ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a rationale for intergenerational learning (IGL) based on analysis of changes in the lives of children and older adults. Demographic, social, economic, cultural and technological changes in societies have impacted at both ends of the life course resulting in cultural distance between young and old. Changes in family structures, work patterns, institutionalisation of education and care as well as an increasingly digitalised society have resulted in old and young spending less time in each other’s company and missing out on opportunities to learn from each other. Research evidence suggests that grandparents in previous generations introduced grandchildren to a wider world of community and work. While there is growing awareness of the important role that grandparents play in the lives of grandchildren, especially as providers of childcare, the educational role of grandparents may be overlooked. Older adulthood is increasingly seen as a time of great variability and developmental potential. The idea of the ‘social grandparent’ links the role of elders in society with volunteering and IGL. IGL has potential to empower both children and older people thereby enriching each other’s lives. IGL promotes values of solidarity and fosters intergenerational interdependence.
