BEST Institute for vocational training and personal training GmbH

ELDER Experience - NEW Knowledge

Qualification of Seniors coming from Restructuring Sectors for Intergenerational Knowledge Transfer

Europe is getting older. We cannot afford losing knowledge or experience accumulated by elder people leaving the labour market, especially in a crisis situation like the present one. Nowadays, seniors leaving the labour market do not have the chance to offer their know-how to others, nor do they have access to permanent learning processes. Consequently, the risk of social exclusion is high. The traditional learning systems do not offer a suitable answer for 2 reasons:

  • They don’t offer the means to give value to the rich experience of elders.
  • They don’t regard Lifelong Learning as a basic approach for social inclusion and management of age.

The objectives of “Elder” are:

  • to develop resources and didactic methodologies based on new information and communication technologies in order to qualify seniors from restructuring sectors to take active part in training processes aimed at young people. They give value and transfer their knowledge to other generations by volunteering.
  • to promote active ageing, generate motivation and strengthen the self-esteem of seniors who have left the labour market
  • to develop innovative approaches encouraging mutual contact and knowledge exchange between generations

The final products include a group of training resources allowing for intergenerational knowledge and experience transfer. Elders are supported in becoming experience mentors. They are offered the training they need as well as tools and methodologies to favour the effective knowledge transfer.

EU-Program: LLP, Grundtvig Multilateral Projects
Coordination: Fundación de Trabajadores de la Siderurgia Integral, Bilbao (ESP)
Contact: Karin Kronika
Duration: October 2010 – September 2012
EU - Partner für lebenslanges Lernen This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.