Page 70 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

Increasing the value of age: guidance in employers’ age management strategies

Assessment strategies can be found in several countries, such as France,
Austria, Portugal and the UK. In France, assessment is done via a portfolio of
experiences (Bilan de compétences senior), which registers skills and acquired
knowledge. This instrument is used, with adaptations, in all training and
education branches and is available for application in enterprises via agreement
between employers and employees. The portfolio approach not only generates
critical information which can be carried across learning and work, but also
encourages individual self-reflection. Typically, the portfolio approach will have a
very strong component of CMS development and will induce targeted strategies
to aid reflection about career planning, accounting for distinct career stages.
A similar approach has also been developed in Portugal, with particular
priority given to failing enterprises undergoing restructuring. In this case, the
portfolio approach serves the double purpose of generating worker adaptability,
when facing change in a mature career stage, and of assuring the transmission
and retention of organisation knowledge during restructuring.
Curriculum strategies for CMS development can be found in some countries,
but generally target youth enrolled in the school system. It is more frequent that
adults are engaged in mixed models which adopt an assessment strategy
coupled with uniform curricula of activities aimed at developing skills in the areas
identified as in need of intervention.
Prior identification of critical areas of skills development is sometimes used
as strategy. The Scottish framework for career development identifies important
issues for each stage of career development as well as critical activities and
contexts for CMS acquisition.
The Portuguese framework adopts a similar strategy, also attempting to
identify achievement levels in the development of sets of CMS, combining
formative with summative assessment. The adopted framework is currently
supporting the development of soft skills in adult education and validation
procedures.
Within the employment sector, the most common approaches across Europe
are ready-made programmes aimed at unemployed or at-risk groups, where
people learn how to search for work, write a CV, use the internet and how to
behave in an interview. These activities are increasingly popular. They are
relatively easy to organise and tend to reduce time and financial effort, as they
are developed in group sessions, with relatively short programmes.
These are, nevertheless, limited programmes which develop a reduced set
of skills which might not respond to individual or group needs and which adopt a
short-term vision of career development. In general, tailored approaches are
more successful and tend to generate higher client satisfaction.

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