I retired recently. What education or training options are there for people of my age?

A couple of years ago I retired with little thought to my future plans other than that my wife and I would enjoy our leisure years together. Sadly, she passed away suddenly just over a year ago. A friend suggested I sign up for a part-time course as a way of meeting people and reconnecting with the world. I find the thought exciting but also hugely intimidating. I left school at 16 and haven’t been engaged in formal education for over 50 years. Is a return to education viable at 67?

My sympathies at your bereavement. A theory proposed by Dr William Glasser, the father of Reality Therapy, is that we have five needs in life: to love and belong, to be powerful, to be free, to have fun and to survive.

As we progress through our family, working, and social lives, we unconsciously meet those needs. As we approach the mandatory retirement age, most of us focus on the finances, without giving much thought to how our complex human needs are met either directly or indirectly through our working lives.

It is not an exaggeration to state that many retirees experience a deep sense of disorientation in the period after they stop working. They have freedom to do whatever they want daily – with few financial worries, if they are lucky – and yet often feel totally lost. To lose one’s life partner at this time is doubly disorientating.

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Every day we can choose to learn something new, either formally through engagement in some form of learning, or informally through pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones

Lifelong learning is essential, I think, in helping to meet our basic needs. Sadly, our society is stuck with the notion that education starts at early childhood and ends at 64. I am in my 70th year and have no notion of disengaging from the world of work.

Every day we can choose to learn something new, either formally through engagement in some form of learning, or informally through pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones.

[ Older, and wiser, students ]

There are a multitude of online education resources which you could access, but it’s people you need in your life right now and new challenges.

Why not visit your local further education (FE) college where you can explore what they can offer. You might be surprised by the variety of courses on offer. I chair one such college in Stillorgan where a “tour guiding” course has an average student age in the mid-60s.

If you want to consider a third-level degree, all universities now have access programmes where you can take smaller steps back to education, progressing at your own pace. There are also numerous adult education programmes offered through your local Education and Training Board.

We need to rethink our approach to education and lifelong learning. Retirement today is simply the opportunity to begin to create a second life for yourself.