1 October 2007 - 31 March 2008
The Maths ICT and Older Learners development project (Never too old!) was commissioned by DIUS and ran between October 2007 and April 2008.
It arose from interest at a policy level about the potential of educational programmes to support the employment of older people (50 and above), and in particular, Maths and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies).
Remit
The project's objectives were to identify factors that are influential in helping older learners develop their skills in Mathematics and ICT, and by doing so improve their social inclusion and employability. The project thus had a number of overlapping foci:
- barriers to employment for older people
- the Maths and ICT skills of older people
- attitudes towards engagement in existing Maths and ICT provision by older people
- progression and achievement delivered by such provision for older people, and
- the potential for barriers to either or both of Maths and ICT to be overcome by combining them together and with other subjects of learning, such as financial literacy.
Outcomes
The main conclusions of the project were:
- there are very few examples of provision for older learners that combine Maths and ICT
- older Learners are still marginalised in practice by the systems for provision, in spite of their importance in policy on the economy and social inclusion
- ICT provision is a popular hook for increased participation by older people in learning in other subjects
- older people are interested in courses in topics such as Financial Literacy or Healthy Living that involve ‘mathematical thinking', but are not attracted by Maths courses per se
- the concept of ‘employability' as an objective of learning should be broadened to include the various kinds of temporary, part-time and voluntary work, including caring for relatives and friends, through which very many older people already contribute significantly to the economy
- older learners, particularly those less well-qualified, are usually put off gateway learning opportunities if formal qualifications are required
Download Final Report of the Maths, ICT and Older Learners Project