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Learning Partnerships, Leeds, 2003
Background
Staff from Learning Partnerships, a voluntary sector educational
organisation, interviewed parents to gain their views on their
own and their families' learning experiences. They talked
to 73 adults from 61 families in a deprived area of Leeds.
When asked what they would like to be doing in five to ten
years' time, the majority of parents focused on employment,
and felt that they would have to undertake some kind of training
or learning to achieve their aims. Most of the parents also
had aspirations for their children, including achieving good
grades and going on to further or higher education: they saw
success in education as the best way for their children to
reach their full potential.
Key findings
Although 38 of the parents would like to be more involved
with their child's education, half did not respond when asked
what help they would like in order to support their child's
education better. Only seven specified that they would like
to be more involved with the school. Most said that they would
like to take part in classes that would promote their children's
educational development, but they were often hampered by a
number of constraints, such as work and family commitments
that left little time for anything else. A small group felt
that they lacked confidence to participate in group activities;
a few were concerned about childcare, and a few more felt
that their English language skills were inadequate. However,
most were keen to take part in informal discussion groups
focusing on their children's needs.
Other findings
- 24 adults wanted to improve their literacy and language
skills in order to support their children better, and 10
wanted to improve their ICT skills for this reason.
- 32 parents said that they did not understand about the
National Curriculum and Key Stages.
- Almost all parents felt that their neighbourhood did not
offer opportunities for families to spend time together.
Putting
the findings into practice
Evidence from the interviews is being used to develop the
organisation's strategic plan and inform the content of Learning
Partnerships' family learning programmes. Parent Action Learning
Sets (PALS) is a family learning project Learning Partnerships
has set up as a result of this research, to help parents gain
the skills they need to bring up their children. Small groups
of parents meet on a monthly basis with a trained facilitator,
who helps the parents to set and fulfil their goals, providing
information about courses available to them and supporting
their attendance and learning. There are also workshops and
taster sessions in subjects identified by the parents. Pilots
will be set up in conjunction with two high schools, two primary
schools and one Sure Start programme, with more groups forming
after evaluation.
PALS is funded by a grant over three years from the Families
Division of the Department for Education and Skills.
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