Family Learning

Family Learning provides a range of opportunities for families in the widest sense (children, parents, carers, grandparents and members of extended family) to learn together in order to develop skills across generations.

As well as offering support for family learning activities Adult and Family Learning provides support for parents to promote wellbeing and support to help them gain skills for employment or volunteering (see the Adult and Family Learning Parent Support Programme).

We enable families to learn in a relaxed atmosphere, picking up ideas to reinforce learning at home and in the community.

Benefits of family learning

  • Promoting lifelong learning for the whole family.
  • Building the confidence of family members of all ages as they join together in a learning activity.
  • Helping to involve parents/carers in their children’s education and to be better able to support them.
  • Improving functional skills for family learning, English, maths and information technology.
  • Combating the feelings which lead to poor well-being.
  • Raising the achievement of adults.

Priority is given to the following groups:

  • Families on low income in receipt on benefits
  • Families at risk
  • Families with special needs
  • Families living in deprived or disadvantaged areas
  • Learners who have not reached a level 2 qualification
  • Families needing support to learn English as an additional language
  • Teenage parents
  • Fathers and male carers
  • Looked after children with their carers
  • Travellers and asylum seekers

Wider Family Learning (WFL)

WFL is to support different generations of family members to learn together. It has the aims to:

  • developing the skills and knowledge of parents/carers and child participants; and
  • enabling parents/carers to be more active in the support of their children’s learning and development and to understand the impact of that support.

Family English, Maths and Language (FEML)

The provision is to address basic skills need and provide support for families where English is not the primary language.

Programmes should aim to:

  • Improve the English, maths and language skills of parents and careers and their ability to help their children;
  • Improve children’s acquisition of English, Maths and language skills; and
  • Provide information and communication technology (ICT) courses.