Together we learn more and easier

From July 8 to 19, the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) organized a summer school on "International adult education in the ecclesiastical space" at the Protestant Conference Center on the Holy Mountain in Wuppertal. 17 participants from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Germany and the DR Congo learned the theoretical foundations and practical forms of church education in an international context during ten study days. Impulses from speakers with different cultural backgrounds gave practical examples on the following topics: the image of human being and the learning traditions in different cultures, life worlds and learning theories for adults, didactic and methodical approaches of adult education, networked learning as well as lifelong, inter- and transcultural learning. "We learn more and more easily when we learn together. However, learning together does not mean that we do not have to learn from each other, but the idea or the fact that we are all learning enables participants to get more involved and to share their own competences with others to enrich each other's learning methods, learning culture and learning pathways, without neglecting the respective context. In short, the participants strive to get to know new ways within adult education," said Ipyana Mwamugobole, the Tanzanian tutor of the UEM Training Centre Wuppertal. The study program aimed at adult education students and employees from the member churches of UEM in Africa, Asia and Germany. The goal is not only to keep pace with the rapid transformation processes in society, politics and the economic systems of today, but to actively help shape them. The summer school, which is run by the UEM Training Center Wuppertal took place for the second time after 2017 and is each year dedicated to a closed subject in an international context. Dr. Martina Pauly