Older Workforces ― Re-imagining Later Life Learning

Extended working lives are here to stay due to dismissal of the default retirement age in the UK, and other countries, and due to a widening pension gap. Additionally, changing demographics mean that there will be increasing numbers of ’older’ workers, which, according to the UK's Office for National Statistics (2013), applies to anyone over 55 years of age. Yet, organisations, governments and policy-makers have been slow to address the phenomenon of an older workforce and the implications to organisations of how to rise to the challenge of keeping increasing numbers of older workers engaged in the workplace. The author argues that workers want to give of their best and employers want the best from their employees through high and consistent performance and that Professional Development is considered the key to high performing workforces. She uncovers what, when and how and types of professional development and learning offers a best fit for an older workforce and reveals older worker's perceptions and insights into later life working. Such insights will also be helpful in strategic considerations for the wider workforce. This is a pragmatic guide with the aim of pointing to gaps between observations of older workers and assessments of management towards their mature workforce to identify openings for professional learning to foster an engaged and productive workforce.

An experienced Academic Lecturer and Researcher, Domini Bingham leads on two modules in the leadership department at the UCL Institute of Education, London, and tutors on three of the post-graduate educational leadership development programmes. Domini’s background is in marketing and public relations both in the public and private sectors and in international development, having worked for several years at the Commonwealth Secretariat and also in the media. She has taught marketing at adult and community education and is passionate about adults achieving their potential and addressing obstacles to achieving that. She has an MA in Lifelong Learning and is currently studying for her doctorate at the IOE, with research interests in Marketing in educational settings, Internationalisation of higher education, Interculturalism and early educational leadership in urban education Domini is an experienced consultant and published author.