Training Older Workers and Learners is a groundbreaking resource that focuses exclusively on age 40-plus workers. This much-needed resource offers trainers expert guidance and practical tools designed to deliver effective training and re-training to older worker-learners (OWLS). Based on sound theory and best practices, the book shows how to maximize the workplace learning and performance potential of late-life learners.
This open access book makes a contribution to our understanding of one of the social challenges facing many western nations i.e. the challenge of an ageing population. It specifically addresses the issue of competence among older employees. Others have studied ageing populations in terms of the economic burden or the pressure on healthcare services and generally view the rising numbers of seniors more as a challenge than an opportunity. In this book, authors discuss ways of gaining positive benefits from our ageing and more experienced work force.
Peterson analyzes the state of today's adult education, pinpoints weaknesses and offers guidelines to understand the educational needs, wants and characteristics of older learners in various settings -- community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, businesses, public libraries, social centers and churches. He investigates the physical, perceptual and attitudinal changes that older learners experience and suggests ways to tailor the learning atmosphere in light of special considerations. Using actual models, he illustrates how to design and implement a variety of programs -- retraining, second-career preparation, preretirement education and planning for use of leisure, diploma and degree completion, recreation and coping with change. ISBN 0-87589-565-4 : $18.95.
This publication contains a number of essays which explore issues relating to population ageing and the needs of older workers from a lifelong learning perspective. Although the focus is on European experiences, it also includes contributions from Australia, Japan and the United States. The central argument of this book is that ageing must be seen as a lifelong learning and development process in which one continuously takes on new life challenges; and in the context of work, lifelong learning is understood as a broad, holistic concept which encompasses individual education and training, as well as participative workplace learning actively supported by employers.
A demographic futurist explains the coming Super Age—when there will be more people older than sixty-five than those under the age of eighteen—and explores what it could mean for our collective future. Societies all over the world are getting older, the result of the fact that we are living longer and having fewer children. At some point in the near future, much of the developed world will have at least twenty percent of their national populations over the age of sixty-five. Bradley Schurman calls this the Super Age. Today, Italy, Japan, and Germany have already reached the Super Age, and another ten countries will have gone over the tipping point in 2021. Thirty-five countries will be part of this club by the end of the decade. This seismic shift in the world population can portend a period of tremendous growth—or leave swaths of us behind. Schurman explains how changing demographics will affect government and business and touch all of our lives. Fewer people working and paying income taxes, due to outdated employment and retirement practices, could mean less money feeding popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare—with greater numbers relying on them. The forced retirement or redundancy of older workers could impact business by creating a shortage of workers, which would likely drive wages up and result in inflation. Corporations, too, must rethink marketing strategies—older consumers are already purchasing the majority of new cars, and they are a growing and vitally important market for health technologies and housing. Architects and designers must re-create homes and communities that are more inclusive of people of all ages and abilities. If we aren’t prepared for the changes to come, Schurman warns, we face economic stagnation, increased isolation of at-risk populations, and accelerated decline of rural communities. Instead, we can plan now to harness the benefits of the Super Age: extended and healthier lives, more generational cooperation at work and home, and new markets and products to explore. The choice is ours to make.
While many employers have traditionally viewed their younger employees as their most precious assets, the truth is that their more seasoned workers are often their most valuable. Written by experts in the field of workforce education and the management of older workers, Working Longer gives recruiters, managers, and trainers the tools they need to nurture and empower these vital employees, such as: * creative strategies for recruiting retirees and developing a senior friendly workplace* career and performance management techniques for effectively motivating and engaging older workers* instructional design facilitation methods that will enable older workers to upgrade their skills.With compassion and wisdom, this is the only book that shows employers how to value, coach, and keep their most experienced people
This first truly comprehensive interdisciplinary, international critique of theory and practice in lifelong learning as it relates to later life is an absolute tour de force. Alexandra Withnall, Universities of Warwick and Leicester, UK. This is a book that needed to be written: it provides a most thorough and skilful analysis of a comprehensive range of contemporary literature about learning in later life from many localities and countries of the world. Peter Jarvis, Professor Emeritus, University of Surrey Impressive in its scope this handbook seeks to describe older learning critically within the lifelong learning literature at the same time that it makes a strong and persuasive case for taking older learning seriously in our postmodern world. Kenneth Wain, University of Malta Lifelong learning in later life is an essential handbook for a wide range of people who work alongside older adults in varied contexts. This handbook brings together both orthodox approaches to educational gerontology and fresh perspectives on important emerging issues faced by seniors around the globe. Issues discussed include the social construction of ageing, the importance of lifelong learning policy and practice, participation in later life learning, education of marginalised groups within older communities, inter-generational learning, volunteering and ‘active ageing’, the political economy of older adulthood, learning for better health and well-being, and the place of seniors in a learning society. Brian Findsen is a professor of adult education, Faculty of Education, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. His writings are usually constructed within a social justice framework such as The Fourth Sector: Adult and Community Education in Aotearoa New Zealand (edited with John Benseman and Miriama Scott in 1996) and Learning later (2005). Marvin Formosa is a lecturer in the European Centre for Gerontology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta. In addition to various articles focusing on critical educational gerontology, recent and forthcoming books include Social Class Dynamics in Later Life (2009) and Social Class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle (with Paul Higgs, 2012).
The need for competent, affordable child care has reached critical proportions. The number of children has increased, while the pool of young, potential child care employees has dramatically declined. Generations Together offers a progressive solution to this growing problem. The first of its kind, this curriculum handbook is designed to capitalize on potential child care workers who are now over fifty-five years old. Founded on the principles of adult education and with the procedures tested at numerous community colleges, this book seeks to unite a new generation of parents and children with an older generation of Americans as they reenter die paid work force. This book and its extensive collection of handouts for classroom use is an innovative and valuable resource for educators, trainers, job developers, government agencies, and other professionals training or serving older citizens
