Dear Parents/Caregivers
I am looking for parents/caregivers who are interested to participate in the field testing of a Parenting Programme that is designed to work with parents who have children between the ages of 0-5 years. The materials are inspired by the Montessori and Reggio method.Hopefully the materials will help you in your child-rearing endeavours - it will certainly help me as your contribution will further mold and shape the programme. I anticipate that this course be offered professionally once the field testing is complete.
The Parenting Programme that is being offered is the outcome of an action-based PhD research project under the supervision of the Institute of Education, University of London. The findings of the study so far are that most parenting programmes offered skills and information related to behaviour management.
In a search for solutions, I have partnered with parents to develop a capabilities based parenting programme. The capabilities approach operates from the premise that for a person to be truly capable in the tasks they set out to do, they need more than the combination of skills and the assimilation of information. The building blocks of our capabilities programme then is the: understanding of profound concepts; the assimilation of information; the mastering of skills and abilities; the development of certain attitudes; and the advancement in a number of qualities.
Over the past four years we (myself and various groups of parents) have identified some of the capabilities and practical skills they we felt was needed to awaken the moral and intellectual faculties that exist in the potential of their children. The programme views the child as a noble human being and equips parents and caregivers with some of the capabilities necessary to provide learning environments that support and extend learning experiences, fosters cognitive development, as well as sow the seeds for character formation in through the creation of environments built on love and discipline.
Below is summary of the parenting programme, along with the name of the modules. If you are interested in participating please feel free to message me on this link. The duration is likely to take 10 weeks if we are doing 3/4 hours a week, but the hours we decide to do a week can be flexible according to the group. The cost is £45 to cover the cost binding and printing materials involved - these are workbooks that you can keep.
The requirements are that:
Participants commit to the duration of the course
there is a venue to host the course at
participants must be able to read and write English (this is because the focus is on the participatory workbooks we will study together - it will be difficult for participants who are not proficient in the English language).
have/or will have soon have children between the ages of 0-5
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Programme Summary
The Parenting Programme examines the role of parents and their parenting endeavours within the context of present day society. It operates from a framework proposing that we live in a special time; a time in which humanity as a whole is passing through a period of great commotion in its social, political, economic, cultural and technological landscape. Many of the changes the world is undergoing are indeed positive and contribute to an expanding consciousness of ourselves and the world around us. Yet, a cursory examination of the neighbourhoods in which we live leaves us with the uneasy feeling that humanity is losing an irreplaceable element of social organisation ? an element which is absolutely necessary if we are able to nurture children adequately and maintain the cohesion of society. Some blame the systematic and aggressive influence of the consumer value system, others have suggested that the rise in the number of broken families has played a part (unavoidable as some circumstances may be), and yet others will point to the rise in crime and sterile coldness plaguing many of our neighbourhoods.
Regardless of one?s personal views on the root causes, the conditions of present-day society require us to look at our parenting endeavours through a new lens. This new lens enables us to see how important it is to maintain the family bond; to set an example of healthy parenting relations; to provide rich learning experiences that will act as the building blocks for all later development, to protect children from the negative influences of society and help them to rise above them. The focus of this course, then, is to build upon the capacities parents have in tending to the needs of their children in the context of the age in which we live.
The course modules aim to assist parents in developing some of the capabilities needed to foster the latent moral and intellectual faculties in their children, some of which include: developing an enquiring mind, fostering the early manifestations of clear thinking and eloquent speech, helping children to think of life in terms of processes rather than bursts of events, laying the foundations of a noble and upright character, and cultivating the ethos of service to family and the wider community. Throughout the course material, regular mention will be made to the concept of developing such faculties. The course is specifically designed to work with parents who have children in the early years of life, that is, those children between the ages of zero to five years.
The programme takes the form of a set of participatory educational materials consisting of three sequential units. The first unit outlines the conceptual framework underpinning this programme and looks at the following themes:
? The Principles of the Family
? Parenting in a Learning Mode
? Developing Capabilities
The second unit, entitled Learning Environments, is divided into four chapters and explores the following capabilities:
? Universal Characteristics and Practical Life Activities
? Fostering Initiative and Scaffolding Interest
? Observation and Fostering Schemas in Play
? Language Development and the Enquiring Mind
The final unit in this programme, called Loving Environments and divided into three chapters, looks at developing the following capabilities:
? Building Loving Relationships
? Cultivating Environments Built on Love and Discipline
? Understanding Attitude and Behaviour Formation
Suggested readings are included throughout to assist you to broaden your understanding around certain knowledge areas. There is also a resource chapter at the end of each unit containing selected activities that are related to themes studied in each chapter.