E-learning Under the ‘Equality Glasses’

In the course of the lockdown in March 2020, there was a forced changeover from classroom to online offerings in the area of education and training for many. This affected schools as well as universities and universities of applied sciences, and also all education and labor market policy offerings, including those of the AMS. In the course of the pandemic, the majority of the AMS’s training and counseling services were shifted, at least in part, into the virtual realm.

While initial studies are already available for the school and university sector on how the (partial) shift from face-to-face instruction to online and e-learning offerings has taken place or where this was not possible, which successful and less successful e-learning models can be identified, and how online learning formats have affected pupils and students or different subgroups, similar analyses are rare in the area of active labor market policy. This research project addressed this gap with a women’s focus.

Based on the experiences of the lockdown and the associated changeover to e-learning/counselling offers in labor market policy offers, it was explored to what extent these were accessible to female participants, what barriers were encountered, what positive and negative experiences were made and what conclusions can be drawn for a transfer of the experiences made to regular operation (or a renewed necessary changeover to complete e-learning/counselling).