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Adults learning in pre-schools

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Currently there is considerable interest in identifying and evaluating the learning outcomes of uncertified adult learning, in mapping progression routes from informal to formal education and in identifying ways of helping people to develop transferable skills. All of these are pertinent to the Pre-school Learning Alliance – a network which offers adults informal and formal opportunities to acquire new knowledge and skills at the same time as it offers children opportunities to learn and develop through informal play activities and interaction with others. Although the children’s learning process is readily recognised, there is also anecdotal evidence that parents and carers who help in the running of Pre-schools derive considerable benefits from the experience.

Parents can learn a considerable amount informally through their involvement in the running of a pre-school group. The principal aim of the study was to investigate the extent and nature of such gains. It was concerned with ‘learning’ in the broad sense of acquisition of transferable knowledge and skills, both personal and occupational, that may help people in any dimension of their lives.

The study, based on a postal survey and telephone interviews, reveals that parents valued the opportunity to meet other parents, to gain insights into how children develop, to gain communication and organisational skills. In many instances the confidence they learned spurred them to seek further voluntary work or paid employment. Others took up other learning opportunities.

Readership: social policy researchers; voluntary organisations.

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