ATTITUDES TOWARD RETIREMENT AND PRERETIREMENT EDUCATION AMONG NIGERIAN BANK WORKERS

Retirement is viewed as a passage that can result in psychological, physiological, and economic problems among some retirees. Adequate preparation for retirement through preretirement education, as practiced in the Western-European societies, has been found to ease transition into retirement and adjustment in retirement. Preretirement education is a relatively new practice in some organizations in Nigeria; hence, little investigation has been conducted to examine the attitudes of Nigerians toward it. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate the attitudes of Nigerian bankers toward retirement in general and preretirement education in particular. Respondents included senior members (n = 48) and middle-level workers (n = 60). There were more males (79.6%) than females (20.4%). More than half were over 40 years of age. A summary of data based on questionnaire administration reveal that retirement on its own is not as traumatic as generally thought. Respondents looked favorably toward retirement, and identified potential advantages of preretirement education. Therefore, it is recommended that employers consider preretirement education as the rule rather than the exception as currently being practiced in Nigeria.     

RETIREMENT NEEDS AND PREPARATION OF RURAL MIDDLE-AGED PERSONS

Review of preretirement and retirement literature suggests that attention is placed on similarities of rural and urban persons in their retirement needs and concerns. The existing literature shows a lack of data on perceptions of future retirement needs and retirement actions implemented by rural middle-aged persons (45-64 years old). This study, conducted in three rural counties, had as its purpose to identify the following: (a) issues important in retirement for rural middle-aged persons; (b) preparation plans being made by rural middle-aged persons; (c) rural middle-aged persons perceptions of future needs regarding certain aspects of retirement; and (d) relationship of issues, plans, and perceptions to selected demographic variables. A number of relationships were found between issues identified as Important to Me and items labeled Actions I Have Taken. Study conclusions have implications for those concerned with preretirement education.     

Baby boomers’ retirement decision and adaptation in Taiwan: older adult learners’ experiences

ABSTRACT

Baby boomers in Taiwan benefit from better health, economic conditions, and education in comparison to older generations. The participants in this study were older adult learners from the baby boom generation. This study aimed to examine their retirement decisions, adaptation, and learning processes. A qualitative research approach was employed in this study. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Thirty-one individuals, consisting of 15 men and 16 women aged 55–68 years, were interviewed. The research results showed that the interviewees’ retirement decisions involved an awareness of retirement timing, and in addition, four approaches to retirement decisions were identified, namely, straightforward decision making, retirement planning, hesitancy, and involuntary retirement. Each decision approach would lead to various losses and gains. The background of baby boomers provided them with high adaptability and the motivation to learn and change. The retirement adaptation process presented goals related to health, learning, and contributions. Learning participation and service learning allowed the interviewed baby boomers to feel joy from learning, forget about their age, and maintain positive attitudes. The results of this study can provide workers engaged in the field of older adult education with a reference for the formulation of policies and projects related to retirement transition and learning.     

CONTINUING EDUCATION: A FACTOR IN PREPARING FOR RETIREMENT

This study focuses on the role of formal continuing education in helping persons prepare for retirement. The subjects were 206 classified, university employees between the ages of 50 and 65. The Retirement Preparation Indexes were used to measure behavior, information, and attitude toward retirement. Using the analysis of variance (a = .05), participants in formal continuing education (N = 46) scored significantly higher on the indexes community activity behavior, health care issues, psychological adjustment information, preretirement zest attitude, total behavior, total information, and the complete retirement preparation index. Preretirees involved in lifelong learning were found to be more concerned about their own development regardless of age and more aware of the options available to them upon retirement.     

Informing the Development of Educational Programs to Support Older Adults in Retiring From Driving

It is clear that while transition from being a driver to being a non-driver is an important, and often negative, event in the life of older adults, there is little support available to help older adults through this transition. This study focuses on increasing our understanding of issues about driving cessation and to inform the development of educational programs to assist older adults in positively adapting to retirement from driving. A total of 201 adults over age 70 with a valid driving license completed a mailed survey containing both open and closed-ended questions. Of the 96% of participants who were current drivers, 73.4% had never considered retiring from driving. While 70.6% of participants indicated that an educational program could help people plan to retire from driving, 55.8% indicated the possibility that they would participate in such a program. Participants provided insights into the format and content of educational programs to help older adults retire from driving including coping after retirement from driving, alternative forms of transportation and how to access them, and helping to decide when to retire from driving. It is imperative for practitioners to identify ways to help older adults who are resistant to planning for retirement from driving.     

WOMEN AND RETIREMENT: EVOLVING ISSUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INTERVENTION

Until recent years, occupational retirement was perceived primarily as a male life transition process. Women now comprise a major population experiencing active, long‐term involvement in occupational roles and facing significant concerns in their transition from work to retirement.

This article provides an examination of the current status of research regarding women and retirement and discusses multiple issues that surround the aging woman and her relationship to the retirement process. Key orientations are discussed in relation to conceptualizing and shaping future preretirement educational programming alternatives.     

Rethinking Retirement in the Context of an Aging Workforce

As the baby boomers begin to retire in great numbers later this decade, there will not be enough workers in younger age categories to replace them. In this review, an attempt is made to integrate the demographics of an aging workforce with the projected economic revitalization. Implications are discussed regarding the concept of retirement and the paradox of an oversized generation preparing to retire in the context of extended life expectancies and projected worker shortages.     

Leaving a sinking ship? School principals in flight,Lessons and Possible Solutions

This qualitative study was motivated by a sizeable number of school principals retiring early in South African schools. They either leave teaching for other careers or retire before the retirement age of sixty. It was then necessary to explore what factors, if any, made them leave school management and the teaching career. Sixteen school principals were purposefully selected and interviewed through semi-structured interviews. Eleven of these had already left teaching in the previous four years, while the others were waiting for their last days in teaching at the time of the study. The results illustrate that there are various reasons that lead to the early retirement of school principals from historically black schools. Among these are burnout, lack of teacher commitment, increased unionisation of teachers as well as the non-involvement of district officials in the schools’ improvement and management plans. Consequently, many participants maintained that it was almost impossible to run schools effectively when this scenario prevailed. The conclusions point out that school managers and leaders need to be supported in various ways as they steer various programmes in their schools. This includes constant mentoring, management preparation as well as continual formal professional development programmes.     

STILL WORKING AFTER AGE 70: OLDER PROFESSORS IN ACADEME

The purpose of this interview study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of tenured university professors who continue to work in their career jobs after age 70. The study utilized the case study method to let professors describe in their own voices the personal, professional, and institutional factors in their decision to keep working beyond the conventional retirement age and their plans for the future. The population under investigation was all tenured professors aged 70-74 at a major public research university, the institutions most likely to be impacted by the end of mandatory retirement (Hammond & Morgan, 1991). Content analysis of the interview tapes revealed the following themes: most professors continued to work because they enjoyed it, or felt that it was important to continue their work, perceived the overall atmosphere in their department and the university as positive, felt little institutional pressure to retire, and had no plans to retire. Economic factors played a relatively small role in continuing to work.     

Future skill shortages in the U.S. economy?

The impending retirement of the baby boom cohort represents the first time in the history of the United States that such a large and well-educated group of workers will exit the labor force. This could imply skill shortages in the U.S. economy. We develop near-term labor force projections of the educational demands on the workforce and the supply of workers by education to assess the potential for skill imbalances to emerge. Based on our formal projections, we see little likelihood of skill shortages emerging by the end of this decade. More tentatively, though, skill shortages are more likely as all of the baby boomers retire in later years, and skill shortages are more likely in the near-term in states with large and growing immigrant populations.     

Examining the potential impact of full tuition fees on mature part-time students in English higher education

This paper examines current part-time mature learners’ views on the potential impact upon future students as full fees are introduced from 2012. It investigates the problems which part-time mature learners may face with the advent of student loans and subsequent debt, given that they are usually combining complex lives with their studies, with less time to repay any loan in their working lifetime. Despite government rhetoric about the need to increase participants from these groups, most advice and guidance has focused on the traditional full-time market, with little being done to investigate the views of part-time mature learners or to provide appropriate support for them from 2012 onwards.

The views have been gathered through focus group discussions with students in a traditional English university and four of its further education partner colleges via online forums. Resultant data have been analysed to look at emerging themes, which can be summarised as: relief that the respondents had avoided the new fee regime; lack of understanding about current funding; fear that their families would suffer and taking a loan would somehow be a ‘selfish’ strategy; fear that graduate employment would still elude them; fear that their age would mean that they would never be able to repay the debt; a perception that the new regime would generate ‘extra’ money for universities which would be reflected in increased contact hours and wariness about the generous repayment terms currently offered because a change of government could signal new policies and processes.     

Emeritus professors: Correlates of professional activity in retirement II

Dorfman (1980b) investigated correlates of professional activity in retirement of professors at a major state university who continued to reside in their academic community during the entire year. This follow-up study extends that research to the total population of emeriti by including emeriti who left the University community after retirement and emeriti who continued to live in the University community for part of the year. Interviews were conducted with 113 University of Iowa emeritus professors. There was consistency between level of professional activity during the preretirement career and level of professional activity in retirement for the entire group, with stayers more consistent than leavers. Significant correlates of professional activity in retirement for the entire group included rated importance of consulting and University service, strength of ties to colleagues and professional organizations outside the University, contacts with former students, and perceived rapidity of changes in knowledge in respondents' fields. Multiple regression results showed that the strongest predictors of professional activity in retirement were level of professional activity during the preretirement career and strength of ties to professional organizations outside the University.     

Simulation of institutional incentive plans for faculty early retirement using a behavioral model of retirement decision-making

This paper uses coefficient estimates from a model of retirement decision-making for faculty members in higher education institutions to simulate the impact of financial incentives for early retirement. The results suggest that plans can be designed to induce relatively large numbers of faculty members to retire prior to the mandatory retirement age. However, the costs of hiring replacements plus pension subsidies can be substantial, especially if the subsidies are directed toward faculty members with relatively low salaries. Hence, institutions wishing to provide open positions to hire new faculty may prefer different incentive plans than those whose goals do not require filling each position with a new faculty member.     

CAREER EDUCATION FOR OLDER PEOPLE

Though they need help, most people who are over 60 have an aversion to welfare as such and want to work. Most older persons find their pensions and/or social security benefits rapidly eroded by inflation and need some supplemental income. Similarly, many need to be sought out, assisted, and counseled back into active involvement in their own lives and that of their community. Career education, particularly directed at training older people to work in human services, the work of helping others, is viewed as a plausible, viable concept. It can help many older adults “retire to” rather than “retire from” and help them help themselves, their peers, and others. This paper encourages new and/or second careers for many older people.     

A changing child welfare workforce: What worker characteristics are valued in child welfare?

A child welfare system is responsible for making difficult decisions. Child welfare workers are charged with assessing and determining when a child is in need of protection, including when it is necessary to intervene on behalf of children when their caregivers’ abilities and/or situation is deemed to put them at risk of abuse or neglect. Although the child welfare workforce in Ontario attended to an estimated 125,281 child maltreatment investigations in 2013, little is known about the skills, education, and experiences of these investigating workers. Notwithstanding assumptions about the qualifications and characteristics necessary for effective child welfare practice, few studies explicitly link the specific characteristics of workers to children, youth, and families achieving positive case outcomes. These assumptions have been shaped by a multitude of factors including knowledge of human resources, professional standards, and educational requriements. This study examined data from five cycles over twenty years of Ontario Incidence Studies (-1993, -1998, -2003, -2008, -2013) to provide a profile of child welfare workers. This is the first study to examine the changing profile of child welfare workers in any province in Canada and provides a foundation for developing effective recruitment and professional development strategies, and promoting a positive work environment. Policy and practice implications for the changing needs of these families are discussed.     

关于开发外来务工人员开放教育市场的调研报告

中国在农民工继续教育上有着根本的利益,农民工聚居社区的政府、企业、农民工,甚至学校,他们在农民工教育方面也都有着共同利益.外来务工人员是一个非常好学的群体,在很大程度上是愿意为自己的继续教育买单的,平均每人年继续教育开支的意愿达700元.必须把教育基础设施建到农民工的身旁,在每个拥有1～1.5万元左右农民工的聚居区建立一个学习中心,一辆短程的公共汽车就能把一个学习中心和周围的学习中心联结起来,形成一个社区/开放大学.农民工需要职业技术培训和学历文凭相结合的教育项目,成人补习教育、娱乐休闲教育等需要创造性地运用网络和面对面授课相结合.我们需要一个真正的开放大学:即是没有门槛;教育超市;开放教育市场.我们建议“政府自上而下推动“ “有创意的红娘“ “社区利益相关者共建“的模式.中央政府和工业区密集的地方政府可以分别设立“工业区社区大学专项资金“,鼓励“有创意的红娘“来申请“赠款“,举办工业区的社区大学.工业区建立之前就存在的成人学校挂上一块社区大学的牌子来面对今天农民工这批新产业工人的多样性教育需求,弄得不好就是“刻舟求剑“、“削足适履“.因此,鼓励大学教育家举办社区大学,这不是传统意义上的国家所有制的大学,也不是民办大学,而是既有国家“赠款“,又有社区(镇/村)公共投入,还有企业和其他社会团体和民众投入的真正意义上的社区大学.这种社区大学是真正非盈利的,可定性为新兴的“事业单位“,产权完全归社会所有.当中国在五到十年内进入下一轮高等教育扩张时,可能这种“全工半读“的“开放大学“将成为高等教育的主力,一种提供“只要愿意,肯劳动,人人都可上大学“的新通道.     

RECRUITMENT,RETENTION, AND RETIREMENT: COMPENSATION AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

ABSTRACT

Faculties are aging along with the rest of society. Low retirement rates and slow growth limit the number of new hiring opportunities in many institutions. Universities face a series of common challenges that will shape higher education in the 21st century. In order to maintain high quality faculties in the coming years, universities must develop compensation policies and employment practices that are appropriate for the new economic and demographic environment. This paper examines existing human resources (HR) policies and considers potential modifications that will enable institutions to recruit, retain, and retire faculty in the coming years. The analysis reviews the soaring cost of health insurance for active and retired faculty and how these plans are being amended. We also review the widespread adoption of phased retirement plans and the use of early retirement programs as components of HR policy. The increasing reliance on nontenure track faculty is also described. The analysis focuses on the challenges that universities face in the current economic and demographic conditions and the methods that administrators can adopt to fulfill their teaching and research missions. The paper presents the results from a national conference consisting of new research and intense discussion by scholars, administrators, policymakers, and HR consultants.     

Education level explains participation in work and education later in life

A prolonged working life is crucial for sustaining social welfare and fiscal stability for countries facing ageing populations. The group of older adults is not homogeneous; however, differences within the group may affect the propensity to continue working and to participate in continuing education. The aim of this paper is to explore how participation in work and education vary with gender, age, and education level in a sample of older adults. The study was performed in Sweden, a context characterized by high female labour-market-participation rates and a high average retirement age. The participants were 232 members of four of the major senior citizens’ organizations. We found no differences in participation in work and education based on gender. People older than 75 years were found to be as active as people 65–75 years old in education, but the older group worked less. There were positive associations between education level and participation in both work and education. Hence, this study implies that socio-economic inequalities along these dimensions are widened later in life. This highlights the importance of engaging workers with lower education levels in educational efforts throughout life. It also emphasizes the need for true lifelong learning in society.     

Geriatric community health workers’ views about aging,work, and retirement: implications for geriatrics and gerontology education

ABSTRACT

Seasoned geriatric community health workers offered valuable data that will inform educators and community health workers working with older persons. Geriatric community health workers’ views about retirement and about facilitators and barriers that keep them engaged with older adults during retirement were identified. Twenty geriatric community health workers participated in semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted by the research team. Sixty percent of the participants (N = 12) reported plans not to work during retirement, although 40% (N = 8) expressed interest in full- or part-time employment post-retirement. When asked about their expectations to stay in the field of aging or gerontology in some capacity during retirement, 30% (N = 6) expected to stay in gerontology during retirement. The findings from this research will help organizations and educational institutions create programs and resources that will encourage geriatric community health workers to continue working in the field of aging during retirement.