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WELCOME to East Lothian Intergenerational Network
Intergenerational Practice. In UK the four national centres of excellence / leads in intergenerational practice adopt the Beth Johnson Foundation definition - as is used in other countries. (There are a number of definitions and descriptors used for intergenerational practice. Most share an affinity to the commonly used international definition shared here.)
Intergenerational practice aims to bring people together in purposeful, mutually beneficial activities which promote greater understanding and respect between generations and contributes to building more cohesive communities. Intergenerational practice is inclusive, building on the positive resources that the younger and older have to offer each other and those around them. (Beth Johnson Foundation, 2009)
As noted on Generations Working Together website, this definition acknowledges the importance of bringing younger and older people together, but sees this in the wider context of a community constructed from a number of generations.
Intergenerational Learning is the way that people of all ages can learn together and from each other. It is an important part of Lifelong Learning, where the generations work together to gain skills, values and knowledge.
Beyond the transfer of knowledge it fosters reciprocal learning relationships between different generations and helps develop social capital and social cohesion in our ageing societies.
Intergenerational Care is the practice of bringing together the young and elderly (creating opportunities for care to become the main focus of an intergenerational relationship).
Intergenerational Solidarity refers to the degree of closeness and support between different generations. The notion of solidarity helps us to understand how people of different generations relate to, help and depend on one another in their daily lives.
In Scotland, we generally take intergenerational to relate to
those who would not normally connect with each other (ie, not family relations)
the generations have at least a generation (20-25 years) between them.
intergenerational practice is deemed to be intentional with meaningful activities and interests used to support positive relationships rather than the connections being based on outcome of an end product in the activity or focus of the grouping.
In reality, where positive relationships are developed and the activities are found to be mutually beneficial the outcomes will include the 'purpose' of the activity in a practical sense and the wider benefits of generations connecting in this way.
Ageless Society (in context) has been a phrase introduced to think about society without ageism being prevalent, but also recognising the increasing lifespan as well as better health than in generations which have gone before.
Age Friendly Communities - a description and network based on evidence from WHO on what supports healthy and active ageing in a place. In these communities, older residents help to share the place that they live. This involves local groups, councils, businesses and residents all working together to identify and make changes in both the physical and social environments, for example transport, outdoor spaces, volunteering and employment, leisure and community services.
This concept is shared through a UK networks. SOPA is an associate member for Scotland.
Multigenerational - relates to several generations. This article* relates to Intergenerational or Multigenerational - A Question of Nuance
*"It helps to draw on the distinction that 'multigenerational' reflects the generational characteristics while 'intergenerational' is a reflection of the exchanges between the generations and the impact of mutual influences among the generations" (Villar, 2007) .5 Jul 2022
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