GERA Congresses

Disruptions allow and provide opportunities for new beginnings, fundamental reconsiderations, and the conceptualization of alternative directional approaches to education and training. They form a constitutive part of growing up, socialization, and education. The basic dialectical tone and the colorful metaphors used in the context of disruptions, upheavals, breakthroughs, collapses, or new departures point, not least, to the fundamental anthropological issue of a fragile existence. Not only does the notion of the human fragment testifies to this, but so does the phenomenon of the breakthrough as an elementary gain of knowledge along the fault lines of experience. Both in individual life courses and in the context of organizational or societal developmental processes, rifts mark disruptive changes. The dynamics of such social and cultural transformations, technological innovations, political upheavals, or increasing diversifications of educational and professional careers require pedagogical actors to deal with such breaks, discontinuities, and transitions. With the topic of this congress, we aim not only to identify problems but also focus on necessary moments of transition which hold potential for innovation and the positive shaping of the future.

The GERA Congress 2026 will take place in Munich from March 22nd – March 25th 2026.

For further infomation please visit https://dgfe2026.fak11.lmu.de/en/sample-page-english/ 

2024, Halle
Crises and Transformations

2022, Bremen
Ent | grenz | ungen
The term Ent | grenz | ungen can loosely be translated as the phenomenon in which, either through deliberate action or societal change, borders or boundaries (whether conceptual or physical) can be said to be abolished or dissolved.

2020, Cologne
Optimisation

2018, Essen
Movements

2016, Kassel
Spaces for Education, Spaces of Education

2014, Berlin
Tradition and Future

2012, Osnabrück
Crossing borders in educational research

2010, Mainz 
Education in a Democracy

2008, Dresden
Educational Cultures

2006, Frankfurt am Main
Education – Power – Society

2004, Zurich 
Lifelong Learning

2002, Munich 
Innovation through Education

2000, Göttingen 
Education in Transitional Societies

1998, Hamburg 
The Media Generation

1996, Halle an der Saale 
Education between the State and the Market

1994, Dortmund
Education in Europe

1992, Berlin
Educational Research between Modernisation and a Crisis of Modernity

1990, Bielefeld 
Future Trends: Tasks, Concepts and Research in Educational Sciences

1988, Saarbrücken
Education as a Public Activity

1986, Heidelberg
General Education

1984, Kiel 
Work – Education – Unemployment

1982, Regensburg 
No Overall Focus

1980, Göttingen 
Political Interest in Education and Pedagogical Interest in Society

1978, Tübingen
The Relevance of Educational-Scientific Findings

1976, Duisburg
Interaction and Organisation in Pedagogical Fields

1974, Salzburg 
Pedagogical Institutions and Socialisation

1972, Nürnberg
Scientific Theory and Methodology in Pedagogical Research

1970, Berlin 
Educational Research – Educational Policies – School Reform

1968, Göttingen
Language and Education