The paper investigates internationality as an academic virtue that is highly relevant for research biographies. The discursive trajectory of this virtue is assessed by comparing ascriptions of internationality in 216 academic obituaries from the US, UK and Germany, from physics, sociology and history, and from the 1960s, 1980s and 2000s. Our…

Purpose: This article contains a reflection on researching in global citizenship education with a critical approach that aims to transcend the paradigm of methodological nationalism. Design/methodology/approach: Starting from outlining different dimensions of global citizenship (education), and looking at the current research situation in GCE, we…

The drivers of learning for mid-career workers with few initial qualifications from the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy and Poland are examined. The focus in this article is upon the learning pathways and experience of the low-qualified drawn from empirical research which gathered and analysed the strategic career and…

Unlike a conventional reading of Bourdieu, this article focuses on his work with regard to the transformation of social structure. In the context of a rereading, from an educational theory perspective, the article proposes an approach that allows for the linking of empirically informed social theory, on the one hand, and biography research…

The article elaborates on the recollections of schooling under the communist rule in Poland as presented in biographical interviews with contemporary Polish migrants living in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Norway. An analysis of childhood and schooling nexus is elicited on two platforms, specifically as (1) interviewees' first-hand experiences…

The adult cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) provides data from six sets of longitudinal data derived from 11,932 German adults. We used the NEPS data to look at the effects of formal education in adulthood and occupational changes on participation in further vocational education and training in order to gain a better…

Many think of Edith Stein as a phenomenological philosopher who experienced a dramatic religious conversion, but contemporary adult educators may also look to her as a model for the application of social activism based in theory. This article explores Stein's continued relevance for adult educators who research and then try to apply key concepts…

Empirical models of transformative learning offer important insights into the core characteristics of this concept. Whereas previous analyses were limited to specific social groups or topical terrains, this article empirically typifies the phases of transformative learning on the basis of a comparative analysis of various social groups and topical…

After an accomplished military career leading up to and during World War II, Truman Smith (1893-1970) was seemingly forgotten. His name was seldom mentioned after the war until his memoirs were published posthumously in 1984. History shows Smith to be an astoundingly successful figure in military intelligence. This article provides a biography on…

This dissertation addresses a significant gap in the historiography of science: the nature of the language sciences as "science." Focusing on disciplinary and intellectual developments in the context of Imperial Germany (1871-1918), the project anticipates, complicates, and helps to explain a widely recognized theoretical shift, namely,…

Background: Although culture is deeply embedded in language, cultural proficiency is not always gained during language learning. Experiential pedagogies that emphasize reflection may be appropriate for such learning. Purpose: This research explored pupils' self-awareness as they engaged in the co-construction of personal life stories in one…

This article addresses the change in the transitional process from secondary school general education to gainful employment within the framework of societal modernisation processes in Germany. We analyse the relationship between the options for and restrictions upon individual educational mobility under the conditions imposed by the various…

The author's focus in this essay is to advocate for the arts by bearing witness to their power during times of great trouble. If art can help children exist under conditions of irrational hatred, racism, terror, and mass murder--under conditions so dire that life's fundamental necessities of food, shelter, and family love are withheld and…

The article presents selected results of a reconstructive study on the significance of the peer group for children's educational biography. Based on the analysis of qualitative interviews and group discussions with c. 11-year-old children from different educational milieus in Germany it is first shown how, in general, groups of friends in…

This article focuses on the methodological approaches used in the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) research project "Learning for Career and Labour Market Transitions--individual biographies". In particular, it illuminates how biographical approaches were employed to help the in-depth understanding of…