How can we combat ageism in society and healthcare?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 biology, social science and PSHE.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Sherry Dahlke and Anndrea Vogt, gerontological nurses at the University of Alberta in Canada. They have developed a training programme to raise awareness of ageism among student nurses and improve their skills in caring for older people.

• This resource also contains an interview with Sherry and Anndrea and offers an insight into careers in gerontological nursing. If your students have questions for Sherry and Anndrea, they can send them to them online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Sherry and Anndrea will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Sherry and Anndrea’s research and challenges them to design a presentation to encourage their classmates to pursue a career in gerontological nursing.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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