Having recently changed my job, the editors of GR thought it might be
helpful for me to write a short article which outlines the work of my
new employer (since February 2007) as well as some of the research I am
currently engaged in. Indeed, I was happy to do so since when I joined
NIACE, and appointed to a research position within CROW, there have been
a number of puzzled looks from some BSG members (and others) when I
have indicated that I now work for CROW at NIACE. Who or what is NIACE
and CROW? This is when those working in the field of health and social
care seem surprised (but mostly delighted) that I was now working for
NICE – which I most definitely am not! Most longstanding BSG members
will already be aware of part of NIACE’s work for and with older
learners through the ‘Older and Bolder’ initiative managed, initiated
and developed by my colleague Jim Solesby (Carlton and Solesby, 1999).
The National Institute for Adult Continuing
Education (NIACE) is the national organisation for adult learning in
England and Wales . Its broad aim is to advance the interests of adult
learners and potential learners under the slogan ‘More and Better
learning’. Our commitment is to support an increase in the number of
adults engaged in formal and informal learning and to widen access to
learning opportunities and the acquisition of skills and competences of
those who do not traditionally take part in education and training. Our
strategic plan commits NIACE to:
support an increase in the total numbers of adults engaged in formal and informal learning in England and Wales
; and at the same time to take positive action to improve opportunities
and widen access to learning opportunities for those communities
under-represented in current provision.
NIACE is a registered charity and a company
limited by guarantee and is a membership organisation with individual
members and more than 500 corporate members. This includes many if not
all universities in the UK as well as other education and learning
providers across the full range of policy makers and users of adult
learning opportunities. NIACE headquarters are in Leicester , England
and Cardiff , Wales . The organisation employs more than 200 staff.
NIACE is an England and Wales body (within Wales a specialist committee,
NIACE Dysgu Cymru, oversees the organisation's work). While we have
members in other parts of the UK , our work does not focus on Scotland
or Northern Ireland where there are distinctive education systems and
structures for adult learning. While many of the messages NIACE promotes
are relevant to all parts of the UK , we prefer to work with sister
organisations in Scotland and Northern Ireland rather than seeking to
work pro-actively there.
NIACE’s work crosses the sectoral boundaries of
post-16 education and training and works in all fields of UK education
and training, including local authority organised provision, the further
education college sector, higher education in universities and colleges
of HE, employment-led learning involving both employers and trade
unions, learning in the voluntary sector and through the media. We have
specialist expertise in work with:
- Information and communication technologies and learning,
- Adults with basic (Life) skills needs,
- Learning and the voluntary sector and unemployed learners,
- Family learning,
- Women, black and ethnic minority learners,
- Learners with disabilities or learning difficulties,
- Older learners and young adults.
Research, Development and Consultancy
NIACE has its own research, development and
consultancy capacity and is commissioned on a regular basis by central
and local government, by the European Union, the Higher Education
Funding Council for England, the Learning and Skills Council both
centrally and locally, charitable trusts and others. We undertake both
large-scale national quantitative surveys that are subject to rigorous
statistical scrutiny and also representative qualitative studies and
case studies of good practice.
NIACE has substantial experience in programme and
project management. Since 1999, staff have worked on over 500 research,
development and consultancy projects and also managed a number of
programmes (such as the Adult and Community Learning Fund) for
government. NIACE recognises the absence from most education provision
of large groups of society that include the greater proportion of those
over the age of fifty. We have a range of dissemination channels
including a well-developed website (www.niace.org.uk)
which receives more than 40,000 hits per month and hosts a number of
mailgroups; a conference team which arranges more than 150 events each
year and a publishing operation with almost 200 items in print. These
allow us to ensure that the findings of research, development and
consultancy work are disseminated effectively to policy makers,
decision-makers and practitioners.
My own position is within the Older Learners team, working for The Centre for Research into the Older Workforce (CROW).
The team incorporates ‘Older and Bolder’ maintaining an operational
focus upon older people. CROW exists to study the ageing workforce, in
the UK and beyond and was, for its first three years, a Research Centre
of the University of Surrey . It was created in response to the growing
policy interest in the ageing population, and because of Government
policy to encourage more people to stay in paid work later in life. In
the summer of 2006 it moved and is now part of NIACE.
CROW has three principal roles:
- To research the working of the older workforce, independently and in collaboration with other agencies
- Raise awareness of, and provide information
on, the ageing workforce and its implications for individuals, employers
and the economy
- Support networking between agencies with interests in this field
We are particularly interested in understanding
the attitudes to retirement and work of those over 50 and their
employers; in how the skills of people over 50 can help overcome skills
gaps and shortages; and in the kinds of education and training which
might help in this. Allied to this, I continue to have a specific and
longstanding personal interest in issues related to these broad aims,
and issues related to the workability, employability and age management
of older employees; their incomes and social policy in later life.
The operation of the labour market, the processes
of ageing, and education in later life are all well-established fields
of academic study. However, until recently there has been little
research into their interaction in the over 50 labour market, and the
role of education and training in the decisions to retire or stay in
employment. If employers are to be persuaded to change their behaviour
to make work more attractive, and individuals more prepared to stay in
work, we need to know more about the factors which affect the decision
to retire, and the willingness of employers to redesign work to make it
more attractive to older people. All these socio-economic processes are
incorporated within our focus on research into policies that improve
workability across the life course and to the promotion of ‘active
ageing’. The implementation of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations
2006 (or more popularly the Age Regulations) from October 1 st, gives
these questions added urgency. We have undertaken work at national and
international levels, and we aim to maintain a long-term centre of
expertise on the older workforce. We also continue to work very closely
with colleagues based at Age Concern England , Help the Aged, The Age
and Employment Network and Central Government Departments, and the
latter often consult us on a wide range of policy issues.
Current and past research
I list below some of the more recent work of
CROW as an indication of the range of work undertaken over the past year
or so and details of all CROW’s past successes are available from our
website.
Changing Work in Later Life – a national Omnibus Survey in 2003
This was a survey on job changes of all kinds.
5500 people of all ages were interviewed, to examine how far job change
is different for people in later working life (defined as over 50).
The survey found that older people were more
attached to work than younger ones, and continued to be motivated by
career progression into their 60s. However, job change became less
frequent with age, especially in smaller firms. The report suggested a
division into three groups: those who felt in control of their working
lives and career moves; those who felt their working patterns were
imposed on them; and a third (mainly female) group who were balancing
paid employment with other roles (including caring). People went on
increasing their skills and responsibility into their 50s. Most people
would consider working after formal retirement, but only on a flexible
basis,
Attitudes to work and retirement – the 2004 national postal survey – funded by SEEDA
The Postal Survey added a great deal of depth to
the findings of the Omnibus Survey conducted the previous year. The 400
respondents (aged 51-70) matched quite closely the profile of the
original Omnibus sample in terms of social class, gender and income. The
sample was slightly skewed towards people with higher qualifications
and for analysis the data was weighted to adjust for this. There is no
reason to suppose that these findings are unrepresentative of older
people generally.
Similar questions were asked to those still in
work, those retired, and those describing themselves as retired but
still in employment. For the questions about a specific job, those in
work were asked about their current job, and the fully retired about
their last job.
- Do older people like work?
- What do older people dislike about work?
- Are older people discriminated against in the workplace?
- Do older people want to continue working after retiring from their main job?
- What sort of work would they consider?
- Do the retired wish they had stayed?
- What do older people think about the ageing workforce policy issues?
50+ Europe : strategies to overcome barriers to employment for the over 50s in Europe – funded through ESF
Project aims to support people
over the age of 50 within accessing and securing employment; to raise
employers' awareness of good practice in employing and training older
people and to develop training for employers in managing age diversity.
Project outcomes included an
interactive vocational guidance tool for people over 50 to support them
in their job-seeking, on-line training for employers in developing
strategies to recruit and retain the over 50s, guidelines for Good
Practice in employing, supporting and training older workers, and in
promoting age diversity in the workplace. A policy report and
recommendations on age diversity in the work place, highlighting good
practice has also been written.
Age Discrimination: Effects of Education and Gender – funded through ESF HE
Project aims to understand how
age discrimination at work is experienced by people over 50 and how this
experience differs by gender and previous educational experience, to
understand the broader factors that affect older workers ability and
desire to continue working and to find out the kinds of change to the
organisation of work which might make working longer more attractive,
and how far these might be feasible for, or attractive to, employers.
Project outcomes include a
report detailing older peoples' perceptions of age discrimination and
the barriers encountered when seeking to enter, or maintain their
employability within, the labour market, the views of differing groups
of older people on how paid employment might be made more attractive to
people over 50 and advice on ways in which employers can practically
reduce age discrimination and make better use of older people.
The Age Dimension of Employers' Practices in Great Britain – funded by DTI
The Department of Trade and Industry
commissioned this work from CROW in advance of drafting legislation to
outlaw age discrimination at work.
Project aims to establish how
aware managers, younger and older workers and trades unionists are of
age discrimination and the implications of the pending legislation, at a
range of levels; how important they think it is; how far current
practices are supportive of an age diverse workforce; how far current
practices are consistent with the proposed legislation; how far they are
amenable to change.
Project outcomes
a report for the Department of Trade and Industry, to inform the
development of the Age Discrimination Legislation, and support to
employers in preparing for it.
Regional Development Agencies and the Older Workforce – led by NIACE
Government is seeking, through the Department of
Work and Pensions, to develop initiatives to encourage people to stay
in the workforce longer. One key agency in this process is the network
of nine Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England .
CROW was a partner in a study commissioned from
the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education by the Department
for Work and Pensions to review how RDAs were approaching age and
employment.
RDA staff and partners were interviewed in all
English Regions and a confidential report was produced for DWP. This was
subsequently presented and discussed with DWP colleagues. It was
evident that RDAs varied greatly in their awareness of the issues, and
in their responses to them.
Other projects recently completed include:
Current Projects include :
- Work funded by the Nuffield Foundation investigating the reasons for the decline in learning and training with age
- ReGrow: a major project to develop and
evaluate the delivery of workplace career guidance to people over 50
across the South East Region
I would welcome enquiries about research collaboration either with me or with my colleagues in NIACE.
Reference :
Carlton S. and Soulsby, J. (1999) Learning to grow Older and Bolder, NIACE Leicester
* The majority of the content of this article is
taken from material already published by NIACE and CROW. The author
does not intend sole authorship and fully acknowledges the work of his
NIACE colleagues in its production.