Family Learning Workers

The Learning Works project ran for two years and we have been successful in securing Neighbourhood Renewal Funding to continue the work of the Family Learning Workers until March 2009.

Our team of Family Learning Workers work across 18 primary schools in South and East Leeds, targeting a very hard to reach section of the community within areas of high economic and social deprivation. They seek to build the capacity of some of the most socially disengaged members of these communities.

Building on our experience of working with the community in these areas, it helps us identify the issues which parental involvement would influence significantly.

The Family Learning Workers are faced with the following challenges which are all symptoms of the social and economic exclusion which affect the target group:

• Significant unemployment
• Dysfunctional families
• High family mobility
• A significant number of children who never attend school
• Anti-social behaviour both within school and outside school
• A significant number of families whose first language is not English
• A high number of which are refugee and asylum seeker families

They work to engage with parents from the very first days that their children attend school. They target the families who do not have the capacity to engage with the communities in which they live, in effect creating a support network for parents/residents and putting in place strong foundations for community management and ownership. The Family Learning Workers benefit the wider community by helping to increase the number of people and groups involved in community led economic and social regeneration. This is achieved by working in partnership with other agencies and voluntary groups in the area.

Our Family Learning Workers engage parents through organising activities which will build their capacity to become confident and constructive members of their community. The team deliver workshops such as; parenting workshops, developing parents as tutors, language skills, family literacy and numeracy workshops, family IT workshops, healthy living workshops, vocational, training and job skills workshops and sign-posting to job search agencies, Citizenship workshops, Family activity events.

In October 2007 we had a successful visit by Senior Policy Makers from the Cabinet Office who were very interested in observing how all our projects joined up children and adult services and how effective the Family Learning Workers are in engaging hard to reach families. Following their visit, Education Leeds was invited to London to attend a workshop.

To date our Family Learning Workers have engaged over 4,000 parents in various sessions and activities!