Last year the OECD published Trends shaping education, as they do with PISA they now will publish little Focus-reports on the same subject. The first is on “Ageing societies”. To start of with a “fun fact”: there will be more than twice as many people over the age of 80 in 2050 as there are now. This is great news because it means we will live longer, but this comes with new challenges.

This is the summary of the focus report that can be downloaded here:

The reciprocal impacts of education and an ageing population are many and varied. They range from voting patterns that reflect the new priorities of an ageing population to the need to raise health literacy among the ageing. They range from longer lives to longer working lives – and, thus, to a demand for skills building and education to increase employability and ensure job security.

An ageing population prompts a reconsideration of traditional models of education and encourages approaches to teaching and learning that are more fluid, adaptive and innovative. Lifelong learning will play a stronger, even crucial, role in strengthening the human capital of countries and the skills and abilities of individuals.
Access to and participation in formal and informal education throughout the lifespan will keep our populations healthier, more physically and cognitively active, and more connected to society. It will also allow the increasingly large proportion of the elderly to enjoy their later years to the fullest.