Our Work
Parenting UK began in 1995 as the Parenting Forum of the National Children's Bureau. It has played a major role in the progression of the parenting education and support sector, and in 2007 won the bid to provide the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners, with the Family and Parenting Institute and Kings College London. View our Timeline for more about our work As well as our day to day work of supporting people who work with parents, Parenting UK works on specific projects. Here are some recent examples. Self Assessment Skills Scan Piloting New Units and Qualifications based on the National Occupational Standards for Work with Parents The main objectives of the tests and trials project are to: The units and qualifications are aimed at practitioners who may be new to this area of work and those who already have some of the necessary knowledge and skills. The latter group include for example, health visitors, social workers, clinical and educational psychologists, education welfare workers, youth justice workers and CAFCASS teams. The achievement of these units and qualifications are important for a number of reasons: The work of the DCSF in promoting NOS by requiring those working with parents in Children’s Centres and Extended Schools to conform to them is a powerful incentive to employers to be informed about the NOS and to ensure that their staff have the necessary knowledge and skills. The Early Learning Partnership Project With DCSF funding, the National Children's Bureau (NCB) and its partner organisations (Coram Family, Thomas Coram Children’s Centre and the London Borough of Camden Early Years Service) developed the PEAL (Parents, Early Years and Learning) model (Strand 1) – a best practice framework for working in partnership with parents living in disadvantaged areas, in order to support the development of parental involvement in children’s early learning.
This guide has been designed to help anyone working with (or planning to work with) parents to assess their own level of competence. It is currently being revised and will be available later in 2008. Email any enquiries.
The training has been mapped against the National Occupational Standards for the Early Years and for Work with Parents. The NCB and Parenting UK were successful in their tender relating to Strand 3 Upskilling the Workforce, of the Early Learning Partnerships Programme (ELPP).
The ELPP emphasises three main elements:
- Delivery of PEAL training to as many practitioners as possible
- An expanded delivery of other training programmes which train practitioners to support parental involvement in children’s learning
- Accreditation against emerging national training and qualification frameworks for all the above training
This is a very significant time for workforce development in the early years sector as a number of major national quality improvement initiatives are currently being rolled out simultaneous with the development of national training and qualifications frameworks.
In June 2008, Parenting UK will be launching an advice line to support parents involvement in their children's early learning. There will also be a dedicated ELPP area on the Parenting UK website with links to relevant information and organisations, answers to requently asked questions and a map of learning programmes piloted during the project.
One Plus One has completed this two year project in partnership with Parenting UK. The project was based on a comprehensive research literature review and built on the compelling evidence that problems in the parental relationship, whether parents live together or not, impact on the wellbeing of children. Parental conflict undermines the effectiveness of parent education programmes. Most programmes and schemes offering support to parents do not address adult relationship issues. The project funded the development of new training and materials, their adaptation for a wider range of parent educators and supporters, and their availability nationally.
The resources are designed around 3 training modules which provide a flexible add-on to parenting courses or to the training of those supporting individual parents one to one. They are in line with the National Occupational Standards for Work with Parents and comprise:
- an accredited Training Pack (with OCN as part of Parenting UK’s TWP course) with trainer’s guide and facilitator’s workbook, video/DVD and CD-ROM to provide copies of the visuals and worksheets
- Workbook for Facilitators with video/DVD
For more information go to the website.
Leonardo da Vinci Project
Parenting in Europe in the 21st Century
(Europarent.org)
Parenting in Europe in the 21st Century was a three-year project which began in October 2004, with partners from nine countries, including service providers, umbrella bodies, universities, non-government organisations, awarding bodies and training providers. The aims of the project were to enable practitioners to share information regarding training and qualifications, national standards and values, in order to make them better able to influence policymakers and those in a parenting role.
The project developed a website for the exchange of information and good practice. There were 19 partners in the start-up network, expanding to at least 30 by the end of the project. Dissemination conferences have been held in various countries across Europe.
The project, which is a Transnational Network funded by the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme, will enable the parenting sector to be more aware of developments in partner countries and elsewhere and to move towards coherence in training qualifications across Europe.
EU Work with Migrant Fathers was a Socrates funded project, working with groups of migrant fathers in various European countries. To download the report on the Socrates project on Black and Minority Ethnic/migrant fathers, click here to view Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. The Trainer manual documents are the work of the eight partners (from Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain) and the results of their evaluations. Click here for a demonstration.
Quick Links
Early Learning Partnerships Project (ELPP)
ELPP was a DCSF funded project to help parents of very young children get involved in their children's early learning. View the Map of training programmes delivered to practitioners and the DCSF briefing paper on Early Learning
Website Last Updated
11th July 2008