[Qualification of elderly workers in industry--problems and opportunities]

The aim of the research project was to find out the conditions of a successful occupational qualification of older workers in the Federal Republic of Germany. The more recent results of psychological research concerning the learning capacities of older people suppose that older workers can also be qualified successfully with regard to the requirements of their job. However, the project results reveal that certain basic conditions should be fulfilled for the qualification of older workers. Training measures should take place during work time; the fact has to be respected that older workers need more time to learn than younger workers; the learning material should be divided into short, separated units; older workers should not be obliged to do home-work; the creation of learning groups among the older workers should refer to different degrees of qualification, not to the age of the workers.