What education for an ageing society in which the elderly feel lonely?

Abstract

The extension of life expectancy is a process that is taking place, demographically speaking, in a rapid and widespread manner. By 2024, the population living in our country will grow and then begin to decline due to the reduced birth rate. What is certain is that the lengthening of life expectancy will continue, which will create a greater presence of the elderly in contrast to a reduction in the younger generation. 

What consequences can we draw from the fact that ageing lasts a lifetime and changes some phases, dilutes others, or even slows them down? And that it is not only individuals but also societies that are ageing? What does loneliness represent in the lives of these people?

This contribution intends to reflect on the idea that pedagogy, in a permanent perspective, should take up the question of old age, in the complexity of the aspects that contribute to connoting it, in order to build a new way of thinking, representing and living the later part of life.