Am I Still Needed ? Guidance and Learning for Older Adults

The recent OECD Career Guidance Policy Review1 indicated that a life-stage where current career guidance provision is particularly inadequate is the third age. Many countries are expressing growing policy concerns about their ageing populations and difficulties in funding adequate pension provision, and the consequent need to encourage
people to stay longer in the labour force. There is also growing policy interest in encouraging those who have left the labour market to continue their involvement in
learning and in voluntary work in the community, so reducing health bills and harnessing their social contribution. But no country has yet systematically addressed the potential role
of career guidance services in these various respects, and more generally in helping individuals to manage more gradual and more flexible approaches to ‘retirement’.