PROBLEMS OF USING ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION FOR WORKERS OF OLDER AGE GROUPS

The problem of preserving and using the labor potential of older workers today is one of the key problems of our country’s economy to ensure not only technological but also personnel sovereignty of the country. As a tool for maintaining a high level of qualification of this category of personnel to extend their professional career, it is proposed to use the capabilities of the additional vocational education (APE) system, which can provide a modern working specialist with the opportunity to implement the “lifelong learning” strategy. The passivity of the domestic business community in connecting and financing the solution to this problem is noted compared to employers of foreign companies, due to the entrenched idea of a serious decrease in the ability of older demographic representatives to learn and retrain, which leads to a decrease in the level of their motivation for learning and desire to extend their career. To refute this stereotype, the authors conduct research data on the initial capabilities of older age groups for effective labor activity from the point of view of their socio-psychological characteristics and intellectual capabilities. In addition, based on the analysis of foreign and domestic practice, the problems and possibilities of implementing the DPO system for older employees are considered, and the problems of the Russian DPO system in the university are formulated. Among the most significant of them, the negative attitude and desire to minimize the costs of employers on training and development of older workers, insufficient awareness of teaching staff about modern realities and problems of business practice, their unpreparedness to work with adult students, as well as the weakness of the material and technical base, software, information and methodological support or imperfection of their use are highlighted. The purpose of the study was to analyze stereotypes and substantiate the system of measures and proposals for training and retraining older workers through the active participation of representatives of the business community in the creation and implementation of DPO programs of the university. The most significant proposals are to achieve this goal through the active introduction of digitalization elements into this process, maximum approximation of programs to their customer, organization of training and development courses for the teaching and administrative staff of educational institutions to increase their awareness of current and future problems of business practice and the formation of competencies necessary for establishing effective interaction with older students. The theoretical significance of the research lies in the possibility of solving a number of scientific and applied problems related to the use of additional professional education to preserve the labor potential of older workers.The results of the study can be taken as a basis for increasing the customer-focusedness of training and retraining programs for older personnel of organizations, carried out through the system of additional professional education of Russian vocational education institutions, contributing to the preservation of the labor potential of older workers. Further research in this direction will reduce the impact of negative factors on the process of training and retraining of older workers in Russian vocational education institutions, taking into account the socio-psychological, motivational and other characteristics of older workers.