Family Learning has traditionally been embraced as an effective means of addressing the learning needs of children and adults. Advocates, stress the “double-impact” of working with two generations together to break the cycle of underachievement in basic skills. Many parents return to learning to support their children and in turn are inspired to improve their own skills. Children’s achievements subsequently increase as a result of the support and encouragement they receive from their parents along with the development of a learning environment at home. The evidence to support this view however has mostly been qualitative in the form of case studies, reports from providers and small- scale surveys. It is a challenge to gather sufficient quantitative evidence nationally because family learning is delivered in a range of models by a variety of providers. 

Evidence and Research 

Longitudinal data is not easily collected but the impact of the family learning interventions is often not seen until months or even years after a course has finished. For example, a parent finding employment, enrolling on to a further education course or a child improving their test scores in reading or numeracy. 

Whilst learner satisfaction data is collected through the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s FE Choices annual survey the responses from family learning participants are not made readily available nationally or even to providers. Researchers and providers are also challenged by the range of wider impacts that family learning can achieve. Whilst improvements in basic skills are often seen as the most frequent achievements, family learning also contributes to a range of wider impacts on family relationships, employment, social mobility, health and well-being.

In England, the National Family Learning Forum together with the Department of Education and FLLAG (the Family Learning Local Authority group) are working on ways to collect substantial and meaningful evidence to make the case for family learning. A survey of family learning parents and tutors will commence in 2018, building on previous annual surveys organised by FLLAG. The aim is to capture the wider benefits including employment, health and well-being in addition to data about the educational achievements of parents and children.

NALA Family Learning Conference

In November 2017 I was fortunate to attend the NALA (National Adult Literacy Agency) Family Learning Conference in Dublin. I found out that adult and community learning providers in Ireland are also challenged by this issue. As DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) funding ceased in 2014 some districts in Ireland have either stopped or reduced their delivery of family learning. Practitioners feel the need to provide substantial impact evidence to support their funding applications.

Family Learning and the European Year of Cultural Heritage 

In 2018, the European Year of Cultural Heritage we should consider the links between family learning and arts and cultural education.  Many families experience the joy of creative arts or visits to cultural centres as part of a family learning group, for some this is their first such experience. There are many examples of innovative family learning taking place in museums, libraries and theatres. Programmes such as the BBC’s Terrific Scientific are helping to widening the family learning curriculum in many directions.

The challenge, as is often the case with educational research, is to justify the cost of collecting the evidence whilst the funding for provision has reduced. The costs include staff time, good will of both staff and students as well as the actual costs of surveys, telephone calls and the collation of results.

There is already a wealth of evidence that should not be ignored or discarded. Learning and Work Institute produced a useful summary of evidence to date in the UK in 2013. A study of family literacy programmes in England carried out by the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) was published in 2015 and there are numerous reports on small scale research in this area. You can find more information by clicking on the link here: http://www.learningandwork.org.uk/resource/family-learning-inquiry/

Should we simply accept from the evidence already available or seek to build on the evidence base in new and creative ways? It would be interesting to know how family learning in other European countries is funded and how evidence is collected. 

About the Author 

Cath Harcula has been involved in adult learning for over 30 years, Cath is currently the chair for the National Family Learning Forum in England and is also an Ambassador for EPALE UK. Read more about Cath here.

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