The £5m two-year trial launched by the Department for Education last year was intended to de-stigmatise parenting classes and make attending them as much a part of bringing up children as going to ante-natal classes.
The pilot is part of a drive by ministers towards parenting classes for all, with the intention of making asking for support with parenting the norm, rather than the exception.
Montessori St Nicholas which has been running the CANparent classes in Camden - one of three areas trialling the classes - said that despite spending £100,000 of the charity’s funds and distributing thousands of leaflets, just 32 parents of children under five had signed up.
The charity this week wrote to the Department for Education with its intention to withdraw from the CANparent pilot scheme.
Parents of under-fives in Camden, Middlesborough and High Peak in Derbyshire are offered £100 vouchers through the CANparent scheme redeemable for free parenting classes. The vouchers were available at selected Boots stores, early years settings, children’s centres, midwives and health visitors. The pilot runs until March 2014.
Montessori St Nicholas was one of 14 voluntary and community organisations including Coram, Family Lives and Barnardo’s, chosen to take part in the pilot. A fourth trial has recently started in Bristol.
Montessori said that they had been told by the Department for Education that demand for parenting classes was high, with over one million queries to family support services in three months. The Department identified 22,000 parents of children under five eligible for the parenting classes in Camden.
The charity distributed 2,000 leaflets in Camden to local libraries, health centres, GP surgeries and community centres, as well as 4,000 flyers distributed in Bounty packs and advertisements in the local press and open days.
Last summer and autumn, Montessori ran pilot classes at three Montessori nurseries in Camden and West Hampstead.
Further classes were due to start in January, but were cancelled due to lack of take-up.
Montessori says that the bureaucracy it faced was frustrating and that the lack of public awareness of the scheme meant that it had been unable to run some of the advertised classes, with parents blaming the charity for not providing what it offered, having a negative impact both on the trial and Montessori schools.
Barbara Isaacs, national strategies director at Montessori St Nicholas, who managed the project said, ‘We have embraced CANparent with enthusiasm and were keen to contribute to the parenting agenda, because, from the early days of Montessori education, Montessori teachers and practitioners recognised the importance of working with parents for the benefit of children.
‘Unfortunately, the bureaucracy we faced from the DfE was extremely frustrating and certainly hindered our ambitions to offer our classes to as many Camden mums and dads, as possible. While we were aware that the project would require substantial financial commitment, we did not anticipate such complex administrative procedures and so little actual support from the DfE and Camden local authority in publicising the parenting classes.’
Montessori also says that Camden Council failed to publicise the Can-Parent classes because it runs its own parenting classes.
‘Despite repeated requests, we were not allowed to distribute the voucher directly to parents – the most immediate way to encourage them to register on the course. This has directly impacted our decision to withdraw from the trials,’ Ms Isaacs added.
Montessori said that the administration and redeeming of vouchers required the development of an online reporting system and completion of spreadsheets at several stages.
The charity still had to invoice to be paid and were only paid the full value of the voucher if parents attended at least 75 per cent of the sessions.
Ms Isaacs added, ‘The expectation that parents with small children had to attend a high percentage of the classes is unreasonable.
‘The Department is looking for innovation, but sadly does not give us the freedom to do so. We were not allowed to charge any further fee and all marketing, advertising, publicity and development costs including web based reporting systems were to be the responsibility of the providers effectively competing for parents to participate in the trials.’
Montessori also says that the number of providers offering parenting classes (14 in Camden) has contributed to the lack of take-up by parents who are confused as to which classes to choose.
The charity said, ‘We understand that the trial’s aim is to establish universal parenting classes available to all parents of young children, with an aspiration to extend them to parents of older children in due course.
‘In our view, this can only be achieved if both Department of Education and Department of Health work together and are backed by an extensive national campaign. The Camden local authority was totally disinterested in the trials as they run parenting classes themselves. The local healthcare units were not even aware of the project running.’
Montessori said that it would continue to deliver its own parenting classes in Montessori settings.
Montessori St Nicholas also funded £30,000 on detailed academic research on Can-Parent classes by an independent team of researchers at the University of East Anglia.
The charity said that the findings showed that the classes made a substantial positive impact on those parents who participated.
The research showed that all the parents expressed very positive feelings about the overall value of the classes, iIn particular they found the opportunity to step back and reflect on their parenting, and to exchange experiences with other parents to be especially helpful.
Parents felt they learnt a lot from each other, particularly as there was a range of ages among their children. There was general agreement that the content was relevant, and appreciation of the relaxed discussion-based approach.
Although the parents were already fairly confident in their parenting role, they took the opportunity to do the classes because they were aware that there was room for improvement.
Some of the parents remarked that the classes had enhanced their understanding of the importance of play and how to play creatively with their children. One mother said,
‘A highlight for me has been I’ve learned the importance of play and I definitely came here not being aware of that. I just thought that it was a way to pass time, and something he enjoys, but I didn’t realise how much that’s a vehicle to learn about everything.’
Commenting on Montessori’s decision to withdraw from the scheme, a Department for Education spokesperson said, ‘Most parents go to ante-natal classes before their child is born and we want them to be able to access similar help and advice in the earliest years of their child’s life.
‘The CANparent trial aims to improve parenting skills and address the everyday issues that can arise when raising young children. It is still being successfully delivered by 13 of the original 14 providers and feedback from parents is very positive.
‘We are disappointed with Montessori St Nicholas’ decision, but note that their own commissioned research showed the classes had a substantial positive impact on parents. We continue to work closely with the providers in Camden and the other pilot areas who are delivering high quality classes to parents.’
Nursery World has also contacted Camden Council for a comment and is awaiting a response.
