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Schoolkids are given lessons on how to become good parents

New approach: Manchester Academy Principal Kathy August
A secondary school is piloting lessons in parenting for its pupils.

Students at Manchester Academy are getting advice on child psychology, household management and budgeting skills.

It is being introduced in business lessons after pupils asked for training in real-life skills.

Teachers have been dropping examples of good parenting into normal lessons – and their efforts have already been praised by an MP writing a key report for the coalition government.

Principal Kathy August said: "They said they would like to learn in school how they could become good parents when they grew up and had families.

"We don’t want to have a single lesson all about parenting. Instead, we are looking at what the opportunities are throughout the normal curriculum.

"In science, we will be talking about how the brain develops so that students understand how babies are not little adults. In geography, we might look at how parenting is done in different cultures."

Teachers hope to introduce other examples of parental responsibilities into other classes for pupils aged 12-18.

Erica Greenslade, a senior teacher who has been overseeing the changes to lessons, added: "We are still considering what shape the lessons will have. One of the things we are stressing is financial management and the importance of budgeting skills in running a household."

The Moss Side school, which was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, was praised by former Labour minister Frank Field, who is preparing a report for PM David Cameron on social equality.

In a recent paper, the MP said compulsory lessons in parenting for all pupils in England would address the root causes of poverty. He praised the work being done at the school and said it could be used as the basis for a future GCSE in parenting.

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I really cant believe what im reading!! Just let them watch a couple of episodes of Jeremy Kyle or let them stand outside the local DSS so they can see the not so nice side of parenting, kids being dragged up on income support and milk tokens, kids being beaten by their under 18 year old mother because shes hungover and has no money for food, kids need to see the reality, not what some teacher 'drops hints' about! DAVE CAMERON, COMPULSORY CONTRACEPTIVE INJECTIONS FOR ALL GIRLS UNDER 18, that might cut your welfare budget, that might force them to leave school and get a job, it might just stop kids dying at the hands of stupid illiterate parents, and it might, just might, teach girls that having babies is not what your whole life should be about!

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Sad day when children see their parents skills as faulty. Is Microsoft or Nintendo Wii or Iphone introducing further games or apps to help. So if their was an exam paper at the end of this. Will those who fail, be denied a wedding certificate? On the grounds of poor parenting skills!
I am all for pupils(students) learning the basics skills before leaving and praise them for trying. Unfortunately I see problem within culture religion and idealism hallmark, which have never altered over the last 40 years. Unless you're willing, to take the children and place them into forced education camps from 3 years to leaving at 18 years. Then now way will society break this every fragmented mess we live in to date. Only doctrinarian can make in roads in England problem.

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I'm surprised the LEA aren't trialling the initiative at a primary school because, let's face it, it's no longer uncommon to hear or read of people becoming grandparents in their early-thirties.

Or have I been reading the Daily Maul, again?

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When are these idiots going to realise that schools were never designed to offset the effects of social disintegration? Children learn how to be parents through their own experience of their parents. It's only liberal cretins who talk about 'parenting' as if it's like knitting or woodwork, just another skill that anyone can acquire. Children learn how to be a parent by experiencing the mature love of parents who put their children's interests before their own and accept personal responsibility for their offspring. The problem is we now have parents whose own parents and grandparents were dragged up by the inadequate, selfish and emotionally deficient. The vast majority have never known the influence of a father and have experienced only a succession of mum's live-in boyfriends. Schools can tell children whatever they like about being a parent but so long as it is not reflected in children's own experience of family life it is a waste of time.

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It also MIGHT smack of violating a young woman's body! Who are you to insist on injecting some chemical to enforce selective breeding - isn't that what the Nazi's were researching? I agree the harsh reality of parenting should be taught by both parents and schools and benefits shoudn't be handed out to pregnant teenagers like sweets but get real

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Could we not ask a typical Jamaican male what makes good parenting. Have they not set a good example to the rest of the world?

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Who decides what "good parenting" is?

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It might be a good thing, When I was at (a Catholic) school, the answer to everything was "It is Gods way" or "God will provide" and the best one was always "God works in mysterious ways" . If we dared to ask questions like 'how do you know' the answer would be "Because it is, stop asking stupid questions boy!"

The best one was sex education "A man and woman get close and nine months later a baby is born" I deliberately sat on a separate seat on the bus, I wasn't taking any chances

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