possibilities for their organisation themselves, to use the already existing fund of knowledge and experience and to open up something new. 

If you would like to be inspired as to what the Bildungshaus of the future could look like, you are invited to browse through the online version (PDF or FLIP). In keeping with the motto of ARGE BHÖ Chairman Erich Wagner-Walser, we invite you to "see, try and choose for yourself!