National Academy for Parenting Practitioners

The Government's plans to boost the nation's parenting skills took a major step forward with the launch (on 25th April, 2007) of the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners.

The academy will support the training of a range of professionals, including social workers, clinical psychologists, community safety officers and youth justice workers as well as practitioners working with parents in schools, health services, children's services and beyond. It will also support innovation and knowledge sharing.

• Training, development and support for the parenting workforce, especially but not exclusively, the trainers of practitioners and those who train trainers.
• Acting as a national centre and source of advice on high-quality academic research evidence on parenting and parenting support, combined with practical knowledge of what works and has worked in different situations and with different client groups.
• Supporting the government's parenting agenda, as it develops.

Gone are the days (hopefully) when parenting classes were only offered to those seen as 'bad' (what does that mean?) parents. With the development of the Government's National Academy for Parenting Practitioners it seems that parenting programmes are soon to be available to all.

The academy was announced in the Respect Action Plan in January 2006, as one of a number of cross-government measures to reduce antisocial behaviour. The new National Academy for Parenting Practitioners will be provided by the Family and Parenting Institute, Parenting UK and King's College London from this October.

It will be a centre of excellence, researching the best methods to support parents and providing training to the practitioners who give them this support.

The Department for Education and Skills wants to improve support for parents and outcomes for children by ensuring that all parents are aware of and have access to high-quality, evidence-based parenting support. This support should be delivered to parents by qualified practitioners, when and if they need it.

Parents increasingly seek help with bringing up their children and we want to be as supportive as we possibly can. The role a parent plays is integral to a child's development and their future life chances, which is why we want to help parents get it right.

This academy will be an international and national hub for the exchange of ideas and learning, providing the very latest research and training in supporting parents. It will ensure that our parenting practitioners can access the best possible information and help parents do the best they possibly can for their children.

This is the next step in offering parents the right help at the right time as they raise their children. Since the Family and Parenting Institute launched in 1999, parents have told us they want tailored advice based on evidence and research when they face challenges in raising their children. So we are delighted to be working with King's and Parenting UK to make sure the academy will do the best job possible to inform and train those who work with parents.

King's is delighted to be hosting the academy. It will bring its expertise in training practitioners in approaches proven to work in helping all parents bring the best out of their children. It will also carry out an ambitious top quality research programme to find out the best ways to help children and young people achieve their potential. This should help to raise further the standard of parenting support.

The academy will take a major step forward in ensuring that those who work with parents are trained for that purpose and meet national occupational standards. The academy will help them access appropriate training and advice. They will be able to provide the kind of sensitive responsive help parents need to support them in the rewarding but demanding job of bringing up children. England is leading the world in creating this exciting national centre.

Contact

Maria Birch
Email: info.parentingsupport@kirklees.gov.uk
Telephone: 01924 326628