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Working and ageing
14 Guidance and counselling for mature learners

all the personʼs varied experiences in education, training, work in several
organisations, changes in occupational field, etc. The protean career is not
what happens to the person in any one organisationʼ (Hall, 1976, p. 203).
The main implications of changing careers are learning needs arising at
various stages in working life and mobility within or between organisations
becoming more common. Managing these needs requires employability and
self-management. Self-management can be linked to four career
competences (Ball, 1997): optimising the current situation, career planning,
engaging in personal development and balancing work and non-work. In terms
of labour market, employment and lifelong learning, career planning and
engaging in personal development are most relevant self-management
dimensions. In ageing societies characterised by change, self-management
is a true core competence enabling successful and satisfying working lives
lasting beyond career retirement ages.

1.3. Lifelong guidance and counselling

Guidance is a continuous process that enables citizens of any age and at any
point in their lives to identify their capacities, competences and interests, to
make educational, training and occupational decisions and to manage their
individual life paths in learning, work and other settings in which those
capacities and competences are learned and/or used. Guidance covers a
range of individual and collective activities relating to information-giving,
counselling, competence assessment, support, and teaching decision-making
and career management skills (Council of the European Union, 2008).
The main aim of lifelong guidance is to support citizensʼ lifelong learning,
sustainable employment, empowerment, employability, social inclusion and
active citizenship. Lifelong guidance is the interface between education,
training and employment sectors. In a rapidly changing economy, guidance
services have a key role in addressing skill shortages and inappropriate
qualifications among older workers. Sustainable success may depend on a
lifelong learning and lifelong guidance system as well as a qualifications
framework to be in place to support progression in learning and acquisition of
relevant competences for the world of work (Cedefop, 2011).
Across Europe, measures have been taken to develop further guidance
services especially for adults to support their participation in lifelong learning
and career development (Council of European Union and European
Commission, 2010). However, to date Member States have not been able to