Speakers

 

Emeritus Professor Gillian Boulton-Lewis

 

Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane

 

Dr Maureen Tam

 

Associate Professor in the Department of International Education and Lifelong Learning, Associate Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning Research and Development, Head of the HKIEd Elder Academy.

 

Ms Cecilia Chan Po-Chi

 

EdD student currently preparing a thesis entitled: Retirement Planning, Transition and Life Satisfaction: A Study of Younger Male Retirees in Hong Kong

 

Ms Cherie Wang Qianrong

 

PhD student currently preparing a thesis entitled: Understanding Life Experience and Its Influence on Learning Motivation of Chinese Older Adults: A Life-Course Perspective.

 

Content

 

Governments’ anxieties about ageing populations are concerned with the costs of welfare, care and health provision which all have to be paid for by an ever dwindling working population. However, research in elder learning indicates the significant role that lifelong learning can play in promoting mental well-being and resilience, and in assisting with maintaining personal self-confidence and self-coping strategies that prevent cognitive decline in an ageing population.

 

This seminar draws on the research, knowledge and experience of the speakers to provide descriptions of the perceptions of elder students on their experiences of learning in Hong Kong, China and Australia. Key questions that are asked in the field of elder learning are: what is the motivation to keep on learning after retirement? What barriers are inhibiting participation in learning? And how research in this area can be used to influence policies on active ageing? All research leads to the conclusion that there is no disagreement about the benefits to people from the provision of opportunities to keep learning at the later stages of life.