Learning and Health in Later Life

Abstract

Without doubt one of the intriguing issues in later life is the relationship between learning and health. While this issue is important at any stage of life, it is especially poignant in the post-work phase of the life-course. Questions arise such as: can learning enhance the quality of life for older people? what policy links are or should there be between ‘lifelong learning’ and ‘positive ageing’? is well-being enhanced by participation in education (informal, non-formal, formal)? in what ways does poor health affect one’s willingness to learn in later life? These questions hint at the complex relationship between health and education in what is often a ‘dialectic’ relationship, one which is difficult to disentangle between cause and effect.