Families know how Friday, November 5, 2010 - 18:28

Families know how: ask the family introduced and highlighted to politicians, civil servants, think tanks and senior local authority members, the concept of the learning family; how it fits into government and local authority agendas and its contribution to individuals, families and communities.

Sponsored by the Local Government Association (LGA) and London Guildhall, the event raised the profile of local authority family learning by showing how it can contribute to cost-saving in local authorities.

Attendees at the event heard from Carol Taylor, NIACE Director of Operations, and Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead and member of the Commons Education Select Committee. Also taking part in the event were:

• Lord Tim Boswell, former Conservative education minister, who is also leading an independent Inquiry into Adult and Youth Literacy in England, coordinated by NIACE;
• Charlotte Clark, Head of the Child Poverty Unit;
• Richard Bolsin, General Secretary Workers' Educational Association; and
• Carol Cox, Policy Adviser, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Family Learning has really shown us why education is important and it has given us the confidence and belief to deal with topics...we should have been learning when we were younger. It has really inspired us to do all we can to help our own children, encouraging them to understand that their education is very important to them.

Tanya and Toni

Attendees also got to hear directly from learners - like sisters Tanya Langley and Toni Kinsella - about how family learning has transformed their life.

When Tanya and Toni joined a Family Learning programme - at Bedfordshire Adult Skills and Community Learning in 2009 - they had no qualifications; they had both missed out on school due to family problems and Toni found herself in prison and pregnant at the age of 22.

Anxious to help their young children at school, the sisters joined a numeracy course. Through attending the course and having their dyslexia diagnosed, they have since gained qualifications in numeracy, ICT and are working towards literacy and Level 1 financial capability qualifications.

They are also Family Learning Numeracy Champions, keen to use their own experiences to help and support others facing similar difficulties. Their extraordinary learning achievements have been recognised with a local Adult Learners' Week Family Learning Award.

Tanya and Toni, said:

"Family Learning has really shown us why education is important and it has given us the confidence and belief to deal with topics which we now know we should have been learning when we were younger. It has really inspired us to do all we can to help our own children, encouraging them to understand that their education is very important to them."

Mandy Thomas, Senior Project Officer for Family Learning at NIACE, said:

"We know that learning together as a family has a real impact on adults, their children, their families and communities. The power of this impact really comes through when you talk directly to learners. We hope that attendees at this event will come away with lots of ideas for how to build family learning and the learning family into their policies."