The end of retirement as we have known it

Findsen, B. & Formosa, M: Lifelong learning in later life: A handbook on older adult learning. The Netherlands: Sense Publishers, 2011. €44

This book is a welcome addition to the activities celebrating the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity Between Generations.

The book’s prime objective is to critically examine conventional knowledge about why, what and how older people learn- Helena Dalli

A focus on the interface between ageing and learning is long overdue, especially when one realises retirement has become an exciting phase.

Contemporary retirees are not the pensioners of yesteryear who seemed content to spend their retirement passively. Now, many older adults are engaged in both part-time work and voluntary activities, and in formal, non-formal and informal learning ventures.

Lifelong learning in later lifeprovides the reader with awell-organised overview of information – research, theory, and analysis – about older adult learning within an international context.

Findsen and Formosa are leading scholars in adult learning and social gerontology respectively, and complement each other excellently to bring a most interesting perspective to the ‘democratisation of learning’.

The handbook connects the reader to the disciplines of education, sociology, and psychology in understanding the phenomena of third – and fourth-age learning. It contains good discussions on social patterns in late-life learning. It in-cludes a detailed account of the de-velopment of the field of educational gerontology, motivation and participation patterns of older adult learners, and the range of learning programmes available to older adults.

Lifelong learning in later life is an essential handbook for people who work alongside older adults, bringing together both orthodox approa-ches to educational gerontology as well as innovative perspectives on important emerging issues faced by senior citizens around the globe.

This book is not a ‘how to’ manual of how to work effectively with older people for learning purposes. Rather, its prime objective is to critically examine conventional knowledge about why, what and how older people learn. It springs from a desire to benchmark previous work, to explore new territories of learning in later life, to pose further critical questions on the significance of later life learning in formal, non-formal and informal settings.

This resource is useful tothe educator who wishes to be-come informed of gerontologicaltheory and research, and conversely, it serves as an excellent overview of learning theory in a gerontological framework.