Aging & Social Change: Twelfth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

In this paper, we present the applied part of the GENPATH project, which focused on the creation of model lessons for the so-called framework curricula for schools. Within these lessons, loneliness and exclusion from social relationships are presented as a possible part of an intergenerationally shared experience. Loneliness is a frequent feature of narratives about ageing and is sometimes seen as its most prominent definition feature. However, available research suggests that the highest proportions of subjective feelings of loneliness are in late adolescence or early adulthood, and only then in old age. The lessons focus on opening the topic of loneliness as well as a gateway to broader debates about old age and age discrimination, another strong link in the so-called generational alliances. In this paper, we present the process of creating and piloting these model lessons, against which we discuss the challenges and opportunities for setting gerontological literacy and promoting generational intelligence in schools as part of social change efforts. These forms of early intervention are enhanced by a life course approach and knowledge about the early foundations of not only attitudes towards old age but also ageing itself.