6: Let’s Go on an Adventure … Embracing and Implementing Intergenerational Learning

Intergenerational practice is growing in popularity worldwide. There are a number of reasons for the development of this including societal changes, perceived ageism and increasing lifespan, as reported by Van der Ven (2011) and Yasunaga et al. (2016), among others. In recent years, the benefits of such practice, together with learning opportunities, are emerging from related research, along with areas of caution.

You may have seen some of the high profile examples such as Channel 4’s programme about the old people’s home for four-year-olds where young nursery children met older adults in a retirement village (University of Bath, 2017), or the Maori ‘language nest’ model for reviving dying languages in New Zealand (Living the Language, 2014) where parents and children worked with community elders to learn the dying language of their culture. Or, you may already have experienced aspects of intergenerational activity through your training and experience and may be drawn to participate in such activity over the coming months. While it is clear that there are potential benefits, you must also be careful not to be drawn into fads or ‘half-hearted attempts at pedagogy’ (Webster, 2019, p. 23).