Co-ordinated by Campaign for Learning, the coalition is asking five things of Government to restore family learning, they include extending the eligibility of funded childcare hours to parents wanting to take part in family learning/training and who are not already eligible, along with creating a single national ring-fenced family learning budget.
The coalition includes Boromi - a group of non-profit play libraries, The Centre for Emotional Health, National Numeracy, Peeple - a charity that supports parents and children to learn together, School-Home support and WEA - a provider of adult learning courses.
Family learning involves both children and adult family members and where learning and development outcomes are intended for both the child and the adult. Courses are normally delivered in community settings such as schools and nurseries.
The coalition also wants to see the value of family learning embedded into the workforce development of the education sector in England, and for the integration of family learning into the work of family support services, including family hubs and children’s centres.
Julia Wright, coordinator of the group, said, ‘An opportunity exists to create a national system of family learning in which every child and every parent benefits.
‘Family learning supports literacy, language, and numeracy, and promotes health, wellbeing and understanding across the curriculum, from science to financial education and parenting. It is vital that family learning is positioned at the heart of every local community in England.’
