What does Life Competence 50+ mean?
Life Competence 50+ has been working with the problem of ‘lifelong learning’.
A basic, common outlook has been that we need to cater for the individual’s ability to develop throughout a working life and make the most of the individual’s resources. The belief that individuals have many different skills and that they develop their Life Competence throughout their life has been a guiding principle in the work to develop a model for Lifelong Learning, which takes into consideration the total life experience, values and skills of the individual.
The basic outlook according to which we have worked in these projects has meant that we have created a new model for Life Competence analysis, which in turn can be connected to a validation process, which then lands in models for Work-Integrated Learning.
The model for Life Competence analysis that we have tested in different contexts is both age and gender neutral and has shown good results with regards to highlighting knowledge gained through working. Through validation, it is then possible to tailor individually adapted training.
Our educational idea!
The attitude of the 50+ towards opportunities to change the focus of their work in their occupational capacity is considerably more negative than that of younger people and their self-confidence is ravaged by society’s attitude to the 50+. Generally speaking, the 50+ are also less interested in computers. They do however have a greater life competence (naturally enough) and show more frequently a surprising attitude to the fact that there are skills that they have either forgotten or not considered, which are useful on the job market.
A sub-goal has been to relate the training efforts in a work-integrated learning process to benefits both for the individual and the organisation/workplace. We have found here that both individuals and companies/organisations can benefit.
The benefits of work-integrated learning can be seen from the individual’s perspective as:
- Confirmed, actual skills
- Shortened study time
- Opportunity to want to and have the energy to carry on working increases
- Employability increases
The benefits from the employer’s perspective can be that:
- Company gains higher-level skills without incurring large costs
- Continuity in development efforts
- Make better use of jobseekers and those away from work due to illness
Conclusion
The work based on a model that maps an individual’s entire Life Competence to then validate the parts of the person’s skills that have previously been informal and finally tailor a Training Programme to give the individual the chance to remain in work as long as he or she can and wants to, has shown good results. The around fifty people, who so far have gone through life competence analyses have become aware of their possibilities and have also gained a strengthened self-confidence, which in turn has led to increased motivation to take up new challenges and change their work situation.
Strategic skill maintenance
For more information please contact one our our development partners.
