Late adulthood marks a turning point in lifelong learning. As people approach retirement, they reassess their roles, identities and capacities to keep learning, even as participation rates decline and skills risk becoming obsolete. This chapter examines how education systems can help older adults remain confident, employable and engaged learners – by creating opportunities that value experience, support transitions and promote inclusive, age-friendly workplaces. Drawing on international evidence, OECD data and policy approaches from 19 education systems, it analyses the strategic choices that support the will, skills and means for learning in later life and offers practical insights for policymakers.
Education Policy Outlook 2025
Nurturing Engaged and Resilient Lifelong Learners in a World of Digital Transformation
Abstract
Supporting learners approaching retirement
As working lives extend, supporting learning in later life has become a central policy challenge. Adults approaching retirement (around ages 55–65) consistently show lower participation in adult learning and training than younger age groups. OECD PIAAC data show that only about 26% of adults aged 55–65 report participating in job-related formal, non-formal or informal education and training within the past 12 months. Engaging this group in learning is critical both to sustaining productivity and to supporting health, well-being, and inclusion in ageing societies.
Learning in later life is not only about employability – it is also about identity, purpose and connection. Policy interventions can help late-career individuals reaffirm their identity as lifelong learners. By doing so, older adults can continue to contribute meaningfully to the workforce and to society, both before and after retirement. Analysis of 35 policy approaches from OECD and partner countries highlights some common trends shaping policy design in this age group to support their will, skills, and means:
Will: Strengthening older learners’ motivation to remain active (e.g. China, Japan, Lithuania, Türkiye, England (United Kingdom)); encouraging employers to invest in older workers’ learning and retention (e.g. Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, United States).
Skills: Promoting upskilling and reskilling (e.g. Czechia, Estonia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden); advancing digital inclusion and adaptability (e.g. German-speaking Community (Belgium), China, Germany, Latvia, Poland).
Means: Expanding access and participation (e.g. Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovak Republic, Türkiye); fostering equity and age-friendly workplaces (e.g. Norway, Poland, Slovenia, United States).
Recent efforts to support learning in later life show promising trends. Many policies combine financial incentives, workplace learning and guidance with initiatives to strengthen motivation and agency. The growing use of modular, short-cycle and work-integrated formats suggest recognition of older adults’ diverse circumstances and needs. Broad national coverage and layered support for workers and employers signal political commitment to embedding lifelong learning within ageing and employment strategies.
Despite this progress, most policies still focus mainly on participation and employability. Fewer address the recognition of prior experience, tackle age bias in recruitment and training, or make explicit links between learning, health, and well-being. Limited data on adults aged 65+ and uneven evaluation frameworks further constrain the evidence base.
Moving forward, governments should strengthen recognition systems, promote age-inclusive workplaces, and connect education, labour, health, and social policies through coordinated national and local action. Framing lifelong learning as an investment in well-being, resilience and social cohesion can help societies turn longevity into opportunity.
Adults approaching retirement, typically aged around 55 to 65, experience a decisive moment in their lifelong-learning journeys. Unlike earlier stages, this period is marked by the lowest levels of participation in education and training, even as the risks of skill depreciation and labour-market exclusion increase (OECD, 2024[1]; OECD, 2025[2]).
Recent data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) show that adults aged 55-65 participate in adult learning less than all other age groups (see Figure 5.1). On average across OECD countries, only 26% of individuals in this age group reported taking part in job-related formal, non-formal, or informal education and training within the past year, compared to 51% of early career adults (OECD, 2025[3]). The widest gaps between younger and older adults are observed in Canada, Chile and Singapore, while Japan, Korea and New Zealand show relatively smaller differences. Overall, English-speaking and Nordic countries tend to report the highest levels of older adult participation (OECD, 2024[4]).
Difference in participation rates in job-related adult learning by age groups, in per cent
Note: Adults aged 25-65; job-related adult learning refers to formal, non-formal and informal education and training undertaken for the purpose of acquiring skills for a current or future job in the last 12 months before the PIAAC 2024 Cycle 2 survey. OECD average is an unweighted average of all participating member countries.
Source: OECD (2024[4]), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en; OECD (2025[3]), Trends in Adult Learning: New Data from the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, Getting Skills Right, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ec0624a6-en.
Additional evidence from the Employment Outlook shows that older workers (55-65) are seven percentage points less likely to participate in training and 14 percentage points less likely to engage in learning-by-doing than younger adults (25-34) with similar education and occupational profiles (OECD, 2025[5]). These gaps reflect a both structural barriers (e.g. in terms of cost, time constraints and accessibility) and perceived benefits, such as lower expected returns on training investments later in life (OECD, 2025[2]; OECD, 2025[3]). These perceptions can reinforce a self-perpetuating cycle of under-investment in training and accelerating skill obsolescence (Picchio, 2021[6]).
PIAAC data show that proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving is lower among older adults, scoring lowest across all domains (see Figure 5.2) (OECD, 2024[4]). These patterns, consistent across cohorts and survey cycles (2012-15 and 2023), are especially pronounced among adults with lower levels of education, reflecting changing work environments and opportunities to use and update skills across the life course (OECD, 2025[2]).
Average mean score in literacy proficiency, by age group
Note: The results are represented on a 500-point scale. To help interpret the results, the reporting scales have been divided into “proficiency levels”: Level 1 ≥ 176 points, Level 2 ≥ 226 points, Level 3 ≥ 276 points, Level 4 ≥ 326 points, Level 5 ≥ 376 points.
Source: OECD (2024[4]), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en.
Skill proficiency and participation in adult learning are closely connected. On average, 26% of adults with low literacy proficiency (Level 1 or below) engage in adult learning, compared with 70% of adults at Level 4 or above (OECD, 2024[4]). This makes highly proficient adults more than 2.5 times as likely to participate in formal and/or non-formal education and training. However, adults approaching retirement represent the highest share of adults with low performance, struggling with basic written information, mathematical operations, and everyday problem-solving tasks (see Figure 5.3).
While some decline in cognitive performance is natural, falling proficiency among older adults also reflects fewer opportunities to apply and update skills over the life course (OECD, 2025[2]). Rapid technological change further intensifies this problem, and digital and technical skills depreciate more quickly than in the past (Kim and Park, 2020[7]). This resulting mismatch between demand for fast evolving skills and limited opportunities for reskilling at this age puts older workers – especially the older, less-educated workers in lower-paying, lower-skill jobs – at greater risk of losing their jobs, experiencing income insecurity, and disengaging socially (OECD, 2025[3]). Paradoxically, those most in need of reskilling are often least able to access it. This shows the importance for policymakers of designing policies that combine aspects such as financial incentives, guidance, recognition of prior learning, or employer engagement to help reverse this cycle of low participation and low proficiency.
To support policymakers, this chapter analyses 35 policy approaches from 19 education systems targeting adults aged 55 to 65 based on the Education Policy Outlook questionnaire (See Annex 5.A) and complementary analysis of international evidence to support them as lifelong learners. Where relevant, the chapter also highlights differences from mid-career adults and concludes with some key considerations for future policy development.
Percentage of low performers (scoring at Level 1 or below) in literacy proficiency, by age group
Note: Literacy proficiency level at or below Level 1 (Level 1 ≥ 176 points) indicates difficulty with basic written information.
Source: OECD (2024[4]), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, , https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en.
As societies age and working lives extend, enabling older adults to remain active and confident learners has become a central policy priority (OECD, 2022[8]). Besides the many shared elements and policy priorities between late- and mid-career adults, some key priorities specific to adults approaching retirement emerge from international evidence. These insights focus on two complementary levels of action: supporting the learner and strengthening the system.
Focusing on learners
Older adults benefit most from flexible learning opportunities that recognise their diverse experiences and motivations. Evidence shows that self-paced, job-related and work-integrated training is particularly effective (Picchio, 2021[6]). Short, modular, and focused courses aligned with everyday tasks can help enhance both their accessibility and perceived relevance (OECD, 2025[5]; Schirmer et al., 2022[9]).
However, many older workers remain uncertain about the returns to training, which can discourage participation. Targeted incentives, such as subsidies, vouchers, or paid training leave, can help offset direct and opportunity costs. These measures can change perceptions of value and strengthen individual choice and ownership (OECD, 2025[5]). Trade unions and collective bargaining can act as important enablers, helping older workers navigate opportunities and overcome barriers to participation. They do so by negotiating time off for learning, protecting wages or income during training periods, and providing information, advice and guidance that link learners to suitable providers (OECD, 2025[3]).
Addressing motivational and psychological barriers is equally important. Some adults may underestimate their learning capacity or perceive limited labour-market rewards for upskilling. Others may overestimate their current skills’ levels and be unaware of how quickly those skills may become outdated. Communication campaigns can shift these perceptions by emphasising the wider benefits of learning for employability, well-being and engagement in later life (OECD, 2019[10]; OECD, 2025[3]). Entry-level digital training, career guidance, and recognition of prior learning (RPL) can be especially valuable to lower entry barriers, rebuild confidence, and validate skills acquired informally over a lifetime (OECD, 2019[10]; OECD, 2025[5]). Without such recognition, experienced workers risk disengagement despite rich professional knowledge (OECD, 2025[5]).
Taken together, learner-focused measures should aim not only to increase participation but to reframe learning as a source of empowerment, fulfilment and relevance.
Focusing on the system
A coherent system approach is also needed to make late-career learning accessible, relevant and integrated into broader ageing and employment strategies. Flexible, modular and stackable formats, such as micro-credentials, allow older adults to acquire skills incrementally, without the commitment required by longer programmes (OECD, 2023[11]; OECD, 2025[5]). Embedding these within national qualification frameworks can help enhance their recognition and portability, which can also facilitate smoother transitions between jobs or into retirement.
Employer practices are decisive. Age-inclusive human-resource policies – from recruitment and retention to career progression – can counter exclusion and ageism, fostering age-friendly workplaces where lifelong learning is part of the organisational culture (Wilckens et al., 2020[12]; OECD, 2019[10]; OECD, 2025[5]). In several countries, social-partner governance structures, such as tripartite agreements, help ensure that age-inclusive measures are embedded in workplace training and lifelong-learning strategies. Financial incentives for employers, such as tax benefits, subsidies or levy schemes, can further encourage investment in older workers (OECD, 2025[5]), while more indirect measures, such as phased retirement, can also strengthen firms’ incentives to invest in older workers’ skills (OECD, 2019[10]).
Outreach and coordination strategies also remain essential. Public Employment Services (PES), social partners, and local community organisations, can help older adults identify skill gaps and re-enter employment pathways (OECD, 2025[5]). The Later Life Workplace Index underlines that organisational practices in leadership, health management, knowledge transfer, and retirement transitions all reinforce the learning capacity and well-being of ageing workforces (Wilckens et al., 2020[12]).
When combined, these learner- and system-level approaches foster age-friendly, inclusive lifelong-learning ecosystems that sustain employability and smooth transitions into retirement and support active and healthy ageing and foster social participation.
The examples collected for this report show some alignment between international evidence and current policy efforts targeting older adults in participating countries and economies. This chapter explores these initiatives, first by looking into overall strategic design choices for these policies (e.g. mechanisms, scope, actors, resources and tools) to provide a system-level view of how different design choices and delivery arrangements shape implementation capacity. It then groups initiatives by policy aims under will, skills and means, allowing policymakers to see how different strategies aim to motivate adults, develop relevant competencies and expand accessible learning opportunities, and where stronger coordination across these dimensions could make lifelong-learning systems more coherent and effective. These elements are explored in Infographic 5.1.
Most common approaches identified according to policy aim (selected categories)
Note: See Annex 5.A for a more complete view on the policies included in this chapter.
Source: Education Policy Outlook (2025): National Questionnaire for Comparative Policy Analysis: Nurturing Engaged and Resilient Lifelong Learners in a World of Digital Transformation.
Strategic design choices in lifelong-learning policies for adults approaching retirement
This section analyses how countries design policies to sustain learning, employability and social participation in later life. It reviews policy aims, mechanisms and actions, scope and timeline, and actors, highlighting how design choices can align lifelong learning with active-ageing and well-being strategies during this life stage, with benefits extending into older age.
Lifelong-learning strategies for adults approaching retirement build on the same foundations as those for mid-career adults (i.e. flexibility, accessibility and agency) but adapt them to the specific challenges of ageing workforces. As people live and work longer, policy attention is shifting from short-term flexibility towards sustaining employability, purpose and participation throughout later life.
National strategies increasingly seek to balance labour market goals such as productivity, retention and re-employment with broader dimensions of well-being, inclusion, and active ageing. In doing so, countries are beginning to integrate lifelong learning more explicitly into employment, social protection, and health agendas, to help opportunities to learn remain relevant across the span of working life and beyond.
Emerging approaches appear to view learning not only as a means to maintain competitiveness, but also as an investment in resilience, cohesion and intergenerational solidarity, with a focus on helping societies turn longevity into opportunity.
Aims
As in mid-career, access and participation objectives remain core aims, while late-career learning increasingly broadens its purpose beyond professional advancement to include personal enrichment, social engagement, and well-being. Policy strategies seek to lower cost, time and motivational barriers through vouchers, subsidies, modular courses and community learning hubs, recognising the diverse aspirations and capacities of older learners. Some initiatives aim to strengthen older learners’ motivation and agency while others encourage employers to invest in lifelong-learning opportunities for older workers.
A growing number of strategies also connect upskilling and reskilling with active-ageing and employment agendas to sustain participation and income security in the labour market. This reflects a shift from promoting flexibility alone to sustaining engagement in the face of skill obsolescence and demographic ageing (OECD, 2025[5]).
A further prominent aim is to promote equity and age-friendly workplaces. Compared with mid-career initiatives, these measures place greater emphasis on organisational culture change and supportive environments that help late-career adults remain active, valued and productive. At the same time, inclusion objectives increasingly extend beyond employment to encompass digital participation and well-being, and to help mitigate digital divides that risk reinforcing social exclusion. In doing so, governments are reframing late-career learning not only as an economic necessity but also as a foundation for dignity, autonomy and civic participation in ageing societies.
Mechanisms and actions
Translating policy ambition into effective delivery mechanisms remains key to sustaining lifelong learning throughout adulthood. While the overall policy architecture resembles that observed at mid-career, several distinct shifts emerge. Late-career mechanisms place greater emphasis on retention, re-employment and motivation, in order to respond to older adults’ specific barriers such as lower perceived returns, time constraints and declining confidence (Kim and Park, 2020[7]; OECD, 2025[5]; OECD, 2025[3]).
Across systems, four complementary mechanisms stand out:
Financial support and incentives. Vouchers, subsidies, tax incentives and paid training leave remain the primary levers, but their role increasingly extends beyond encouraging participation to sustaining retention and re-employment. In the Netherlands, training vouchers give older workers choice in learning provision. Sweden offers tax relief and reduced social contributions for workers aged 65 and over, while Austria’s Come Back hiring subsidy reimburses employers that recruit older adults. These measures seek to reduce both direct and opportunity costs, reward firms that retain and re-skill older staff, and foster learners’ autonomy.
Structural flexibility and recognition. Mechanisms promoting flexible, modular and relevant learning remain central, while they focus more on accessibility and relevance rather than progression (Picchio, 2021[6]). Examples include short, modular, and stackable training (Estonia, England (United Kingdom)), higher education offers (Lithuania, Türkiye, United States), and blended learning platforms (China, Poland, Slovenia). Recognition of prior learning in Estonia and the Netherlands are also efforts to validate informal and experiential skills, strengthening confidence and mobility later in life.
Employer engagement and age-inclusive workplaces. In contrast to mid-career measures where employer engagement centres on aligning skills supply with demand, late-career employer mechanisms prioritise retention, knowledge transfer, and inclusive human resources (HR) systems (OECD, 2025[5]; Cedefop and Kankaraš, 2022[13]). Policies such as Norway’s tripartite Inclusive Workplace Agreement, the United States’ American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Employer Pledge, Slovenia’s company-level age-management strategies, and Japan’s phased retirement schemes, promote mentoring, flexible hours and gradual transitions between full-time and part-time roles. These mechanisms seek to connect human-resource reform and learning, shifting responsibility for motivation from individuals to systems.
Guidance and community anchors. Behavioural factors, such as low confidence and motivation, weigh more heavily in late careers (Paccagnella, 2016[14]). Guidance, outreach and advisory services help address information gaps, connect older adults to opportunities, validate prior learning, and create social pathways back into learning. England (United Kingdom)’s 50 PLUS Choices programme offers finances, skills and health support through initiatives like the Mid-Life MOT reviews delivered by Jobcentre Plus coaches, who direct jobseekers to relevant guidance and opportunities. The Netherlands’ complements voucher schemes with peer network sessions, while higher education institutions and local learning hubs in China (see Box 5.1), Germany, Lithuania, and Türkiye provide trusted and accessible entry points, contributing to reframe learning as an integral part of healthy ageing.
Beyond expanding provision, the effectiveness of late-career lifelong-learning reforms depends on ensuring that financial, structural and motivational levers operate coherently. Policies need to connect incentives for workers and employers with recognition of prior learning, age-inclusive HR practices and accessible guidance.
The Open University of China (OUC) established the University for Older Adults (UOA) to promote education for older adults to meet their diverse and individualised cultural and learning needs and to respond positively to population ageing. The UOA provides accessible and diverse learning opportunities for older adults to enhance well-being, social engagement and personal development, supporting China’s broader goals for active ageing and lifelong learning.
It operates through four main mechanisms: tailored course content; a national online platform linked to local learning centres; social interaction and peer support; and a specialised team for elderly education and services. Key actions include the development of online and blended learning content; training of facilitators; creation of local learning hubs. Digital courses are delivered through the OUC platform, while community learning centres host in-person activities.
Source: China’s response to the Education Policy Outlook (2025): National Pre-Filled Questionnaire for Comparative Policy Analysis: Nurturing Engaged and Resilient Lifelong Learners in a World of Digital Transformation
Scope and timeline
Across the policy initiatives analysed, scope (i.e. who it covers) and timeline (i.e. how long a policy runs) emerge as interconnected design choices.
Most of the policies analysed for this chapter operate at the national level and focus explicitly on adults aged 55 and above. More targeted approaches remain limited, particularly those addressing workers in precarious or non-standard employment. Many of these groups continue to be underrepresented in lifelong learning (OECD, 2025[3]).
A smaller number have a regional or institutional scope, such as Türkiye’s Sinop University initiative, while employer-based coverage appears only occasionally (e.g. Norway). Sweden has extended eligibility beyond age 66, reflecting longer working lives.
Although formal coverage is relatively homogeneous, operational targeting within this universal framing varies. Some countries delegate delivery to local employment services or sectoral partners, as in Poland and the Netherlands, to tailor implementation to regional labour market conditions. Others differentiate access by labour market status, targeting jobseekers or unemployed adults (Austria, the Netherlands, Poland), or focus on specific vulnerable groups, such as disabled adults or older workers in rural settings (China). Employer, or sector-specific routes, such as small- and medium-sized enterprise-focused (SME) measures in the Netherlands, can also help reach those less likely to engage through mainstream systems.
Timelines generally mirror scope. As for mid-career, broad national schemes tend to be permanent or multi-year (such as in the United States, see Box 5.2), and are often embedded within long-term national active ageing strategies and supported by stable funding. Several initiatives have scaled up from pilots into nationwide offers, such as the Netherlands’ Action Plan 50+ Works, or Sweden’s tax benefit scheme for older workers. In contrast, targeted and labour market-linked measures are more frequently time-limited, running in five-year cycles or aligned with budget periods. While fixed horizons allow for adaptation and flexibility to changing labour-market needs, they risk discontinuity if not institutionalised or sustained beyond funding cycles.
Late-career learning policies are predominantly national and multi-year in scope. They are often embedded in active-ageing strategies, with targeted or sector-specific initiatives that provide flexibility and innovation but risk discontinuity if not institutionalised.
The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is a community service and work-based job training programme for older Americans. Established in 1965 and incorporated under the Older Americans Act in 1973, it remains one of the longest running federally funded employment initiatives for older adults. Administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, SCSEP operates nationwide through annual Congressional appropriations.
The programme targets adults aged 55 and over with incomes below 125% of the federal poverty level, particularly those facing barriers to employment. It aims to enhance employability by providing paid community service positions, skill development, and pathways to unsubsidised employment.
SCSEP operates through five pillars: enrolment of eligible participants; placement with community service host organisations; individual employment plans; supportive services and training; and transition support to unsubsidised jobs. Participants gain both digital and non-digital skills through in-person placements and online modules, with additional employment assistance offered through American Job Centres.
Source: United States Department of Labour (n.d.[15]), Senior Community Service Employment Program, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/seniors, accessed 20 October 2025.
Range of actors typically involved
Countries differ in how they distribute responsibilities for late-career learning depending on their governance traditions and institutional capacities. A wide ecosystem of actors contributes to design and delivery, which reflects the close link between lifelong learning, labour-market participation and active-ageing strategies. While many of these actors also play central roles in mid-career learning (including tripartite governance models and union participation, as in Chapter 4), their functions evolve as learning becomes increasingly tied to employability, well-being and social participation in later life.
Government ministries and agencies. Core leadership generally lies with ministries of labour, education and social affairs, supported by specialised governmental agencies and funding bodies. Public employment service (PES) and training agencies are central to implementation, as illustrated by Austria’s Public Employment Service (AMS) and Estonia’s Unemployment Insurance Fund. These institutions act as gateways connecting older adults to employment opportunities, guidance and training offers, and they are frequently the first point of contact for unemployed or transitioning workers.
Employers and social partners. Tripartite arrangements, as Norway’s Inclusive Workplace Agreement and the Netherlands’ sectoral pathways, mobilise governments, unions and employer organisations to co-design and co-finance learning. In Slovenia and the United States, employer-led initiatives encourage age-inclusive hiring, mentoring, and workplace training, also in the effort to reinforce motivation and retention.
Education and training institutions. Universities, vocational education and training (VET) providers and community learning centres are key delivery actors, particularly where learning extends beyond work-based settings. In China, Lithuania, and Türkiye, universities of the third age combine education, digital inclusion, and intergenerational exchange, to make learning accessible in later life. In Poland and the German-speaking community of Belgium (see Box 5.3), community-based initiatives and digital outreach programmes seek to widen access and strengthen the social dimension of lifelong learning.
As societies age, policy design for adults approaching retirement requires coordinated action across ministries, employers, and community actors. Beyond delivering learning opportunities, collaboration among these actors is essential to strengthen the social dimension of lifelong learning – ensuring that older adults remain included, connected, and able to participate fully in economic and civic life. This can help build a culture of inclusive lifelong learning that extends into retirement, supporting both individual and societal resilience.
The Digital Strategy of the German-speaking Community provides orientation and impetus for digital development. Covering the period 2025-2029, it promotes digital competencies at all levels, participatory involvement, individual autonomy, efficiency, co-operation, and value-driven innovation to strengthen infrastructure, competencies, administration, the economy and an equitable digital society.
Implementation is led by the Ministry of the German-speaking Community in collaboration with stakeholders from the education system, business, and civil society. Public administration, transport, educational, cultural and health institutions, as well as associations, benefit from new infrastructures and digital services. Partnerships with local authorities, professional sectors and community organisations seek to support skills development, digital inclusion and citizen engagement.
The strategy marks the start of a broad digital dialogue involving the population, public bodies, businesses and civil society, gathering ideas and proposals across five key areas: infrastructure, competencies, administration, business development and an equitable digital society.
Source: German-speaking Community of Belgium’s response to the Education Policy Outlook (2025): National Pre-Filled Questionnaire for Comparative Policy Analysis: Nurturing Engaged and Resilient Lifelong Learners in a World of Digital Transformation; Ostbelgien (2025[16]), Digitalstrategie der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft, https://ostbelgienlive.be/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-8057/13115_read-72149, accessed 20 October 2025.
The following sections build on this analysis by looking more closely at how countries combine these components within specific policy aims. Organised around the three lifelong-learning dimensions (will, skills and means) they highlight how different systems prioritise and connect these aims to support adults’ sustained engagement in learning as adults approach retirement.
Fostering will for lifelong learning
As working lives extend and retirement ages rise, sustaining older adults’ motivation to learn has become a cornerstone of lifelong-learning policy. This stage of life often brings shifting priorities, including declining confidence and uncertainty about the value of further training. Yet evidence shows that nurturing the attitudes and dispositions that motivate adults to learn, grounded in curiosity, confidence and purpose, can help individuals stay active, adaptable and engaged, both in work and beyond (OECD, 2019[10]; OECD, 2025[5]).
Across systems, few policies targeting this age group place will (i.e. the attitudes and dispositions that motivate adults to learn) at the centre of design. Most continue to prioritise skills and means, treating motivation as an enabling condition, or desirable by-product, rather than a policy lever in its own right. As a result, will is often nurtured indirectly through opportunities, incentives and supportive environments rather than being operationalised as an explicit objective.
Where will is prioritised, approaches are typically learner-centred, aimed at rebuilding confidence, self-efficacy and purpose through guided reflection and community-based learning. A smaller set of policies seek to motivate employers to invest in the learning and retention of older workers. In Slovenia, this involves reframing later-life learning as a source of empowerment and relevance by supporting firms to embed mentoring, awareness-raising and age-inclusive HR practices.
The main challenge for policymakers lies in bringing motivation from the margins to the mainstream of lifelong-learning design. While relational mechanisms such as mentoring, reflection and community engagement deepen learners’ connection to learning, embedding explicit motivational objectives within programmes for access, reskilling or active ageing could make will a measurable and sustained policy outcome.
The following sections examine how this motivational dimension unfolds both through learner-focused initiatives that re-engage individuals, and employer-focused measures that embed learning motivation within organisational culture and practice.
Strengthening older learners’ motivation to remain active
Policy approaches that explicitly aim to strengthen motivation for older learners are learner-centred by design, emphasising confidence, curiosity and purpose as drivers of engagement. They reflect growing recognition that sustaining lifelong learning in later life requires more than access or affordability. Older adults often face reduced self-belief, perceived limited returns, or entrenched “no-need-to-learn” mindsets, thus also depends on the capacity of systems to rebuild a sense of purpose and relevance (OECD, 2025[5]). These initiatives are often voluntary, community-based, and framed as part of active ageing and well-being.
Examples include China, Germany, Lithuania, Türkiye, and the United States, which established third age universities or learning centres for senior learners with the aim of normalising learning for adults approaching retirement and foster ownership of one’s learning journey. These higher education institutions offer flexible, interest-based courses that encourage curiosity and confidence while cultivating growth-oriented mindsets among senior learners.
Other initiatives include the Mid-Life MOT initiative in England (United Kingdom), which offers structured reflection and planning for health, work and financial security in later life, and Poland’s Active+ Programme, which promotes social participation and digital inclusion, both creating supportive learning spaces that combine curiosity and confidence with guided engagement and community connection. The Netherlands’ Action Plan 50+ network training programme seeks to enhance self-efficacy and agency through structured workshops, peer-to-peer learning, positive reinforcement and building a growth mindset, empowering older adults to reframe learning and take active steps toward re-employment.
Mechanisms and actions: Policies tend to combine relational and flexible mechanisms (counselling, mentoring and reflection-based planning) with community-anchored or higher education provision (e.g. China, Lithuania, Türkiye, United States). Key delivery actions include short, modular or community-based formats (e.g. Netherlands, Poland).
Scope and timeline: Approaches typically operate under national frameworks with localised delivery through VET and HE providers and are sustained through multi-year or permanent strategies to maximise reach, visibility and predictability.
Main actors involved: Policies rely on close coordination between ministries, PES, guidance services and local institutional providers to ensure that older adults can reconnect with learning opportunities regardless of employment status. Employer partnerships feature in England (United Kingdom).
Relational, trust-based engagement can reframe learning as renewal rather than obligation. To sustain motivation, policies need stable coordination, long-term funding and explicit recognition of confidence and agency as learning outcomes.
Encouraging employers to invest in older workers’ learning and retention
A smaller set of policies treats will as a system-level responsibility, aiming to motivate employers to invest in learning and retention of older workers. These initiatives recognise that learning motivation in later life is shaped not only by individual confidence or opportunity, but also by workplace culture and organisational support, and later-life learning is seen as both empowerment and organisational renewal.
Examples include Slovenia’s Comprehensive Support for Companies for the Active Ageing of Employees programme, which helps firms embed mentoring, awareness-raising and HR development to create age-friendly, learning-oriented workplaces. Poland’s Employment Support for Workers Aged 50+ programme combines financial incentives with advisory services and outreach to encourage recruitment, retention and reskilling, strengthening motivation through inclusion and recognition. The Netherlands’ Incentive Scheme for Learning and Development (SLIM) encourages SMEs to provide modular, practice-based training and continuous professional development (CPD) in key sectors, while in the United States, the AARP Employer Pledge uses public commitment to promote age-inclusive hiring and support learning through mentoring and flexible arrangements. In England (United Kingdom), the 50 PLUS Choices strategy encourages employers to adopt age-inclusive practices by offering flexible work, retention support and development opportunities for workers aged 50 and over.
Together, these policies show how financial, advisory and normative approaches can align employer practices with active ageing goals and sustain motivation to learn in later working life.
Mechanisms and actions: Range from financial incentives, often as reimbursements, tax credits, or subsidies (e.g. Poland), to public pledges and awareness measures that normalise age-inclusive behaviour (e.g. Slovenia, United States), to early guidance and practical support (e.g. England (United Kingdom)).
Scope and timeline: Policies typically combine national frameworks with voluntary firm participation or social-partner agreements (e.g. US AARP Pledge). Programmes tend to operate in multi-year cycles to allow cultural and HR change.
Main actors involved: Policy objectives depend heavily on the engagement of employers and social partners, both in terms of implementation and cost-sharing. Ministries and government typically provide funds and oversight, while PES match needs to provision.
Employer-centred approaches show that motivation in later life depends as much on individual effort as on organisational culture. Incentives, guidance and visible commitments to age-inclusive practice make learning a shared responsibility.
Developing skills for lifelong learning
Of the three dimensions analysed, skills are the most systematically addressed across policies reviewed supporting adults approaching retirement. Most initiatives include provisions for upskilling or reskilling, often combining foundational and digital competences with technical or sector-specific training aligned to labour-market needs.
Employability remains the main rationale underpinning most late-career skill policies. Some countries, such as Estonia, Luxembourg or the Netherlands, link upskilling with recognition systems (RPL) that strengthen confidence and portability, but few explicitly treat skill development as a bridge between work, retirement and civic engagement before and after retirement.
Skills initiatives are often complemented by measures to provide the means to learn, such as via financial support or modular short-cycle delivery, and, more selectively, by initiatives to foster motivation and agency. Examples include state-funded short courses and digital-literacy programmes in Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and China, and health and care-related training in Sweden and Luxembourg to address demographic and labour-market change. Transversal competences, such as communication, teamwork and problem-solving, also feature prominently as enablers of adaptability and retention.
The main challenge for policymakers is to shift from a labour-market lens to a life course perspective on skills. This means connecting upskilling policies with recognition, guidance and motivational support so that late-career adults see learning not only to remain employable, but also as a path to fulfilment, autonomy and social participation. Aligning skills strategies with health, ageing and social policies will be essential to make lifelong learning both sustainable and meaningful in later life.
The following sections analyse late-career skill strategies for promoting upskilling to sustain employability and facilitate transitions; and for advancing digital inclusion and adaptability.
Promoting upskilling and reskilling
Across policies reviewed, late-career upskilling policies typically combine vocational, work-based and modular training to sustain employability and support smoother transitions. Short, stackable courses are often paired with on-the-job learning and targeted financial incentives, often routed through employers, to reflect older learners’ needs for self-paced and work-integrated training (Picchio, 2021[6]).
Several countries have expanded public training offers to support re-employment and adaptability. Examples include Czechia’s Decree on Retraining of Jobseekers, which funds tailored pathways for unemployed adults; Estonia’s VÕTI programmes, offering free or subsidised short courses for adults over 50; and Sweden’s transition and retraining support, providing financial aid and guidance for adults moving into new sectors.
Other systems have reinforced employer-driven and sectoral approaches. Luxembourg reimburses firms for staff training through its company-organised learning aid, embedding continuous development in workplace culture. In the Netherlands, the SLIM subsidy and Sectoral Development Pathways encourage SMEs and industry groups to provide modular, practice-based professional development, particularly in care, education, green and digital sectors.
Across systems, recognition mechanisms (e.g. RPL in Estonia and the Netherlands) seek to raise the perceived value and portability of short learning and help late-career adults convert skills gains into labour-market mobility or phased retirement options.
Mechanisms and actions: Policies typically combine vocational and on-the-job training, subsidised upskilling, and fiscal incentives. Mechanisms include short, modular or sector-based courses (e.g. Estonia, Czechia), reimbursement schemes that co-fund company training (e.g. Luxembourg), and subsidies supporting continuous development. Recognition systems (RPL, micro-credentials) in Estonia and the Netherlands focusing on reinforcing portability and perceived value.
Scope and timeline: Policies tend to operate under national frameworks with targeted application, focusing on jobseekers, SMEs, and sectors undergoing transition (e.g. Netherlands, Sweden). Most are time-bound or cyclical, linked to active labour-market policies, while others are permanent mechanisms embedded in continuous learning frameworks.
Main actors involved: Initiatives are typically led by ministries in coordination with PES and social partners. Implementation often involves local VET providers or industry councils to ensure training relevance.
Systems increasingly use short, modular, and work-based formats combined with financial incentives to sustain participation among older workers. Yet, most policies analysed still frame upskilling primarily around employability rather than broader lifelong adaptability. Expanding recognition, portability and guidance mechanisms could help reframe skill development as a lever for active ageing, smoother transitions and purposeful engagement beyond work.
Advancing digital inclusion and adaptability
As societies and workplaces become increasingly digital, the ability to use technology confidently and purposefully has become a precondition for social participation and employability. However, digital divides remain widest among adults approaching retirement, who often face barriers of access, confidence, and perceived relevance. Policies promoting digital inclusion and adaptability therefore aim not only to provide older adults with basic digital skills, but also to foster agency, independence and trust in digital environments. Effective approaches combine technical training with social and motivational support, recognising that late-career learners benefit most when digital learning is practical, community-based and confidence-building.
Across countries, initiatives increasingly blend public, community and workplace channels to reach older adults where they are. Examples include the German-speaking community of Belgium’s Digital Strategy, which provides community-level digital-literacy support for older adults, and Poland’s Active+ programme, which establishes digital development clubs in libraries and community centres to support seniors’ online literacy. Germany’s DigitalPakt Alter initiative establishes local ‘experience centres’ where older adults can explore digital tools, receive one-to-one counselling and join peer-supported workshops, while Latvia offers basic information and communication technology (ICT) training for adults, delivered through public employment services (PES). Similarly, China’s senior-friendly online platforms provide tailored digital content and training for older users. These initiatives provide insights on how combining national frameworks with community delivery can be used to enhance accessibility, confidence-building, and practical application of digital tools for everyday life and work.
Mechanisms and actions: Common approaches include entry-level digital modules embedded in work time (e.g. Estonia, Latvia), senior-friendly online platforms that support blended or remote learning (e.g. China), and guided learning plans via public or community services (e.g. German-speaking community (Belgium), Germany, Poland).
Scope and timeline: Most initiatives operate under national programmes but rely on local partnerships to reach disadvantaged groups. Timelines are often multi-year and include equity overlays to ensure inclusive participation (e.g. Poland, China).
Main actors involved: Ministries of education, labour and digital affairs often co-lead with municipalities, libraries, universities, NGOs and local authorities to allocate funding and coordinate provisions.
Digital inclusion in later life is not only a skills issue, but a social participation strategy. Sustained impact depends on combining technical training with motivation, confidence and social connection, so that older adults see digital skills as tools for autonomy, connection and lifelong learning.
Creating the means for lifelong learning
Most policies for adults approaching retirement place a strong emphasis on means, understood here as the tangible enablers that make participation possible. These include financial incentives, flexible delivery systems, community learning hubs, and digital infrastructures that expand access to opportunities. This focus is understandable: governments can act most directly on these levers, and they often serve as entry points to engage older learners.
Across systems, a wide range of mechanisms seek to lower cost barriers, strengthen partnerships and improve accessibility. The main challenge for policymakers lies in ensuring that these supports reach not only those already motivated to learn but also those most disconnected. Few strategies systematically monitor participation by age or invest in trainer capacity for age-inclusive pedagogy – gaps that can limit equity and sustainability. The following subsections examine how countries are expanding access and participation and promoting equity and age-friendly workplaces.
Expanding access and participation through vouchers, subsidies, modular courses and community learning hubs
Expanding access and participation is one of the most consistent priorities across the policies analysed for adults approaching retirement. As people live and work longer, participation in learning serves both to maintain employability and to support well-being and inclusion. Yet older adults often face practical barriers such as limited time, financial constraints, and low awareness of available opportunities. To address these, many systems – as seen for the mid-career stage – combine financial incentives, flexible delivery, and community-based provision to make learning both feasible and meaningful.
OECD evidence indicates that policies combining funding and flexible provision within accessible structures are associated with higher participation among adults aged 55 and over (OECD, 2019[10]; OECD, 2025[5]). Financial incentives are common tools to lower cost barriers and individualise choice. Austria’s Come Back hiring subsidy supports older jobseekers through wage and training cost subsidies; the Netherlands Action Plan 50+ Works provides learning vouchers that give individuals direct control over training decisions; and Sweden uses employment-conditional tax credits to extend working lives and promote participation among workers aged 65 and older.
Other systems strive to strengthen institutional access through modular, state-funded learning. Estonia’s national training programmes offer free or subsidised short and stackable courses through VET and higher education providers to help adults adapt to changing labour-market demands. Community-based models also extend participation beyond employment. The Slovak Republic’s National Active Ageing Programme supports informal and intergenerational learning hubs, while universities of the third age in China, Lithuania and Türkiye are in place to provide flexible, low-cost opportunities for continuous learning that blend academic, cultural and social participation. In China, the University for Older Adults connects community education, senior learning, and vocational continuing education, widening access through national digital and local learning networks.
Mechanisms and actions: Policies tend to combine financial incentives (vouchers, subsidies, tax credits) with flexible, modular delivery (e.g. Austria, Netherlands), while free or subsidised short courses expand reach (e.g. Estonia). Community and university-based hubs foster low-threshold access and social participation (e.g. China, Slovak Republic).
Scope and timeline: Policies frequently adopt national/universal coverage but are locally implemented through VET and higher education providers, community centres or higher education institutions (e.g. Austria, China). Measures typically operate on multi-year or permanent horizons to maximise reach, visibility and predictability (e.g. Estonia).
Main actors involved: Ministries of labour and education, public employment services (PES) and funding agencies lead implementation (e.g. Austria, Estonia, Sweden), supported by higher education institutions and community-based actors that provide delivery at the local level (e.g. China, Lithuania and Türkiye).
Expanding access and participation depends on pairing financial flexibility with locally relevant delivery. Incentives such as vouchers and subsidies can lower barriers, but their effectiveness depends on strong community networks, guidance and sustained outreach to reach those least engaged in learning.
Promoting equity and age-friendly workplaces
Policies promoting equity and age-friendly workplaces aim to build the social and organisational conditions that enable late-career adults to remain active, valued and employable. Operating at the intersection of employment policy, organisational culture and lifelong learning, these approaches focus on inclusion, retention and well-being alongside productivity.
Ensuring equity in workplace learning requires addressing disparities in access and participation across groups, and trade unions, through social dialogue and collective bargain, play a key role in identifying inequalities in training delivery and ensuring that learning opportunities are inclusive and accessible. Their engagement is particularly important for underrepresented groups, such as older workers in precarious or non-standard employment or those with negative prior learning experiences, who might otherwise be overlooked (OECD, 2025[3]).
Examples include Norway’s tripartite Inclusive Workplace Agreement aimed at reducing early withdrawal and promote flexible, age-responsive HR practices. Slovenia’s Comprehensive Support for Companies for Active Ageing, which supports mentoring, awareness, and workplace training. In the United States, the AARP Employer Pledge encourages voluntary age-inclusive employment commitments. Poland’s Active+ Programme and initiatives in China seek to extend inclusion beyond workplaces, and to connect employment and intergenerational participation.
Mechanisms and actions: Policies typically combine HR reforms, mentoring and flexible work with public pledges or outreach to normalise age-inclusivity (e.g. Norway, Slovenia, United States). Community and intergenerational initiatives (e.g. Poland, China) seek to connect workplace learning with broader social inclusion.
Scope and timeline: The policies analysed tend to operate under national frameworks with firm-level action through multi-year cycles that support capacity building and organisational change (e.g. Norway, Slovenia).
Main actors involved: Employers, unions and social partners typically share responsibility, supported by ministries of labour and local networks that coordinate implementation (e.g. Norway, Slovenia, Poland, China).
Embedding learning and flexibility within workplace culture strengthens retention and well-being. Lasting progress depends on formal coordination across labour, social and education policies to ensure that age-inclusive practices become systemic rather than project-based.
The years approaching retirement represent a decisive stage in the lifelong learning journey. As working lives extend and they prepare to transition into retirement, adults in this age group face growing risks of skill obsolescence, declining confidence and social disengagement, yet also hold critical experience that societies cannot afford to lose. OECD data confirm that participation in learning remains lowest among adults aged 55 and above, even as ageing populations make their continued engagement central to economic resilience, intergenerational solidarity and well-being.
Evidence from policy approaches analysed for this chapter show examples of how countries are connecting lifelong learning with active-ageing and employment strategies. These efforts indicate growing recognition that learning in later life supports not only employability but also health, purpose and social cohesion. However, progress remains uneven, particularly in sustaining motivation, addressing age bias, and building integrated systems that reach those least likely to participate.
Several strengths stand out. Many policies adopt broad national coverage and visibility, signalling political commitment and embedding lifelong learning within national ageing, employment and social strategies. Layered financial support for both workers and employers is another feature that appears promising, particularly when coupled with age-friendly workplace practices and mentoring schemes that strengthen retention (Picchio, 2021[6]; OECD, 2019[10]). Strong social dialogue and collective bargaining can further support equitable access to learning by helping address disparities in participation and ensure responsiveness to workers’ and broader labour market needs. Moreover, several systems have increasingly moved to short-cycle, modular and work-integrated learning formats that seek to fit older adults’ planning horizons and diverse life situations. These approaches seem to place learner needs, rather than programme structures, at the core of policy design.
At the same time, challenges persist. The policies collected tend to focus primarily on participation and employability but give limited attention to the recognition of prior experience, despite its crucial role for adults with long work histories and limited formal qualifications. Likewise, relatively few strategies seem to explicitly address age bias in recruitment, training and performance assessment, or promote awareness of the productivity and mentoring potential of senior workers. Another blind spot concerns an apparent weaker connection between learning, health and well-being. Despite international evidence showing that integrated lifelong-learning and active-ageing strategies can extend working lives, enhance mental health and reduce social isolation, such links are seldom made explicit in policy design (OECD, 2025[5]; Paccagnella, 2016[14]). Furthermore, persistent data gaps, particularly for older age groups (65+), can limit the evidence base needed to assess longer-term benefits and impacts. Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms also remain underdeveloped in many systems.
Addressing these challenges calls for a more coherent approach across the will, skills and means of lifelong learning, ensuring that policies reinforce one another throughout later life.
Fostering the will for lifelong learning: Motivation to learn in later life depends as much on social recognition and organisational culture as on individual aspiration. Policies that embed mentoring, peer learning and community participation can reframe learning as renewal rather than obligation. Yet motivation often remains a by-product rather than an explicit design goal. Future strategies could make confidence, agency and purpose measurable outcomes, supported by stable funding and coordination across guidance, health and employment services.
Developing skills for lifelong learning: Ensuring that older adults acquire skills that are recognised, transferable and meaningful beyond work is essential for sustaining engagement. Modular and short-cycle learning can fit older adults’ planning horizons, but only if connected to coherent recognition and quality frameworks. Expanding recognition of prior learning and micro-credentials can valorise experience and enable transitions into mentoring, voluntary or part-time roles after retirement. Aligning skill policies with active-ageing and health strategies can turn upskilling into a pathway for autonomy and well-being, not just employability.
Creating the means for lifelong learning: Financial incentives and flexible, locally anchored provision remain central to widening participation. However, these levers are most effective when combined with community networks and age-inclusive pedagogy that build trust among those least likely to learn. Data show that few systems disaggregate participation by age or evaluate long-term outcomes, limiting their capacity to identify persistent gaps. Strengthening monitoring and investing in trainer capacity for later-life learning will be key to ensuring equity and sustainability.
Next steps for policymakers. To strengthen learning engagement in later life and build lifelong-learning systems that support active and healthy ageing, countries could:
Integrate lifelong learning more deliberately into ageing, employment, health and social strategies to align incentives, resources and accountability across sectors and ensure that public action supports individual and organisational initiative.
Foster the meaning and social value of learning in later life by framing it as a source of purpose, identity and renewal, and by empowering older adults to self-manage their learning, share experience and contribute to social cohesion.
Promote age-inclusive workplaces that embed mentoring, flexible work and intergenerational knowledge transfer within organisational culture and HR reform.
Institutionalise recognition of prior learning and micro-credential frameworks to valorise experience and support smoother transitions beyond work, including into mentoring, voluntary or part-time roles after retirement.
Expand outreach, guidance and community learning hubs to provide accessible, trust-based environments that help older adults identify learning goals and rebuild confidence among older adults least likely to engage in training.
Enhance data collection and evaluation to track participation and outcomes by age and life stage.
Embedding these priorities can help countries reframe late-career learning from a short-term activation measure into a long-term investment in resilience, dignity and intergenerational cohesion – ensuring that lifelong learning continues to enrich societies well beyond working life.
References
[12] Bal, M. (ed.) (2020), “Organizational Practices for the Aging Workforce: Development and Validation of the Later Life Workplace Index”, Work, Aging and Retirement, Vol. 7/4, pp. 352-386, https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waaa012.
[13] Cedefop and Kankaraš, M. (2022), Workplace learning – Determinants and consequences – Insights from the 2019 European company survey,, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2801/111971.
[7] Kim, J. and C. Park (2020), “Education, skill training, and lifelong learning in the era of technological revolution: a review”, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, Vol. 34/2, pp. 3-19, https://doi.org/10.1111/apel.12299.
[2] OECD (2025), Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en.
[5] OECD (2025), OECD Employment Outlook 2025: Can We Get Through the Demographic Crunch?, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/194a947b-en.
[3] OECD (2025), Trends in Adult Learning: New Data from the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, Getting Skills Right, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ec0624a6-en.
[4] OECD (2024), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en.
[1] OECD (2024), Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en.
[11] OECD (2023), “Micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability: Uses and possibilities”, OECD Education Policy Perspectives, No. 66, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9c4b7b68-en.
[8] OECD (2022), Education Policy Outlook 2022: Transforming Pathways for Lifelong Learners, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c77c7a97-en.
[10] OECD (2019), Working Better with Age, Ageing and Employment Policies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c4d4f66a-en.
[16] Ostbelgien (2025), Digitalstrategie der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft, https://ostbelgienlive.be/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-8057/13115_read-72149/ (accessed on 20 October 2025).
[14] Paccagnella, M. (2016), “Age, Ageing and Skills: Results from the Survey of Adult Skills”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 132, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5jm0q1n38lvc-en.
[6] Picchio, M. (2021), “Is training effective for older workers?”, IZA World of Labor, https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.121.v2.
[9] Schirmer, W. et al. (2022), “Digital skills training for older people: The importance of the ‘lifeworld’”, Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Vol. 101, p. 104695, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2022.104695.
[15] United States Department of Labour (n.d.), Senior Community Service Employment Program, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/seniors (accessed on 20 October 2025).
A list of policies reviewed for approaching retirement can be found below.
Source: Education Policy Outlook: Short National Questionnaire for Comparative Policy Analysis: Nurturing Engaged and Resilient Lifelong Learners in a World of Digital Transformation