Council of the Baltic Sea States has recently completed an international project “Sustainable Working Life”. The focus has been the participation in education and learning among people in the age group 55+ in the Baltic Sea Region and ways of increasing it.
The countries in the Baltic Sea Region show great heterogeneity in terms of participation levels in lifelong learning in this age group. The Nordic countries stand out with considerably higher participation rates between 18 and 25%), while Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland show low participation rates (between 2 and 3,3%) in this age group.
Learning throughout working lives is of vital importance for all of us to be able to remain in today’s rapidly transforming labour market, and the Nordic region needs to continue providing diverse learning opportunities of good quality. The publication discusses possible explanations for the low levels of participation through the perspective of different types of barriers to lifelong learning – dispositional, situational, and institutional. It also proposes a range of policy initiatives to address the barriers.
You can find policy recommendations here. Lifelong learning to extend working life. Participation in education and learning among people in the age group 55+ in the Baltic Sea Region and how we can increase it. – CBSS
