Page 56 - Learning-while-working-Success-stories-on-workplace-learning-in-Europe

Learning while working
50 Success stories on workplace learning in Europe

governments are encouraging employers to support the most vulnerable co-
horts of the workforce, with a broad range of learning opportunities, including
guidance.

3.5. Building consistent policy
and enterprise learning strategies

Adult learning in the workplace is at the crossroad of policies related to age
management, flexicurity and managing sectoral changes by gaining ‘new
skills for new jobs’. With the commitment of the social partners, public policies
can help transform workplaces into age-friendly and learning-facilitating
environments, in which different categories of employees could eventually
be given opportunities to develop their competences, either on-the-job within
normal working processes or through more formal training.

3.5.1. Policies to increase older worker participation in learning
Age-discrimination legislation will not improve participation in training or the
employment prospects of older workers if employers are not sensitive to the
benefits of age diversity in the workplace. Work organisation is crucial to
developing a favourable environment for learning in the workplace, within
work teams of diverse age, which take advantage of younger workers’
current theoretical knowledge and familiarity with new technologies and
older workers’ wide-ranging knowledge of work processes and experience
in problem-solving (Cedefop, 2008h; 2010d).
There are three approaches to reducing inequalities in participation in
training by older workers. First, there should be increased investment in
lifelong learning at mid-career to stimulate the ability and motivation to learn,
as well as the readiness to cope with new situations at the workplace. Second,
the attractiveness and relevance of training and its potential returns for older
workers can be improved by adapting teaching methods and content to
their needs, through short and modular courses, and the validation of prior
learning. Raising older workers’ education and training participation requires
a combination of measures, such as marketing strategies for learning and
guidance provision, advocacy with employers, confidence building among older
workers in the workplace, adapted training methods, a rethinking of employment
and lifelong learning policies, and specialised training for guidance and training
providers to adjust their offer to older workers’ needs and circumstances. For
instance, caring responsibilities for senior family members might be a barrier