Work and Families: Choice and Flexibility

A NIACE response to the Department of Trade and Industry consultation on commitments set out in the 2004 Pre-Budget Report to help parents and carers better balance work and family life.
Published: February 2005

1. The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the government’s consultation document, Work and Families: Choice and Flexibility, and its attempts to give parents and carers greater choice in balancing work and family life. NIACE supports the principle inherent in the consultation that parents are best qualified to make the decisions that affect their children, assisted by government support for families.

2. NIACE works to encourage more and different adults to engage in learning of all kinds. It is an independent non-governmental organisation, a registered charity (No. 1002775) and company limited by guarantee (No. 2603322). Its corporate and individual members are from all sectors concerned with adult learning and include FE colleges, local authorities, universities, voluntary and community learning providers, churches, employers, unions and broadcasters. Its functions include research, development and consultancy; advocacy to inform and influence public policy; campaigning for, and celebrating the achievement of, adult learners; information services and dissemination.

3. NIACE is responding to the consultation because it believes that positive parenting is of fundamental importance to children’s achievement. However, work commitments and lack of time in general can hinder parental involvement. NIACE believes that with the right support, parenting is a positive, beneficial experience; a powerful driver for lifelong learning – linking Adult and Community Learning (ACL) and family learning to parenting. The experience of parenting can also assist parents in re-entering the labour market. There are a number of ways in which family learning can make a positive contribution to the role of parents envisaged within Work and Families as both carers and workers in terms of improving parenting skills and in workforce development, for example, in the childcare sector.

4. NIACE uses the term ‘family learning’ to encompass the wide range of formal and informal learning activities which involve families, helping them to understand and develop the skills involved in family roles, relationships and responsibilities. ‘Families’ are understood by NIACE to include not just parents and children but also grandparents and other relatives as well as other adults involved in caring roles, for example, childminders and foster parents.

5. NIACE welcomes the government’s attempts to support parents both within the context of families and work as a means to encourage a suitable and flexible work-life balance for those with caring responsibilities. This is timely in light of recent research that reveals parents would like to see more policy from government to help them get the right balance between work and family life (Swan & Cooper 2005). Particularly important is the government’s realisation that the needs of families and children must be advanced with the needs of the labour market, not in conflict with them. Indeed, this research study also found that half of parents are unhappy with their family and work balance with the latter dominating to the detriment of the former, particularly in terms of spending time with children. However, the negative effects of unsuccessful work-life balance are felt not only at home but also in the work domain resulting in decreased morale and productivity (Swan & Cooper 2005).

6. In terms of giving children the best start in life, research suggests that the intellectual, social and behavioural development of children whose parents actively engage in activities with them is better than those who do not (see, for example, Desforges and Abouchaar (2003) and the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) at the Institute of Education, University of London (1997 – present)). Having children often represents a ‘new start’ for adults whose own experiences of education were unhappy and unsuccessful. Becoming positively involved in their children’s development through learning as a family or ‘family learning’ is also beneficial for adults and can increase confidence and raise aspirations. Ofsted (2000) reported that successful family learning programmes result in improved standards and competence in numeracy and literacy for children and parents respectively (Ofsted 2000 in Desforges & Abouchar 2003).

7. Many employers have responded to shifting labour market and family life patterns with the introduction of family friendly working policies. Work and Families recognises the changing nature of family life and working patterns since the 1970s such as the increased proportion of women working in paid employment in the UK including those with caring responsibilities. The government appreciates the contribution of greater female employment towards the creation of a more dynamic economy and increased tax revenues. The increased numbers of women in paid employment with children is reflected in the significant expansion in the childcare sector. Many of its employees are parents whose responsibilities were the stimulus for their commitment to work in this sector. Similarly, evidence from parental involvement in pre-schools found that the experience encouraged parents to move from voluntary to permanent members of staff (McGivney 1998).

8. The workplace itself can be an important provider of lifelong learning opportunities for parents. Recent research evidence from the NIACE Adult Participation in Learning Survey conducted in 2004 found that learning activities usually associated with the workplace including doing the job, being shown techniques by colleagues, engaging in self-reflection and active observation, were often of more help to employees in raising their performance than attending training courses or acquiring qualifications (Felstead et al 2005).

9. Government support for families in the form of childcare places, part time nursery places for three and four year olds and Sure Start Local Programmes all provide opportunities for parents and carers to engage in lifelong learning or employment. NIACE believes that families do require high-level support from the government including flexibility in the transferability of maternity and paternity leave.

10. Work and Families sets out plans for the government to work with local authorities to improve the accessibility and quality of local information and advice about childcare using Sure Start Children’s Centres as the focus. A one-stop information shop for working families would be useful in helping parents make informed choices about their work and caring responsibilities. Children’s Centres could also be used to effectively promote local family learning opportunities to working families.

11. Children’s Centres can also provide adult learning opportunities for parents not taking leave from work. Family learning and ACL can help parents gain skills and qualifications in readiness to enter/re-enter the labour market. Children’s Centres should provide entry points for parents to learn and progress, and where possible, gain qualifications.

12. A joined up approach to information and advice services would be beneficial to families ensuring that they have access to information across a wide range of areas and related concerns. For example, it would be useful to link information and advice on childcare with learndirect, making information, advice and guidance on learning and training opportunities available to parents and with a service such as Parentline Plus, the national help line for parents.

13. The government notes that some women resign from work in order to bring up their children at home full-time. NIACE appreciates that mothers who are not economically active whilst their children are young may be low or medium skilled. However, the National Evaluation of Sure Start revealed that many women participating in Sure Start Local Programmes did not want to return to the labour market while their children were very young and expressed reservations about its appropriateness (NESS 2004). It is important that the government acknowledges this desire and supports parents not in employment, utilising family and adult learning, to help them in their eventual return to the labour market. Family learning, generally, recognises that parents may need or want to think long-term rather than short-term about their options in returning to work, while their children are very young. The government’s aim of increasing the percentage of women in employment from 70 per cent to 75 per cent in the recent Department for Work and Pensions’ Five Year Strategy (DWP 2005) may therefore present a tension and NIACE is aware that there may be difficult decisions ahead if the government wishes to successfully resolve this strain.

14. The government through a small number of Regional Development Agencies is currently running pilot programmes to support women returnees, providing careers advice, training, confidence building and childcare, all of which could easily be incorporated into family learning programmes.

15. Family learning, specifically Family Literacy and Family Numeracy courses have proved significant in helping parents attain basic employability skills as a pre-cursor to re-entering the labour market. Research by NIACE in 2003 found that the effects of Family Literacy, Language and Numeracy (FLLN) on families were very positive in terms of progression onto other activities, for example, training for a job, applying for a job, starting another family programme, learning for fun or volunteering in school (NIACE 2003).

16. The government recognises the increased involvement of fathers with their children and evidence that fathers would like greater involvement in caring for their children. The major barriers for fathers are work and lack of time (Goldman 2004) and greater flexibility in working patterns for both men and women would assist in encouraging fatherly involvement. There are a number of benefits for children arising from their father’s involvement according to a review of the research by the DfES including “better examination results, better school attendance and behaviour, less criminality, higher quality of later relationships and better mental health” (DfES 2004).

17. Support is also important in the development of relationships between fathers and their children; indeed, positively promoting the involvement of fathers in their children’s learning and development has been successfully illustrated in a number of family learning initiatives. The NIACE evaluation of the impact of adults’ participation in family learning in Lancashire noted three such programmes; Dads and Lads, Dads and Bigger Lads and Howzat Dads and Lads designed to encourage fathers to become more involved in their children’s education (Horne & Haggart 2004). Similarly, the extension of Statutory Maternity Pay from nine to 12 months is another means for the government to illustrate its support for families during a child’s first year of life.

18. The benefits of positively supporting parents can help break generational cycles of deprivation. Supporting parents now to help their children can have an important impact on educational outcomes for future generations. The Department for Work and Pensions, for example, notes that one key factor in children’s educational attainment is that of their parents alongside the interest that is shown in children’s education (DWP 2004). Family learning is one means by which parental attainment can be raised thereby providing positive examples that learning is a normal, lifelong experience and raising aspirations and expectations. Supporting families to find time to learn together is an important factor in dealing with disadvantage and increasing opportunities for families.

19. Work and Families sets out a number of important practical suggestions to help families achieve an appropriate work-life balance between caring and working. Research repeatedly shows the importance of parents spending time with their children not only in terms of the benefits it gives to children but to society as a whole and NIACE welcomes government support for this endeavour. Family learning can support government attempts to help families work and care effectively. In particular, family learning can offer real benefits to all parents in terms of raising confidence and opening the door to further learning and work opportunities, improved parenting skills and the development of better relationships with their children.

20. NIACE would be pleased to discuss any aspect of this response with DTI officials. Please contact Jeanne Haggart, Development Officer for Family Learning (email Jeanne.haggart@niace.org.uk) or Dr. Rachel Spacey, Research Assistant (Family Learning) (email Rachel.spacey@niace.org.uk).

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