This review of literature contributes to the growing interest in studying transition across the life course, as opposed to focusing solely on young people's transition from education to work. This is partly a reflection of the breakdown of a clearly defined age of exit from the labour market and recognition of increasingly individualised and fractured trajectories. Also, governments and international agencies are adamant that the transition to retirement will be increasingly extended, with expectations that people will need to continue in paid work into their late 60s and beyond. The authors i
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This review of literature contributes to the growing interest in studying transition across the life course, as opposed to focusing solely on young people's transition from education to work. This is partly a reflection of the breakdown of a clearly defined age of exit from the labour market and recognition of increasingly individualised and fractured trajectories. Also, governments and international agencies are adamant that the transition to retirement will be increasingly extended, with expectations that people will need to continue in paid work into their late 60s and beyond. The authors investigate the implications of these developments for education, workforce development, opportunities for career progression, the way work is organised, and employment relations. They draw on research in relevant fields of inquiry, including adult learning, life course transition, workplace learning, human resource management, sociology of work, and ageing and the workforce. The review is structured into three main sections. First, the authors discuss the ways in which age is defined (often in stereotypical ways) in relation to work and in the light of the international drive to extend people's working lives. The next section examines how views on age interact with the way organisations afford access to training and individuals' attitudes to learning at and for work. In the final section the authors discuss implications for skills policy in England. This concluding section explores the dominance of a qualifications-led approach to adult skills as exemplified in two key initiatives - Train to Gain and Adult Apprenticeship.
Edited excerpts from publication.
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