Until over a decade ago, learning for seniors was not a widely discussed topic. Elderly students or high school graduates were perceived as interesting but rare cases. Although worth mentioning, such people were not significant pedagogical objects of attention. It was only some time ago in Poland that it was noticed that adults and the elderly are the fastest-growing group of participants in education.

This trend is directly linked to the phenomenon of an ageing population and the rapid changes in civilisation and technology. Dr Marlena Kilian, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, points out in her article Methodological Aspects of Education of Older Adults. Basic Instructions and Principles that the model of life handed down to us from generation to generation, typically organised into distinct stages:

• childhood and adolescence = learning,
• adulthood = work,
• old age = rest,

is no longer relevant. This is also because the world is changing so rapidly that today’s seniors admit that they often cannot compare it with the one they experienced as children. It requires constant learning and adjusting to conditions that may bear little resemblance to those that prevailed years ago. Therefore, the elderly sometimes feel the need for further education, which means that teachers need to get ready to teach them – which is quite different from teaching kids or teens. 

The key to creating opportunities for people of all ages to function equally in an ever-changing world, including the labour market, is lifelong learning, which involves both self-education and other types of formal education. 

Projections by Statistics Poland (GUS) state that the population of Poles over 60 will be 10.8 million in 2030 and 13.7 million in 2050, representing around 40 percent of the total country’s population. The demographic situation shows that it is imperative to reflect on learning and education for older people. On the one hand, this is a pressing issue for the labour market since older workers will play a significant role in the future and will require professional skill development and update. However, education and learning can help maintain active ageing in a variety of other ways. Participating in educational activities allows one to remain socially active and develop at any age. ‘Acquiring new digital skills provides the opportunity to use new technologies that are applied, for example, in banking, culture or communication,’ says Dr Wojciech Gola, key expert for the design of digital solutions for skills development in the project ‘Microcredentials – piloting a new solution to support lifelong learning’. 

Geragogy – how do older people learn?

As Marlena Killian points out in the aforementioned article, in an age of rapid population ageing, adults and older people ‘represent the fastest growing age segment’ of learners. This clearly shows that people of advanced age, so far beyond the area of interest of pedagogy, require much more attention. Geragogy, a field that dates back to the middle of the 20th century, is currently booming. It is a discipline that tackles the processes involved in the learning of older people. It is crucial to note that older people acquire knowledge in a very different way from younger people. 

First of all, in order to teach older people effectively and comfortably, they need to be provided with the right conditions. There are many people with reduced mobility or disabilities among seniors, so any courses or training for this age group must be organised in venues adapted to it. Many seniors will not want to learn in a location that restricts their freedom of movement –  it might even demotivate or frustrate even highly motivated individuals. 

Secondly, research shows that older people who are just beginning to explore a subject prefer more structured and traditional forms of learning. Marlena Killian points out that seniors’ favourite teaching method is… lectures. In other words, the form of teaching that children and young adults dislike the most! In addition, it is worth noting that older people, once they have reached a certain level of knowledge, are open to other types of learning, such as practical exercises – field trips, role plays or other – activities that teenage pupils are usually more reluctant to engage in. 

For all students in general, even if the topics of classes must strictly relate to a specific field, it is important that they also have some connection to students’ personal experiences. Elderly individuals are no different. For instance, they are keen to participate in conversations when they become engrossed in topics central to their interests, like:

• keeping up with the modern world,
• technological progress,
• remembering the past,
• loneliness,
• death,
• family,
• religious and philosophical issues,
• finances,
• illnesses.

For older people, it is important to acquire knowledge in the right order, in a simple and logical way. The more difficult the problem, the more important it is to explain it sequentially: start with the most basic, known, and elementary aspects, then the more challenging ones, up to the most complicated issues. Research shows that teaching older people must not be too fast-paced and should be limited to only the information that is needed, avoiding convoluted terminology. More importantly, older people are often very emotional about their own learning progress and are constantly judging themselves, so they often need positive reinforcement from the teacher. 

Teaching older people – an exceptional job

Articles on geragogy highlight the important issue of taking an individual approach to each group that is being taught. Whether dealing with young people or seniors, generalising and using rigid teaching methods is always risky. In the case of older people, particular care must be taken. The advanced age of students means a wide variety of their life experiences, as well as different levels of their knowledge and learning habits. Nonetheless, Marlena Killian outlines a few principles – guidelines – that can help make teaching seniors effective: 

• the principle of individualisation (older people are the most heterogeneous group of learners, and this should be remembered when planning lessons, adjusting the difficulty of individual tasks and choosing the way in which knowledge is delivered),
• the principle of compensation (the methodology of the activity must be adapted to the psycho-physical conditions of the participants),
• the principle of activation (at an advanced age, working methods that allow for independent recognition rather than passive acquisition are more effective), 
• the principle of self-direction in the learning process (it should be remembered that adults, especially older people, are used to self-directing their lives, so they should be allowed to make collective decisions and direct their own learning process),
• the principle of using life experience (older people like to see the practical application of the knowledge they are acquiring, and are also keen to draw on their own, usually very rich experience),
• the principle of usability of the acquisition of knowledge and skills (it is important that seniors identify their learning objectives and are able to link the successive stages of knowledge acquisition with them),
• the principle of positive satisfaction (many seniors are very insecure about learning, they are often afraid of criticism and need positive reinforcement by emphasising the importance of small successes, but it is important that seniors do not feel praised too much),
• the principle of inclusion, (the chance to make new friends is a motivating factor for many older people, so the teacher should encourage participants to socialise, e.g. by organising more tasks to be done in pairs or a group),
• the principle of mutual respect (in any age group, this principle is one of the most important, but in the case of older people, it is crucial, as participants will not achieve the intended learning outcomes if they do not feel respected.

According to research in this area of pedagogy, educating seniors poses an unusual difficulty, since older learners are not only capable of learning but also highly demanding, particularly of themselves. They want to learn and they want to listen, as demonstrated by their preferred learning method, a lecture. They enjoy well-organised and planned work and traditional teaching methods but are also keen to participate in practical exercises and discussions, especially if these are related to topics that affect them personally. 

Finally, it is worth mentioning another very important aspect of teaching older people. In the learning of seniors, many issues are linked to strong emotions, including the question of the end of a particular course or training. As Marlena Killian reports, this is a time when many people lose their loved ones, whether family members or friends, and some experience their own illness or the impending end of life. Therefore, parting with a group of peers or a teacher can be perceived as another goodbye and be a cause for sadness. In such case, the focus of older people’s tutors must not only be on teaching, but also on encouraging their students to continue to interact with other participants and to remain in contact with them after the course has ended. 

Sources:

1. Marlena Kilian, Methodological Aspects of Education of Older Adults. Basic Instructions and Principles, https://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media/files/Forum_Pedagogiczne/Forum_Pedagogiczne-r2015-t1/Forum_Pedagogiczne-r2015-t1-s171-185/Forum_Pedagogiczne-r2015-t1-s171-185.pdf.
2. Małgorzata Halicka, Jerzy Halicki, Selected Aspects of Ageing in Research and Educational Practice, [in:] Pedagogika społeczna no. 2(64). 
3. Statistics Poland, The situation of older people in Poland https://stat.gov.pl/files/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/6002/2/4/1/sytuacja_osob_starszych_w_polsce_w_2021_r.pdf