Intergenerational Relationships Among Older Learners and Younger Students: Between the Academic and the Social

Background and Purpose: Intergenerational relationships in society have become a challenge within today’s society perceiving young as ideal. Despite the ongoing increase in life expectancy, being old is perceived less desirable, encouraging discrimination against older adults just because of their age. Towards a broader inclusion of various age groups in the public domain and social spaces, the Age Friendly University (AFU) initiative and age-inclusive intergenerational educational practices within academic settings coincide with the World Health Organization’s age-friendly cities and ecosystems program. The AFU includes principles of age inclusion such as lifelong learning, involvement through inter-generational learning, nurturing an organizational culture that encourages inclusion of older adults in on and off campus activities, including research, study, and community related activities, and making physical access easier for older adults. One of the practices for achieving such goals is opening graduate and undergraduate university courses to older learners (aged 65+). Understanding the challenges influencing intergenerational classroom effectiveness, our study aimed to understand learning/teaching experiences in university intergenerational classroom courses considering, from an ecosystem’s perspective, the viewpoints of older learners, students and faculty.

Methods: Courses were randomly chosen from social work, the humanities, and law (n=50) out of 187 courses open to older listeners in the spring semester at the University of Haifa, Israel. Faculty were contacted by email suggesting their course participate in the research. The sample included 11 courses, some with 80 to 150 participants, others with up to 20 participants. Some included more older learners than students. Participants included older learners (n=11) aged 63 to 86, students (n=11) aged 22 to 34, and well established and experienced faculty (n=7). Semi-structured qualitative interviews (n=29) lasting between 20 to 45 minutes were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim for data analysis using thematic analysis.

Results: Findings highlight the importance of including older learners’ perspectives along with students’ and faculty’s indicating key differences in learning motivations. Older learners sought enrichment, enjoyment, and meaningful engagement without academic obligations, whereas students focused on degree completion and professional development. These contrasting motivations shaped classroom dynamics, influencing perceptions of older learners as either contributing to discussions or disrupting structured learning. Interactions among students and older learners alike evolved around practical issues such as exchanging resources and helping each other. Social interactions also played a meaningful role. Both students and older learners prefer their own generation for social practices. Older learners form peer connections while perceiving students as part of the campus environment rather than social partners. Whereas both age groups value social engagement, generational differences led to limited cross-generational exchanges mutually shared by both generations.

Conclusions and Implications: Including all three stakeholder types contributed to a broader overall perspective on intergenerational classroom viewpoints. Findings highlight the importance of considering the differences between training courses for professions such as social work, and other type courses to improve intergenerational classroom experiences. Recommendations include revising university policy for coordinating expectations, providing a teachers’ toolbox, receiving older learners’ feedback, and establishing a suitable older learners-student ratio per course.