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Working and ageing
18 Guidance and counselling for mature learners

impact of demographic change in Germany and presents empirical evidence
showing the extent to which German firms are in line with the new
demographic situation (Chapter 3). In Chapter 4, Ida Wognum, Anouk
Breukers, Max Wittpoth and Beatrice van der Heijden present the findings of
two studies that identify individual and organisational factors affecting the
employability of an ageing workforce and make recommendations to enable
enterprises to develop and implement employability-improving strategies.
Antonia Ypsilanti and Ana Vivas discuss cognitive ageing and training in
relation to demographic, neurobiological and psychological factors in
Chapter 5. Donald Ropes explores the perspective of intergenerational
learning in organisations by presenting a framework for a forthcoming
research study in Chapter 6.
The second part, Meeting the challenges: emerging guidance and
counselling models in Europe, presents contemporary approaches to
guidance and counselling for ageing people in Europe. In Chapter 7, Stephen
McNair examines a major study of training and work in later life in the UK,
notes the distinction between well-off and less-well off groups of ageing
workers, and identifies how guidance and counselling can address areas of
market failure. The main issue addressed in Chapter 8 by Marg Malloch is
that focus on the individual worker is merely one aspect of ageing in a work
context. Enterprises, local authorities, and national and international policy-
makers can also play a significant role by creating relevant policies and
addressing the challenge of implementation. Relying on evidence from a pan-
European study among older workers, Allan Brown and Jenny Bimrose
examine career patterns and identities and highlight the role guidance and
counselling can play in supporting successful labour market transitions in
Chapter 9. In Chapter 10, Lyn Barham discusses how career guidance can
be adapted better to the needs of older workers by looking at explanations for
why older people are generally less satisfied with these services and argues
that more effective counselling requires respect for diversity among older
workers and further research.
The third part, Making it work: successful guidance and counselling in EU
countries, presents good practice examples. Fabienne Caser shows that
companies in France foster senior employment by focusing on preserving
employee health, developing skills and fostering commitment in Chapter 11.
She argues that guidance and counselling initiatives foster job maintenance
for seniors, provided they contain a phase of mobilising those who might
benefit from it and consider the specific features of older workers. In
Chapter 12, Cristina Milagre, Maria Francisca Simões and Maria do Carmo