Children: Parenting for Success in School

Baroness Ritchie of Brompton Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Brompton]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord on securing this debate on this important topic, which is of great interest to me; and I welcome the contributions of other noble Lords, in particular those who are making their maiden speech. There is obviously much knowledge in this House in this area. I believe that this debate, as has been said, is timely, as it follows the publication of Frank Field's report in which he explores how the home environment and parental involvement can impact on a child's readiness for school, and the impact of poverty on children's ability to succeed in school and in later life.

I welcome the recommendations in the report to establish a foundation years service and life chances indices to aid and support parents in this vital role. A further recommendation of the report is that the fairness premium, as part of the pupil premium, should be extended to the foundation years. I look forward to hearing my noble friend the Minister’s comments on those recommendations.

There is much research to show that parental involvement both in preparing children for education and in supporting them through their educational journey is crucial. Equally, we all know that being a parent is not always easy and that, for some, their particular circumstances make it even more difficult. Parents may have complicated and disorganised lives; they may have their own health problems that prevent them helping and encouraging their children; they may have had negative educational experiences of their own, or be fearful of the authority which they perceive teachers to represent. In many cases, however, only education will ensure that vulnerable children can move out of the poverty trap, and for that they will need their parents’ help.

If we really want to improve the educational outcomes for our children and have aspirations for them we need to start when they are very young, and we need to make sure that parents are properly confident about helping their children by providing an environment in which they are happy to access services. Many disadvantaged families do not need therapeutic intervention but they do need opportunities to extend the experience of their children—through play, singing, talking, et cetera—so that normal development of the brain can be maintained. These opportunities should be accessible. A programme called the Peers Early Education Partnership—PEEP—had 14,000 visits a year in a local shopping centre where parents could feel comfortable getting support because of the attitude and skill of the staff and because it was open six days a week, for most of the day, in a place where they went regularly and felt comfortable.

Of course, a small minority need more intense and specialised support to deal with the challenges they face, and we need to provide services to address those needs. The coalition Government are clearly aware of these issues and seem committed to addressing them. There is a coincidence of a number of reports, which has already been referred to, and which I hope very much will feed into government policy in this area. Equally, I welcome the Government’s commitment to increase the number of health visitors and support for family nurse partnerships, which shows a real willingness to tackle some of the more fundamental problems in our society. Multidisciplinary working between health visitors and early years practitioners is crucial in enabling them to understand the contribution that each particular profession can make and to co-ordinate their work to make it more effective and less expensive.

This issue is important for national government but also for local government, which provides many of the services; and of course the third sector has an important part to play. In my own local authority, our services for children are underpinned by the concept of “strong families at the heart of strong communities”. We run a range of parenting programmes. One in particular is called Incredible Years and is targeted at families with babies aged up to six months and where there are parental mental health and attachment issues. Many of our programmes are run from children's centres but some can also be offered in the home.

Many noble Lords are involved with charitable and voluntary organisations that are active in this area—I have already mentioned PEEP, which is doing work nationally, and much of whose work has been evaluated by Oxford and Warwick Universities. The charity focuses on supporting parents from their child’s birth through to school age and on developing three aspects of learning with their children: numeracy and literacy, self-esteem, and learning dispositions. Home visits are made soon after birth and there is a programme for families who would benefit from the one-to-one approach.

These are important projects that are intended to help parents become more confident in helping their children to prepare for education. However, it is important, particularly in these financially tough times, that these programmes are based on rigorous evidence and properly evaluated for effectiveness. We need to use the very best research and practice, whether it is from government or the third sector, to ensure that the next generation of our children has all the opportunities that it needs to succeed in life and in education.