Course 2. Professional development and continuous learning

Main ideas

1. After the age of 50, the risk of long-term unemployment increases. Many older workers face difficulties when it comes to recruitment, access to training opportunities, job transition and age-adapted tasks.
2. Senior entrepreneurs are individuals over 50 years of age (50+). Senior entrepreneurship is seen as a major opportunity to prolong working lives, reduce old-age unemployment and improve the social inclusion of older individuals.
3. Mentoring relationships are designed to enhance personal and professional development. Being involved in formal mentoring practices is a valuable path to boosting entrepreneurial skills.
4. Both mentors and entrepreneurs have aligned competences, skills and behaviours. This means that the abilities that define a good mentor are the ones expected from any entrepreneurial mind-set.
5. Mentoring is about experience- and knowledge-sharing. A mentor never stops learning and active learning skills are part of the core competences of a good mentor and of any entrepreneur.

Aims of the course

The aim of this course is to lead the senior learner (50+) to practice core skills related to lifelong learning as one of the most required competences for a mentor-entrepreneur. The course introduces the concept of senior entrepreneurship, aligning the core competences of a mentor and the core competences of an entrepreneur. This course also approaches the concept and theory of reverse mentoring as a practice, the pairing up of younger and senior entrepreneurs and/or professionals, aimed at reducing generation gaps in work environments and facilitating a transfer of knowledge between the generations. The practical aspects of this course focus on planning, implementing and assessing a formal mentoring programme.