http://community.tes.co.uk/forums/t/558534.aspx?s_cid=Mon_news_COM
The general feeling seems to be that individuals should have a right to carry on working in their teaching role at this age, if they so want to, although most hope they will have been able to pack up work by then.
Isn't this a waste of one of the most valuable contributions that older people can make to society - to help pass on the huge wisdom and knowledge they have acquired over the years ?
Bearing in mind that at 65 many people will still have 20-30 years of life ahead of them (average lifespan of women in Surrey is now nearly 95 - and rising..) we are going to have to accept, like it or not, that complete retirement for all work or contribution to society needs to be pushed back further into later life (unless illness or disability intervenes).
About 10,000 people in the UK today are already over 100, but its estimated that 10 million people alive at the moment will reach 100 (17% of the population). The numbers speak for themselves, and the age of 68 starts to look more like it's still part of mid life. If you are going to reach 100, you probably still need to be working in some shape or form at 68. And the majority of 68 year olds today are still fairly spritely. Of course, many will have gone past the ability to manage heavy manual work (although we once had builders come in to extend our house and the guys digging the foundation were a 58 year old and his 81 year old father !) but perhaps a couple of hours 2 or 3 days a week teaching would be an achievable contribution to society. In Denmark, retirement has become a gradual process, slowly giving up a day a week at a time, over a period of several years.
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