SASSI-Working On addresses the challenge of 'working on' by developing and testing age-sensitive and ‘working-life’ approaches to career review and guidance in order to meet the needs of older people (aged 50+) who have to, or want to, keep ‘Working On’ into their 60s, 70s+.

The project partners will develop an innovative training programme for trainers and careers advisers, with the aim of extending and enhancing access to more age-sensitive careers advice, skills updating and work experience opportunities for older people.

We will do this by:

• Providing C-VET professionals, HR Managers and career coaches (direct target group) with action-orientated methods and useful skills on how to develop Career Pathways for longer working lives
• Promoting Career Revitalisation Pathways, including the participation of seniors (50+) in learning and work-experiences in order to maintain their workability and sustain motivation/productivity
• Developing practical age-sensitive resources and tools to support the delivery of these approaches and making them available in an on-line Toolbox
• Encouraging workplace mobility for older workers, ‘unretirees’ and job seekers through short-term secondment, sabbaticals and volunteering activities
• Championing the value of gaining work experiences in other countries in order to improve intercultural understanding, language skills and engender more active participation in European society.

The core of the project is the development of a Methodological Framework with its associated Blended Learning course, learning modules and resources. The methods will be tested and refined through a 4 phase piloting process involving 18 staff trainers (from the partner organisations), who will cascade their learning to 28 participants from the main target group of professionals who, in turn will apply the methods with at least 45 older workers, ‘unretirees’ and job seekers; with 10 of these experiencing a transnational mobility work placement.

We recognise that, in most development processes, action-oriented methods are most effective in developing new competences. Therefore, learning will be cascaded and applied through Learning Projects. These will also be a vehicle for the validation of age-sensitive approaches to guidance and careers advice through LEVEL5, a proven methodology for validating personal competences acquired in non-formal learning.

Other components include:

• Processes for promoting work experience for later life career review and planning. We will test and evaluate the impact of these approaches on revitalising and re-motivating older workers and learners.
• Providing guidance to employers on deploying career management in flatter, more matrixed organisations and with an ageing workforce.
• Reporting on our experiences, making recommendations for practice and policy and the provision of exemplar case studies