News

Anticipating Change – Conference results

January 2008

The Athens conference report on effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management has been published.

Anticipating change in a shifting world: facing the challenge with EQUAL.

Change has always been at the centre of human thought. In the past, many Greek philosophers were intrigued by the question of change in the physical world. One such philosopher, Heraclitus, once said that there is nothing certain or stable except the fact that things change; and Parmenides claimed that all change and time is an illusion.

Thousands of years on, change remains a main feature of today's world: rapid technological development, globalisation, geopolitical trends and societal changes are all modern challenges that cannot be underestimated. Demography is also changing: European Union (EU) citizens are living longer; and the size of the population aged 60 and over is on the increase and will continue this way in the future. In fact, over the next 20 years, the average age of the working population will increase and the proportion of working-age people will decline. To illustrate this picture even further, today there are four workers supporting one pensioner, whilst in 2050 only two workers will be around to support one retired person!

The knock-on effects of these trends are significant, requiring the adaptation of practically all major public policies. Failure to actively manage these trends will threaten European prosperity, where as on the other hand, an appropriate response will mean that opportunities can be exploited and risks minimised. The challenge for the EU is therefore to start thinking about and acting now in response to the consequences of these changes.

The response so far at EU level has shown a clear recognition of the demographic issues and their effects in terms of human resource development and employment. A range of interventions to tackle the problems linked to the ageing workforce have been produced at EU level and within the Member States; indeed, not only age management strategies, but also associated lifelong learning programmes have been implemented. However, developing effective and practical responses to the demographic problem still remains a challenge. The ageing workforce requires strong policy responses through holistic, integrated approaches. Age management and lifelong learning policies should therefore create a friendly environment for older workers and create opportunities for those who want to remain longer within the labour market.

EQUAL reveals effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management

Since the start of EQUAL, the issues of age management and lifelong learning have been a major focus of a large number of funded Development Partnerships (DPs): during the two rounds of EQUAL, there have been 210 DPs working on age management issues and over 800 DPs have been active under the Lifelong Learning theme. Clearly, this means that there is significant potential within EQUAL to respond to the EU agenda on these two important subjects!

In order to disseminate the main policy and practice messages from these EQUAL DPs to European, national and regional actors, the Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection (Greek EQUAL Managing Authority) organised a European EQUAL conference entitled "Anticipating Change: effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management" on 6 and 7 December 2007 in Athens, Greece. The conference was supported by the EQUAL Unit at DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and a Steering Committee of eight Member States, with the assistance of GHK Consulting, the European technical experts for the Adaptability pillar of EQUAL.

The audience attending the conference included key actors from the European, national and regional levels, including the European Commission, social partner organisations, government representatives involved in the management and implementation of the new European Social Fund (ESF) 2007-2013, research and policy institutions, and of course, the DPs that had tested the approaches on which the above policy and practice messages were based.

EQUAL messages aimed at policy makers

The conference programme was structured according to seven sub-themes, which formed the basis of workshops:

Engaging employers - especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
Developing intergenerational learning;
Developing vocational training;
Validating skills;
Promoting social dialogue;
Promoting the use of information and communication technologies and e-learning; and
National Thematic Networks (NTNs) and other EQUAL networks.

These workshops were framed by a series of plenary presentations by representatives from the Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection, Greek General Secretariat for ESF Funds, European Commission and GHK Consulting.

It is worth taking a closer look at the workshops as they gave rise to some very interesting messages concerning lifelong learning and age management. For example, in the first workshop on engaging employers, the participants found that getting employers on board has constituted a challenge for most of the projects. DPs have therefore found effective solutions to engage employers in their work. These solutions include using business-friendly language (for example, company profits and workforce satisfaction) and "de-jargonising" the language used when addressing companies on the issues of lifelong learning and age management.

The DPs also found that awareness-raising activities towards employers are needed, as managers are not fully aware of the benefits of engaging in lifelong learning and age management. The importance of using champions/advocates to win over other companies was also stressed. Champions are companies who have succeeded in implementing lifelong learning and age management strategies, and are therefore good practice examples for the employers who are reluctant to engage in such activities.

In the workshops on developing intergenerational learning, the participants agreed on the fact that preventive and anticipatory messages are important: workers need to be supported before they become old. The effects and consequences of an ageing workforce should be anticipated, and intergenerational learning should therefore also involve workers from the age of 45 - or even earlier.

The EQUAL projects active in this field have found that capturing and transferring the knowledge of older workers can both help to preserve traditional industries/sectors and encourage innovation. What is more, the participants agreed that intergenerational learning is most effective when it focuses on the strengths of the target groups: for instance, older workers have know-how and experience and younger workers have technical skills and flexibility.

The thematic workshops on developing social dialogue also provided interesting insights. The participants stressed that social dialogue should be supported at company, as well as national level in the new ESF - this is because social partners are ideally placed to facilitate attitudinal change amongst employees to help them engage in learning and prolong their working lives. The DPs stressed that social partners have to be seen as "agents of change." For this reason, they should be empowered to take proactive, not reactive approaches (for instance, make proposals to the company management, instead of only reacting to their propositions).

It was also stressed by the participants that social partners are particularly effective when they act in a peer-support role. They can offer more and better support by helping employees to overcome barriers to accessing training, promote learning to fellow workers in a non-threatening way and identify the right incentives for them.

The discussions held within the thematic workshops on developing vocational training stressed that training is particularly effective when delivered in the work place and has an interactive/collaborative component. Collaborative learning processes can be useful tools in empowering disadvantaged groups to undertake vocational training as it takes away the pressure from the individual and allows for a dialogue between the beneficiaries about various problems and questions.

The DPs also found that vocational training is successful when senior managers and employees are trained together, as well as when psychological support is integrated. Soft skills need to be recognised as a stand-alone skills set and underpin vocational training through the organisation of courses on interpersonal skills, communication, team work, leadership etc.

In the workshops on developing skills validation, some success factors and challenges were discussed. The DPs agreed that it is imperative to put in place holistic methods to skills validation, which can be delivered in less formal environments, and using local actors and bottom-up approaches. The key message that emerged again is the importance of providing flexible and tailored solutions and the need to develop mechanisms to validate prior experience and learning, as well as motivate individuals and employers to take responsibility and ownership for skills development.
The projects also stressed that it is important to offer beneficiaries the means to accredit soft skills. In particular, soft skills are harder to valorise, alongside professional skills and the knowledge gained from formal education. In other words, the valorisation of knowledge, and professional and soft skills needs to be balanced.

In the thematic workshops on promoting the use of ICT and e-learning, a common challenge came into view: DPs found that it is important to ensure that the countries' legislative frameworks are supportive of ICT and e-learning activities. In addition to the legislative framework, the engagement of beneficiaries and employers was also pointed out as a challenge.
EQUAL projects have stressed that softer and flexible routes into learning can be used to engage individuals, generate interest &ndash and develop tangible hard results in the longer term. Tailoring should also be a key feature of the DPs' activities. As the projects partners explained, needs assessments are fundamental to understanding business and beneficiary needs. Tailored toolkits and methods can help to make activities relevant to the individual and businesses.

The last set of thematic workshops focussed on networking. The underpinning aim of the networks presented was to have common goals, as well as a common understanding of the problems and solutions the "member DPs" were facing; in other words, networking can enhance and add value to the work of single DPs on the ground. The representatives of the networks stressed that resources are an essential issue for working together; not only the financial aspect is important, but also the engagement, personal will and enthusiasm of the members are vital for the development of common activities.

Another interesting message that came forward was the importance of involving decision makers from the outset. This is an essential element to impact on policies, particularly on the new ESF Operational Programmes. Especially important, as shown by the European Age Management Network, was also the added value of transnational networking - in other words, extending collaboration beyond national boundaries.

One louder voice

As shown above, lots of ideas and messages came out of the conference workshops. Some of them were specific to a particular theme, whilst others had a more universal nature. The latter can be seen as common or general messages, which are worth retaining as overall conclusions from the conference.

Maybe the most significant common message that emerged is: "companies who train retain." The EQUAL DPs have shown that many prejudices still exist against training, such as the common negative misconception that once employees are trained, they demand higher salaries, leave the company or start their own business. While the three options are possible, training also means retaining workers if they are offered professional development. In fact, companies that engage in lifelong learning and age management activities, experience long-term positive effects on their organisation and production. The image of the company as one that promotes employee progression will further contribute to attracting new employees and thus contributing to business growth.

Another common message that was pronounced in all the thematic workshops was the importance of empowering and engaging the beneficiaries (supply side), as well as involving employers (demand side). The EQUAL projects showed that psychological support and the provision of soft skills is the precondition to an active engagement of the beneficiaries. On the other hand, presenting a business case and talk in a business-friendly language (presenting clearly the benefits of training or age management activities) is the key to getting employers on board.

Moreover, DPs concurred that projects should have a local focus and partners should be encouraged to "think big". Projects should in fact aim to promote changes in existing legislation in order to introduce new and flexible forms of learning (such as e-learning, for example). DPs also found that working in partnership produces particularly effective and sustainable results. Partnerships should therefore be encouraged and developed on the ground.

The final message which emerged from the conference is that programmes and projects funded by the ESF should strive to reconcile the supply and demand side. This is so that the policies and measures implemented to address age management and lifelong learning properly respond to business needs and contribute to company growth.
The importance of these common messages must not be underestimated. Shared points and ideas create a "critical mass" that is essential to have a stronger impact on policy-making. In other words, speaking with one voice allows EQUAL messages to be heard even louder!

Promoting EQUAL after EQUAL

The closing maxim that could be applied to the conference is "Cherish wisdom". During one and a half days, the conference participants were encouraged to explore the opportunities of incorporating EQUAL's insights into the new ESF and using them to inform future work within the context of the Structural Funds, as well as wider policy implementation. It is now important that this opportunity is maximised beyond the conference. National and regional governments should now act as "intermediaries" between the policy and project world, and play a key role in developing the sustainability of EQUAL results.

The following information is available on the conference:

Conference background paper entitled "EQUAL: paving the way for lifelong learning and age management"
Conference report, including the full conference programme, PowerPoint presentations and synopses of the workshop presenters

Top

News Anticipating Change – Conference results January 2008 The Athens conference report on effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management has been published. Anticipating change in a shifting world: facing the challenge with EQUAL. Change has always been at the centre of human thought. In the past, many Greek philosophers were intrigued by the question of change in the physical world. One such philosopher, Heraclitus, once said that there is nothing certain or stable except the fact that things change; and Parmenides claimed that all change and time is an illusion. Thousands of years on, change remains a main feature of today's world: rapid technological development, globalisation, geopolitical trends and societal changes are all modern challenges that cannot be underestimated. Demography is also changing: European Union (EU) citizens are living longer; and the size of the population aged 60 and over is on the increase and will continue this way in the future. In fact, over the next 20 years, the average age of the working population will increase and the proportion of working-age people will decline. To illustrate this picture even further, today there are four workers supporting one pensioner, whilst in 2050 only two workers will be around to support one retired person! The knock-on effects of these trends are significant, requiring the adaptation of practically all major public policies. Failure to actively manage these trends will threaten European prosperity, where as on the other hand, an appropriate response will mean that opportunities can be exploited and risks minimised. The challenge for the EU is therefore to start thinking about and acting now in response to the consequences of these changes. The response so far at EU level has shown a clear recognition of the demographic issues and their effects in terms of human resource development and employment. A range of interventions to tackle the problems linked to the ageing workforce have been produced at EU level and within the Member States; indeed, not only age management strategies, but also associated lifelong learning programmes have been implemented. However, developing effective and practical responses to the demographic problem still remains a challenge. The ageing workforce requires strong policy responses through holistic, integrated approaches. Age management and lifelong learning policies should therefore create a friendly environment for older workers and create opportunities for those who want to remain longer within the labour market. The response so far at EU level has shown a clear recognition of the demographic issues and their effects in terms of human resource development and employment. A range of interventions to tackle the problems linked to the ageing workforce have been produced at EU level and within the Member States; indeed, not only age management strategies, but also associated lifelong learning programmes have been implemented. However, developing effective and practical responses to the demographic problem still remains a challenge. The ageing workforce requires strong policy responses through holistic, integrated approaches. Age management and lifelong learning policies should therefore create a friendly environment for older workers and create opportunities for those who want to remain longer within the labour market. EQUAL reveals effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management Since the start of EQUAL, the issues of age management and lifelong learning have been a major focus of a large number of funded Development Partnerships (DPs): during the two rounds of EQUAL, there have been 210 DPs working on age management issues and over 800 DPs have been active under the Lifelong Learning theme. Clearly, this means that there is significant potential within EQUAL to respond to the EU agenda on these two important subjects! In order to disseminate the main policy and practice messages from these EQUAL DPs to European, national and regional actors, the Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection (Greek EQUAL Managing Authority) organised a European EQUAL conference entitled "Anticipating Change: effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management" on 6 and 7 December 2007 in Athens, Greece. The conference was supported by the EQUAL Unit at DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and a Steering Committee of eight Member States, with the assistance of GHK Consulting, the European technical experts for the Adaptability pillar of EQUAL. The audience attending the conference included key actors from the European, national and regional levels, including the European Commission, social partner organisations, government representatives involved in the management and implementation of the new European Social Fund (ESF) 2007-2013, research and policy institutions, and of course, the DPs that had tested the approaches on which the above policy and practice messages were based. EQUAL messages aimed at policy makers The conference programme was structured according to seven sub-themes, which formed the basis of workshops: Engaging employers - especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); Developing intergenerational learning; Developing vocational training; Validating skills; Promoting social dialogue; Promoting the use of information and communication technologies and e-learning; and National Thematic Networks (NTNs) and other EQUAL networks. These workshops were framed by a series of plenary presentations by representatives from the Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection, Greek General Secretariat for ESF Funds, European Commission and GHK Consulting. It is worth taking a closer look at the workshops as they gave rise to some very interesting messages concerning lifelong learning and age management. For example, in the first workshop on engaging employers, the participants found that getting employers on board has constituted a challenge for most of the projects. DPs have therefore found effective solutions to engage employers in their work. These solutions include using business-friendly language (for example, company profits and workforce satisfaction) and "de-jargonising" the language used when addressing companies on the issues of lifelong learning and age management. The DPs also found that awareness-raising activities towards employers are needed, as managers are not fully aware of the benefits of engaging in lifelong learning and age management. The importance of using champions/advocates to win over other companies was also stressed. Champions are companies who have succeeded in implementing lifelong learning and age management strategies, and are therefore good practice examples for the employers who are reluctant to engage in such activities. In the workshops on developing intergenerational learning, the participants agreed on the fact that preventive and anticipatory messages are important: workers need to be supported before they become old. The effects and consequences of an ageing workforce should be anticipated, and intergenerational learning should therefore also involve workers from the age of 45 - or even earlier. The EQUAL projects active in this field have found that capturing and transferring the knowledge of older workers can both help to preserve traditional industries/sectors and encourage innovation. What is more, the participants agreed that intergenerational learning is most effective when it focuses on the strengths of the target groups: for instance, older workers have know-how and experience and younger workers have technical skills and flexibility. The thematic workshops on developing social dialogue also provided interesting insights. The participants stressed that social dialogue should be supported at company, as well as national level in the new ESF - this is because social partners are ideally placed to facilitate attitudinal change amongst employees to help them engage in learning and prolong their working lives. The DPs stressed that social partners have to be seen as "agents of change." For this reason, they should be empowered to take proactive, not reactive approaches (for instance, make proposals to the company management, instead of only reacting to their propositions). It was also stressed by the participants that social partners are particularly effective when they act in a peer-support role. They can offer more and better support by helping employees to overcome barriers to accessing training, promote learning to fellow workers in a non-threatening way and identify the right incentives for them. The discussions held within the thematic workshops on developing vocational training stressed that training is particularly effective when delivered in the work place and has an interactive/collaborative component. Collaborative learning processes can be useful tools in empowering disadvantaged groups to undertake vocational training as it takes away the pressure from the individual and allows for a dialogue between the beneficiaries about various problems and questions. The DPs also found that vocational training is successful when senior managers and employees are trained together, as well as when psychological support is integrated. Soft skills need to be recognised as a stand-alone skills set and underpin vocational training through the organisation of courses on interpersonal skills, communication, team work, leadership etc. In the workshops on developing skills validation, some success factors and challenges were discussed. The DPs agreed that it is imperative to put in place holistic methods to skills validation, which can be delivered in less formal environments, and using local actors and bottom-up approaches. The key message that emerged again is the importance of providing flexible and tailored solutions and the need to develop mechanisms to validate prior experience and learning, as well as motivate individuals and employers to take responsibility and ownership for skills development. The projects also stressed that it is important to offer beneficiaries the means to accredit soft skills. In particular, soft skills are harder to valorise, alongside professional skills and the knowledge gained from formal education. In other words, the valorisation of knowledge, and professional and soft skills needs to be balanced. In the thematic workshops on promoting the use of ICT and e-learning, a common challenge came into view: DPs found that it is important to ensure that the countries' legislative frameworks are supportive of ICT and e-learning activities. In addition to the legislative framework, the engagement of beneficiaries and employers was also pointed out as a challenge. EQUAL projects have stressed that softer and flexible routes into learning can be used to engage individuals, generate interest &ndash and develop tangible hard results in the longer term. Tailoring should also be a key feature of the DPs' activities. As the projects partners explained, needs assessments are fundamental to understanding business and beneficiary needs. Tailored toolkits and methods can help to make activities relevant to the individual and businesses. The last set of thematic workshops focussed on networking. The underpinning aim of the networks presented was to have common goals, as well as a common understanding of the problems and solutions the "member DPs" were facing; in other words, networking can enhance and add value to the work of single DPs on the ground. The representatives of the networks stressed that resources are an essential issue for working together; not only the financial aspect is important, but also the engagement, personal will and enthusiasm of the members are vital for the development of common activities. Another interesting message that came forward was the importance of involving decision makers from the outset. This is an essential element to impact on policies, particularly on the new ESF Operational Programmes. Especially important, as shown by the European Age Management Network, was also the added value of transnational networking - in other words, extending collaboration beyond national boundaries. One louder voice As shown above, lots of ideas and messages came out of the conference workshops. Some of them were specific to a particular theme, whilst others had a more universal nature. The latter can be seen as common or general messages, which are worth retaining as overall conclusions from the conference. Maybe the most significant common message that emerged is: "companies who train retain." The EQUAL DPs have shown that many prejudices still exist against training, such as the common negative misconception that once employees are trained, they demand higher salaries, leave the company or start their own business. While the three options are possible, training also means retaining workers if they are offered professional development. In fact, companies that engage in lifelong learning and age management activities, experience long-term positive effects on their organisation and production. The image of the company as one that promotes employee progression will further contribute to attracting new employees and thus contributing to business growth. Another common message that was pronounced in all the thematic workshops was the importance of empowering and engaging the beneficiaries (supply side), as well as involving employers (demand side). The EQUAL projects showed that psychological support and the provision of soft skills is the precondition to an active engagement of the beneficiaries. On the other hand, presenting a business case and talk in a business-friendly language (presenting clearly the benefits of training or age management activities) is the key to getting employers on board. Moreover, DPs concurred that projects should have a local focus and partners should be encouraged to "think big". Projects should in fact aim to promote changes in existing legislation in order to introduce new and flexible forms of learning (such as e-learning, for example). DPs also found that working in partnership produces particularly effective and sustainable results. Partnerships should therefore be encouraged and developed on the ground. The final message which emerged from the conference is that programmes and projects funded by the ESF should strive to reconcile the supply and demand side. This is so that the policies and measures implemented to address age management and lifelong learning properly respond to business needs and contribute to company growth. The importance of these common messages must not be underestimated. Shared points and ideas create a "critical mass" that is essential to have a stronger impact on policy-making. In other words, speaking with one voice allows EQUAL messages to be heard even louder! Promoting EQUAL after EQUAL The closing maxim that could be applied to the conference is "Cherish wisdom". During one and a half days, the conference participants were encouraged to explore the opportunities of incorporating EQUAL's insights into the new ESF and using them to inform future work within the context of the Structural Funds, as well as wider policy implementation. It is now important that this opportunity is maximised beyond the conference. National and regional governments should now act as "intermediaries" between the policy and project world, and play a key role in developing the sustainability of EQUAL results. The following information is available on the conference: Conference background paper entitled "EQUAL: paving the way for lifelong learning and age management" Conference report, including the full conference programme, PowerPoint presentations and synopses of the workshop presenters Top	Home page Activities & results How does EQUAL work? EQUAL in the Member States News All news Newsletter Useful links

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