Working Group 4 report to the General Assembly Stephen McNair and Tine Fristrup

“Learning” in later life  We adopt a broad definition of learning - formal, informal and non- formal – in educational institutions, the workplace, the community and the home  We are also interested in the cognitive process of learning, and how it may change with age  Learning is a means to individual wellbeing, and wider economic and social benefits  Older people are diverse in circumstances, aspirations and opportunities to learn  Learning needs change with the transition from the “third age” (of active later life) to the “fourth age” (of growing dependency and decline)  Learning for older people has been neglected in public policy, because:  Most education policy focuses on the young  Older people’s learning is seen as a subset of other policy areas

Mapping the reasons why older people may need to learn In an ideal world, older people would have opportunities to learn in order to:  Manage life transitions  Get involved in society  Access the digital world  Manage their caring responsibilities  Maintain their health  Manage their finances  Maintain their employability  Develop interests  Engage in wider culture and pass on skills and knowledge  Maintain their basic skills: literacy, numeracy, digital skills

Evaluating older people’s learning  How well is each of the ten reasons above met in any given context (national, regional, local etc)?  How far, and in what circumstances, does learning:  Enable people to contribute to society, through paid or unpaid activity?  Reduce the costs to other agencies (e.g. by reducing health and care costs)?  Represent a better use of resources than alternative strategies?  Who is included, and who is excluded, by different ways of organising or facilitating learning

What are the gaps in current knowledge?  Consistent good quality data on which older people participate, in what, across member states  Evidence on economic and social benefits  Evidence on older peoples’ attitudes to and motivation to learn (or not)  What institutional structures work best for (which) older people?  How can the boundaries between policy areas best be overcome?  How far do the cognitive processes of learning change with age, and can learning prevent or delay cognitive decline  What are the implications of changing technologies for older people’s learning and learning needs