Learning in later life: challenges for social work and social care

Within the UK and Europe, government legislation and policies concerned with demography have asserted a paradigmatic shift towards the increased engagement of older people with public services. The philosophy of user involvement and co-production within these contexts has become integral to finding ways in which to improve the wellbeing of older people and their experiences of ageing well.
Whilst this area has been steadily emerging within the educational field in relation to the lifelong learning of older people, there has been a relative under-theorization and a lack of empirical research however into the lifelong learning needs, opportunities and experiences of those older people using social care who are typically marginalized from these debates and developments. This book address this gap by paying specific attention to examining what opportunities might be present within care services and public services in general for older people using social care to capitalize on the skills and knowledge they might need to achieve more person-centred support.
Through developing a debate and argument for the convergence of the lifelong learning agenda with social policy and social care, its core argument focusses on the challenge of sustainability of the care and support of older people and how social care should engage more meaningfully with concepts such as social capital and the challenges associated with achieving a genuine co-productive approach towards the quality of experience of older people using social care. This book will be an essential read for professionals working with older people in health and social care, as well as those engaged with gerontology and ageing studies in education and practice.
Contents: Introduction; Theories of learning and pedagogies: an introduction to key concepts; Contemporary challenges for social work and social care in supporting older people; Learning in later life: policy perspectives; Theories of learning in later life; Conceptualizing lifelong learning within social care: creating a framework for practice; Learning opportunities and learning experiences when using social care: findings from an empirical research study; Co-producing learning for professional education: two case studies; Some challenge of researching lifelong learning in later life; Developing professional knowledge and skills and expertise: challenges for practitioners; Final reflections; References; Index.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in "Learning in Later Life: Challenges for Social Work and Social Care" on May 18th 2016, available online: http://www.routledge.com/9781472431004