Silver Age Silver Sage Initiative – Working On Erasmus Project

Project Title

Silver Age Silver Sage Initiative – Working On

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

As life expectancy in the EU increases, people face lengthy periods of retirement with proportionally less pension provision, unless they stay economically active for longer. Longer working lives raises key challenges both for employers and for prospective older workers.

The concepts and practices of career counselling are today transforming from the traditional way of comparing working life and job requirements to an individuals’ skills and dispositions, towards a focus on developing and enhancing the individual’s relationship with working life as a whole and in the context of their life course. This is particularly relevant in Later-Life Careers.

SASSI-Working On addressed the challenge of ‘Working On’ by developing and testing age-sensitive and ‘working-life’ approaches to career review and guidance. It did this within the context of Continuing VET (C-VET) and meeting the needs of older people (aged 50+) who have to or want to keep ‘Working On’ into their 60s, 70s+.

Recognising an acute lack of Later-life Career Review and Guidance across the EU, the Partners developed and piloted an innovative training programme for C-VET professionals, HR Managers and career management professionals, career coaches, and advice and guidance professionals on how to promote and support “Career Pathways for Longer Working Lives”.

It included:
– Providing C-VET professionals, HR Managers and career coaches (direct target group) with action-orientated methods for Later-life Career Review, Advice and Guidance
– Promoting Career Revitalisation Pathways, including the participation of older workers in learning and innovative work-experiences in order to maintain their workability and sustain motivation/productivity
– Developing practical online tools and products to support the delivery of these approaches
– Encouraging workplace mobility for older workers, ‘unretirees’ and job seekers through short-term secondment, sabbaticals and volunteering activities
– Championing the value of trainers and older people gaining work experiences in other countries in order to improve intercultural understanding, language skills and engender more active participation in European society.

The professional competence of C-VET providers, HR Managers, and career coaches was demonstrably enhanced by the attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary to apply the “SASSI-Working On” approach. Recognising that competences are most effectively developed using action-oriented and productive methods, learning was cascaded and applied through Learning Projects. These were also the vehicle for the validation of competences in the effective provision of Later-life Guidance and Careers Advice through LEVEL5, a proven methodology for validating personal competences acquired in non-formal learning.

The core of the project is a Methodological Framework including a Blended Learning course, learning modules and resources. The methods were tested and refined through a 3 phase piloting process involving 15 staff trainers (from partner organisations), who cascaded their learning to 41 C-VET/HR/careers guidance professionals through Learning Projects and who, in turn, applied the methods with 54 older workers, ‘unretirees’ and job seekers/changers.

Tactics included:
a) promoting work experience for later life career review and planning to test and evaluate the impact of these on revitalising and re-motivating older workers.
b) Providing guidance to employers on deploying Career Management in flatter, more matrixed organisations and with an ageing workforce.
c) creating a repository of tools, case studies and resources for use by C-VET providers, HR Managers and career coaches

The products developed and shared by SASSI-Working On are:
– ‘Career Pathways for Longer Working Lives’: Methodology and Resources
– An Ambassadors Manual
– An Employers Guide
– A Toolbox of Resources
– An Experience and Recommendations Report

Including the project staff from the Consortium, a Virtual Final Conference, multiplier events and the successful piloting activities, a total of 397 participants were involved in the project, ensuring widespread impact.

These Outputs are all available via the SASSI-Working On HUB. They have been designed to make it easy for C-VET professionals to apply the methods and approaches in different C-VET contexts.

The sustainability and exploitation of our outputs is ensured; not only by the commitment of the partners to continue using the products in our own organisations, but by engaging a wide range of stakeholders; C-VET providers, advice and guidance organisations, employers, HR managers, Line Managers with people management responsibilities in the successful piloting of the products and through our dissemination and engagement activities.

The SASSI-Working On partnership consisted of seven experienced C-VET providers and HR consultancies from Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Portugal and Belgium.

Project Website

http://www.sassi-workingon.net

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 298843,7 Eur

Project Coordinator

APRICOT TRAINING MANAGEMENT LTD & Country: UK

Project Partners

• BUPNET BILDUNG UND PROJEKT NETZWERKGMBH
• INOVA+ – INNOVATION SERVICES, SA
• BLENDED LEARNING INSTITUTIONS COOPERATIVE
• DIE BERATER UNTERNEHMENSBERATUNGS GESELLSCHAFT MBH
• TRENDHUIS
• Centrum vzdelávania neziskových organizácií