At our last networking meeting we discussed what family learning was and what it was like in attendees’ contexts, how it had changed and what things they would like to change. Attendees were tutors at adult and community education centres in Sheffield and Norfolk.
Both had experiences of adult-only family learning and acknowledged that more family learning experiences now include both adults and children and make for a richer experience. In fact, often the children are key to encouraging adults to join family learning sessions.
Schools were used as centres and conduits for reaching parents and children – with their ‘ready-made’ audiences. That said, it was also acknowledged that schools do struggle to get parents to engage.
In the past, courses were longer, up to 12 weeks and accredited, whilst nowadays they tend to be shorter, unaccredited classes or workshops.
Participants expressed the overwhelming positive feedback from adults and children, as well as host venues, and the relationships forged between parents-children/ parents-parents/ parents and host venues. Family Learning therefore bonded all participants in positive ways and reflected on the benefit of feeling less alone.
They also fed back that the positive outcomes of family learning, which were:
- parents bonding better with their kids
- the difference it can have to a child’s life
- learning how to do things together, and
- realising the impact on their child’s development.
Common challenges:
- Current funding allocations for course development which limits courses to English and Maths
- Funding seems to be directed to courses focusing on these functional skills rather than other courses like Wellbeing or Managing Anxiety which have been highly rated and helpful to parents.
- Because of this the breadth of opportunities to learn is limited, and seemingly, because the subjects offered aren’t attractive, adults are seemingly less likely to engage.
- Adults feeling deterred and daunted by formal subjects like ‘Maths’
- We discussed courses about other subjects in which maths, for example, was integrated, such as ‘art’ through maths to make the subjects more holistically enticing.
- Difficulty getting adults and/or families enrolled
- Low attendance after enrolment
We would like to hear from people working in other contexts. If you would like to share, please reach out to [email protected]
Our next free networking event is on 27 March, where we will be discussing the Home Learning Environment.