Education
Innovative ways to help prepare students to work with an older adult population
- PARTNERSHIPS: Partnerships among academia, education, government, philanthropies, and
service providers should be developed and strengthened to specifically consider the roles of
each in addressing critical workforce issues for working with older adults.
- FIELDS OF PRACTICE: Gerontological curricula need to be further developed, strengthened and
made readily available in the disciplines of social work, nursing, medicine, the therapies, and
other allied professions to better prepare professionals to work with older adults in health and long-term care- related fields of practice. Cross-disciplinary curricula in gerontology and
geriatrics should also be further considered for applicability in various disciplines to meet
education requirements to be prepared to work with older adults.
- INCREASE NUMBER, TYPE and LOCATION of EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: More educational programs as
well as free-standing courses should be available in aging studies across disciplines for
professionals and paraprofessionals. An increase and improvement is needed in the number, type,
and location of classes offered in gerontology. Further education is needed of faculty offering
accessible on-line and evening degree and non-degree courses. Review education that is provided
to health professionals and paraprofessionals to determine if such education could be further
enhanced, including interdisciplinary education related to meeting needs of older adults.
- CAREER LADDERS: Consider mapping current career ladders in key fields and industries
associated with working with older adults, including health, aging network, and long-term care
services.
- BEGIN WITH THE YOUNG: Begin education about older adults with younger people - Aging
awareness should begin in elementary school, and should continue from grades K-12. Such
education is important to develop intergenerational awareness and understanding, as well as to
prepare young people to be prepared for the aging society in which they will live, grow, and
work.
- EXPAND THE SCOPE OF EDUCATION BEYOND TRADITIONAL FIELDS: Provide gerontology education in
disciplines and fields beyond the health, aging network and long-term care workforce. For
example, business, marketing, and communications fields would benefit from having a gerontology
component.
- FIELD PLACEMENTS: Review and identify methods to shore up field placements for students in
health and human services fields to further expand opportunities in aging-related fields.
- TRANSLATING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE: The translation into and use of research findings in
practice needs to be furthered in order to improve the quality of care in aging services.
Training
On-the-job training that is needed to work with older adults
- CONTINUING EDUCATION: Explore and foster continuing education opportunities, including
on-site and off-site, on-line and in-classroom training for paraprofessionals and professionals
on the job.
- TRAINING MODULES: Further explore training modules that can provide the building blocks
toward a gerontology certification or credential.
- TARGET NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS: Develop targeted opportunities to reach adult,
non-traditional students as potential health, aging network, and long-term care service
workforce members.
- INCENTIVES: Incentives for individuals and institutions to educate, train, and retain
health, aging network and long-term care service providers in different communities should be
considered. Explore idea of incentive funds for front-line workers and supervisor training.
- INNOVATIVE TRAINING MODALITIES: Need a critical mass to offer courses. In rural areas,
consider video feeds, on-line classes, and study-at-home.
- FUNDING: Employers often can provide time for training but no money. Need to identify
funding sources to implement training more widely.
- TRAINING TOPICS: Workers in different settings need more knowledge on chronic care and other issues: e.g., Alzheimer's disease and other dementia, elder abuse, legal issues, self neglect,
hoarding.
- TRANSPORTATION TO TRAINING Consider how to address transportation needs in order to attend
training and educational opportunities.
- MORE INFORMATION NEEDED: More in-depth and specific information is needed about what
individuals are looking for and how they would like to learn. Need to know how difficult it is
for them to keep up.
Systems
How the systems of training and education need to be reshaped in order to develop a workforce that is prepared to work with older adults now and into the future
- CERTIFICATION & CREDENTIALING: Further explore systematic certification and credentialing in gerontology, while continuing to think through the perceived usefulness of a certificate or
credential.
- ADDRESS FRAGMENTATION: Workforce training is very fragmented. There needs to be a
comprehensive approach to training and education about older adults.
- PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS: If the gerontology education requirements were to be standardized for professionals, then it could be applied across a variety of disciplines with unique training to specific disciplines.
- NON-TRADITIONAL LABOR POOLS: Identify and consider how best to reach out to population
subgroups for potential participation in working with older adults. Create an environment where
the workers are valued, and the older person is valued. For example, low-income persons, persons from minority groups, persons who are foreign-born, and non-English-speaking people provide
pools of people to reach out to and further develop for successful workforce participation. Some programs to consider may include: augmenting English-as-a-second-language in primary, secondary, and vocational school programs; using bilingual training to increase participation among skilled and paraprofessional workers with language barriers; partnering with health, aging network and
long-term care providers and organizations to develop mentor programs; and providing funding
awards to providers who recruit low-income persons, including funding for education and
training. Take advantage of the skills and talents of the growing pool of retired people and
people with disabilities.
- ESTABLISH CROSS-DISCIPLINE AGING-BASICS COURSES: Consider establishing "Aging ABCs" courses.
- MENTORS: Consider role of mentors in health, aging network, and long-term care organizations for new hires.
- CAREER LADDERS: Build career ladders to help paraprofessionals work toward LPN/RN or social
work degrees, particularly in the health, aging network, and long-term care fields.
- COLLABORATIONS & NETWORKS: Foster collaboration among schools, providers, professional
agencies, funders, and workers. There needs to be cross-fertilization.
- ADULT CONTINUING EDUCATION: Expand adult continuing education programs to prepare older
people and retirees to work in needed occupations and volunteer areas. Use local schools,
colleges, libraries, etc. as sites for lifelong learning.
- FOCUS ON MATURE WORKERS: Expand opportunities for older workers who remain in the workforce or are re-entering the workforce. Review and work to remove identified barriers to the
employment and retention of retired professionals such as teachers, librarians, military
personnel, rehabilitation workers, and those retired from cultural institutions. Consider
recruitment and retention policies to attract and retain workers, Examples include: flexible
work schedules, part-time employment, pro-rated benefit packages, telecommuting, raising the
income ceiling for retirees returning to work, and phased retirement plans.
- INFORMATION & MARKETING Consider a Senior Day --- seniors come in; see how they look at the
work and at the world. Launch a "Bring your senior to work/class day." Promote the value - and
fun - of working with older people.
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