From Being in their Own Shadow, to Finding their Place in the Sun: First World Mature-Aged Unemployed Men

Glamorgan A¹*

1. Challenger TAFE, Beaconsfield, Victoria, Australia

Welfare nets in first world countries give material protection to men who are or become long-term unemployed in their middle of their lives, but such material support does not much meet their need for esteem, community participation or meaning.

How to re-engage these men into the community? There appears little social urgency to resource mature aged men to make their re-entry into the workplace or find new educational and retraining opportunities, let alone for them to become more involved in their community.

Now a pioneering Western Australian Technical & Further Education “men’s access” course is exploring how this could change. What is emerging is not just a question of matching skills-set to occupational opportunity, but also one that addresses the crisis of meaning and social relevance these men often confront in the process.

Story and action research are getting these men to step out of their own shadow, to find their engaged place in the sun, is a challenge that is vital to first world communities, where increasing age, especially where it is connected with social marginality, tends to diminish status and rob the community of great experience. This workshop will summarise the learning of the staff and students of the men’s access course, and suggest ways of engaging men in the wider community.

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