Family Learning Case Studies
•
Rashida is married with five children ranging in age from 8 to 24. She came to England
almost 25 years ago to marry, having no formal qualifications and speaking her first
language Gujerati.
She first joined a Share course which was advertised through her children’s school, and
hoped it would be a way to alleviate post natal depression. She successfully completed this
course obtaining a Level 2 Share qualification, but also gained confidence, an ability to work
independently and felt less depressed.
She has since gone on to complete a Level 2 Childcare course and her future plans are to go
into community work. Rashida has found that she could fit the learning around her family life,
preferring to work when her children were in bed, and has enjoyed the independence that the
learning experience has given her. Her increased confidence and self belief has been
noticed by her tutor who says “Rashida’s reaction is typical of mothers who have completed
Share courses. They have all increased in self-confidence and feeling of self-worth”.
•
Claire is from Wandsworth in London and after marrying when she was 17, she started her
family at 18. She has 7 children, with ages ranging from 3 to 16.
Claire has always been interested in supporting her family in many ways, and through the
nursery school key worker began to become involved in the family learning available. She
first completed a Share course Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities.
This led on to her being awarded the Share ‘Family of the Year’, she was employed in the
nursery school as a lunchtime supervisor and had support to attend NVQ L2 training in
childcare.
Claire feels this has made her a better role model for her children, she is more actively
involved in her children’s learning, and as a result the family is spending more time together.
She particularly enjoyed being part of a group and making friends with other parents and
feeling she has support. This in turn has led Claire to sum up her learning experience as
“feeling more empowered!”
•
Skilled for Health
Beth left school at 16 with a few GCSE’s. Now at 19, she has never had a job, is a single
mum with one child living in rented council accommodation. She has no contact with the
child’s father, but does have regular contact with her own parents who offer assistance with
childcare.
Beth started attending various casual programmes with SureStart which offer her a break
from her routine, the free childcare and the chance to meet with others in a similar position to
herself.
The skills she has learnt on the courses have helped her with her own lifestyle choices,
especially exercise. She is sharing what she has learned with her family and her son is
benefitting from her knowledge of a healthy diet and basic first aid.
As Beth feels she missed out further education by having a child so young, she has been
signposted to courses at the local college and adult centre.
•
Modupe Olulode ‘I’ve been coming for 9 years now to the Family Learning Wandsworth
Goes Gospel and I’m proud to say I’m 79 years old now. I’m a testimony to others that at my
age I can stand up and sing. I’m the oldest learner here and the choir has really improved my
confidence to sing solo in the group. There is an end performance every year at a big
London venue, the first 2 years have been held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and now they
are held at the Royal Festival Hall. This main concert is brilliant, even my family commented
on how good it was and how proud they were of me.
It’s great to sing with all the children and young people, I learn such a lot from them. It’s
improved my own voice by singing with them. I would recommend this course to anyone
whether they can sing or not, even my daughter wants to join now.
I always look forward to the friendly class every week and its exercise for me as well as my
voice because I walk there!’
•
Lucy Bromfield attends an English class at St Cecilia’s in Southfields.
‘My name is Lucy Bromfield; I came from Jamaica in the West Indies. Jamaica is a very hot
country. It is called the Island in the Sun. It’s known for the lovely waterfall, Dunn’s river
Falls, nice beaches and its cool music.
I have five brothers and five sisters. I am the tenth child, so having a lot of older brothers and
sisters was an advantage fro me. I did not need to do as much chores around the home
because I was younger than them.
Life in Jamaica for me was very good compared to other people. My mum and dad were very
hard working. School life was hard. I had to walk about five miles each way to and from
school. The roads were gravelled and very rough to walk on but we still managed.
I came to England in 1960. It was very hard to leave my Mum and Dad behind because we
were so close. It was the biggest and hardest decision I had to make in my life because I did
not know what to expect.
When I arrived in England my sister came to meet me at the airport. When we were on our
way to her home I was gobsmacked to see how different everything looked. The first thing
hat caught my eye was the tall buildings. The reason this was so strange for me is that in
Jamaica, the law states no building is allowed to be higher than the tallest palm tree, due to
the likelihood of hurricanes.
Secondly, the red buses and so many of them. I could not believe my eyes, then I got to
realise how different Jamaica was from England even n that short space of time.
Now I am a grandmother attending a family learning class. I find my life now in England so
different, so inspiring. There are so many opportunities; I just try to immerse myself in so
many different things. This course is one of them and I am really enjoying it. I hope if I can
carry on next year.’
•
At Chesterton School in Battersea, parents have been taking an English class where
they have also learnt about the early year’s curriculum. Here they talk about their
experiences and hopes for the future.
‘My name is Nasra Warsame. I come from Somalia. I have been in England more than ten
years and I am mother with four children.
I finished my secondary school in my country long time ago but I did not start any university
because the civil war of my country.
In England I just did some English courses and what I am going to do in the future is to learn
how to do interpreter courses to be an interpreter.
I have done an ESOL class at South Thames College before. I came to this class to improve
my English and because my children come to the school and it’s near my house. I like to get
more new words and more practise at reading with my child.’
•
‘My name is Zahra and I have been in this country ten years. I too came to the class because
I want to improve my English and to help my children. What I like best is speaking. I am
happy we are going to take an exam.’
‘In Somalia in 1991, the political situation got worse. Political opponents attacked the
government then they fight each other.
We decided to leave in 1992. We took a lorry to Ethiopia where we lived in a small village
called Nazret for three years. Then my brother sponsored from U.K. We came in London by
aeroplane.’
•
3 generations of learning at Southfields Community College
Grandmother Angela Eyers regularly attends the Aspire Centre @Southfields Community
College for adult learning. She first came to the centre to complete a basic CV workshop
and then progressed on to complete a Computer Basic Skills course to help her with her
future employment. Following on from this, she realised the importance of gaining a basic
skills qualification to help her with her job search and as such registered on an Adult Literacy
Level 1 course. This year Angela is working towards her Adult Literacy Level 2 qualification
and, as an experienced parent, she currently supports the weekly parent drop-in session at
the Aspire.
While attending this session, Angela was given information about a Community Health
Development Programme ran by Wandsworth NHS and held at the Katherine Lowe
Settlement. She attended this course and achieved a certificate of attendance.
Angela is delighted that she is still learning and achieving things as a mature student and
takes great pleasure in being a positive role model for her daughter and grandson.
Angela’s daughter, Marsha, also makes use of the services on offer. She has previously
achieved Literacy Level 2 and currently attends the weekly parent drop-in sessions with her
mother. Marsha’s son, Shay, is a Year 8 student at the College. There are times during the
week when he and his mum are learning in the same building at the same time. Shay thinks
that this is great and is very proud of the progress both his mum and gran have made on
their courses. He said, ‘Mum is learning new things and then she is teaching them to me.’
Together, Marsha and Shay have completed a Family Learning Baking course, as well as a
Parent and Child Rock Climbing course, both of which they really enjoyed. Marsha said, ‘I
wanted to share an activity that we would both enjoy while at the same time learning
something new. It was terrific to work with my son in this way and it gave me an opportunity
to see how he learns alongside other young people.’
Both Angela and Marsha think that `Lifelong Learning` affords people an excellent
opportunity to catch up on things they missed when at school and that it also gives adults a
chance to do something completely new. Marsha said ‘It gives you the chance to gain
qualifications if you wish, but just as importantly it allows you to socialize and meet others.’
When asked what they would say to other families about trying a family learning course, they
all said at the same time, “Go for it!”
Pictured: Angela with Shay and
Marsha