Corona pandemic and further training - effects on the design of offers

The training providers play a central role in securing and increasing participation in further training among the population. Their task is to provide needs-based and tailor-made learning opportunities that enable the entire population to acquire the knowledge and skills they need. The measures to contain the corona pandemic have hit the education providers hard and are still significantly influencing the way they provide services. It is completely unclear whether and, if so, when a return to the "old" normalcy will be possible, and also whether such a return is even desirable. But while in many areas of society the effects of the Corona pandemic are extensively investigated, for example on the basis of the SNF special tender for coronaviruses, this does not yet apply to the area of ​​continuing education. The planned research project addresses this desideratum. The following three research questions are to be empirically investigated: 1. How have the further training offers changed in the course of the Corona crisis? 2. What opportunities and risks are associated with these changes, especially with regard to participation in further training? 3. What innovations are on offer? In view of the novelty of the problem and the lack of scientific knowledge so far, these questions are examined within the framework of a qualitative-exploratory research design. In selected further education institutions, offer analyzes as well as group discussions and in-depth interviews with program and offer planners as well as with lecturers are carried out. The aim is to record in detail the adjustments and new developments of educational offers in the wake of the Corona crisis and to gain initial insights into possible sustainable transformations of the further education offer. A central focus of the analysis is the assessment of the possible consequences of the development of offers for the opportunities of different social groups to participate in further training. Therefore, various institutions that address different target groups with their offers. The benefit of the study is to generate the first in-depth knowledge of the developments on offer in continuing education in the wake of the Corona crisis. On this basis, it is firstly possible to quantify further developments in a more targeted manner in the context of written surveys and to keep an eye on educational policy. For this purpose, the results of the study will be fed into the conception of the next provider surveys by the Swiss Association for Continuing Education (SVEB). Second, SERI has the opportunity to identify any dysfunctional developments in the structure of the services at an early stage and to take appropriate countermeasures. Third, a contribution can be made to an idea of