Learners of the future: preparing a policy for the third age

This paper deals with educational policy for older adults. Social and demographic trends have led to the setting up of the Carnegie Inquiry into the Third Age, a large‐scale piece of policy research. This is generating substantial policy interest in the lives of those aged 50, and the authors have been responsible for one of the Inquiry's major studies, on learning. The study covers formal and informal education and training.

The paper gives a brief overview of the current situation in respect of the education of older adults; provides a framework for further policy analysis, and concludes with a list of policy options. In particular the authors argue for the development of a ‘social economy of the third age’, which would account for and value the skills of older adults.