Family learning

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What is Family Learning?

Family Learning is:

parents and children learning together
parents learning more about how their children learn
parents taking up learning opportunities to benefit their own learning, including literacy and numeracy, parenting courses, or other courses which interest them
it can also include learning with siblings, grandparents, step family and close family friends.

Family learning supports parents in their everyday lives with their children, and helps parents to make choices about their own learning. It is important to recognise that family learning builds on the strengths that already exists in families. Parents know their children best. Family learning uses that knowledge to support what children learn and how they learn, both in the pre-school and at home.

What subject can you study?

Almost any subject can be studied in family learning. Family literacy and family numeracy have become very popular. They give insight to parents about how children learn to talk and listen; read and write; and become competent in using number. Through family literacy and numeracy, many parents have moved on to improve their own reading and writing, and number work.

Other subjects such as arts and crafts, science, computers, drama and sport have also:

given parents and children opportunities to spend quality time together;
given parents opportunities to learn more about a subject;
shown children that adults can learn new things too; and
Shown adults that we can learn from children and each other.

A family learning programme

Although most settings will plan their family learning programme to suit the needs of their setting and the parents, there are some features which are common to all of them.

Time for parents talk about what will happen in the session and to organise their materials.
Time for parents and children to work together.
Time for the adults to reflect on the joint activity and what they think their child has learnt; how he or she set about the task; what may have surprised them; or given them new understanding of how to support their child.
Where possible, provision is made for parents to follow their own learning, either during the family programme, or following it. So, some settings will offer a literacy course for parents during a family literacy programme, while others will discuss with parents what type of course they would like and then offer it.

Benefits

The setting will be able to recognise the benefits of family learning quite quickly.

Parents will have a greater understanding of the aims of the setting, and through their involvement in family learning, will be more able to support their child.

As a result of being involved in family learning, parents may begin to be more involved with the setting and this will in turn benefit the children.

However, the most important person in the setting, the child will also benefit because:

he or she will be able to spend more time with mum or dad;
have support in his/her learning;
help for things which are really hard; and
chances to show just how good they are at something.
chances to show just how good he/she is at something.