Outside the workplace, being a parent can be one of the most intense periods when adults acquire skills. Yet compared to other areas of activity its role – and also its potential – is not widely acknowledged. Andrew McCoshan looked into the work of the European Parents' Association to find out more.

Parenting equips adults with a wide range of transversal skills that are useful both in life in general and also in employment. Parents have to manage household finances, deal with health issues and organise complex family schedules, to mention just a few areas.

Yet the opportunity for parents to learn such skills is undergoing important changes linked to long-term shifts in the nature of the “family circle". In the 19th century parents could learn from the experience of an extended and diverse family network. But since the rise of the nuclear family, such opportunities have shrunk. While the role of the family differs enormously across Europe, opportunities to learn the broad skills that parents require need to be developed.

Filling the gap is one of the concerns of the EPA, and it is a partner in three Erasmus plus projects in which training parents is a component. For example, the ELICIT-PLUS project will be developing innovative training modules in European literacy and citizenship for teachers, parents and students.

Along with training opportunities, parents also need opportunities to have their skills and competences recognised. This motivation lies behind the EPA's “Parenting Skills Passport". Based on the Entrepreneurial Skills Pass being developed by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and other partners, the passport aims to enable parents to reflect on and identify the competences they have developed against a catalogue of skills such as entrepreneurship and time planning.

But more than being a tool for documenting and recording skills, parents will be able to choose training modules according to their own experiences that will help them to augment existing competences and to have them assessed via examinations. Successful completion will result in the issuing of a certificate to include in a Europass portfolio. The focus is very much on helping parents to get back into employment by identifying and enhancing the skills they have developed whilst being out of the labour market. It is likely that the Parenting Skills Passport will be aimed at post-secondary level.

Work began on the Passport only recently, in 2014, and the EPA is working with the Austrian Chamber of Commerce with the aim of launching it within the next year or two. Other partners are also being sought to bring in additional expertise. For example, the EPA is in contact with the NGO, Make Mothers Matter. If the profile and success of the Entrepreneurial Skills Pass is anything to go by, the development of the Parenting Skills Passport will certainly be one to watch in the coming months.